How to Find a Therapist
In therapy, individuals can gain insight into their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions, and learn new skills and strategies for coping with life's challenges. Therapy can also provide a safe and supportive environment for discussing difficult topics, processing past traumas, and exploring ways to enhance relationships and achieve personal growth. Whether you are dealing with a specific issue or simply seeking to improve your overall well-being, therapy can support you resolving challenges from the past and offer a path toward greater self-awareness, resilience, and fulfillment.
One of the biggest obstacles to engaging in therapy is finding a therapist. Therapy is all about developing a supportive and safe relationship and it can be difficult to know if someone is right for you. Here you are looking for someone that you will be sharing your deepest thoughts and feelings with. It’s an incredibly brave step and sometimes feels like a leap of faith. Here are a few practical tips and considerations when embarking on the journey to find a therapist.
Important considerations when looking for a therapist:
Financial Considerations: Do you have insurance? Do you plan to pay out of pocket? Are you looking for sliding scale or low-cost therapists?
Insurance: If you have insurance, that would be a great place to start. Call or go online to your insurance provider and look for mental or behavioral health providers in your geographical area. You can cross reference the names that you get with bios on Psychology Today (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us)
Private Pay or Sliding Scale: You can search Psychology Today (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us), Therapy Den (https://www.therapyden.com/), or Open Path Collective for sliding scale (https://openpathcollective.org/) as a starting point.
Primary Care Providers Office: These days, many primary care offices have embedded Behavioral Health Specialists who offer limited short-term therapy. It’s worth asking if this is a service at your provider’s office. If so, take advantage of it! The therapist you meet with can help you connect to a longer-term therapist if indicated.
Therapy Networks: There are a lot of therapy networks out there that can connect you to an individual therapist depending on where you live. You can search therapy networks in your area. Note that some networks are online only and may require a subscription like BetterHelp.
Therapy Modalities: This is a big topic and deserves its own blog post which I will address in the future. It’s important to do some research to find a therapy modality that best fits your style and individual therapy needs. There are a lot of different types of therapies and many therapists are trained in multiple modalities. Some of the language that you may hear when searching for a therapist are Behavioral (CBT and DBT), Trauma (EMDR, IFS, Exposure, Somatic), Somatic (focusing on body), Biofeedback, Gestalt, Psychodynamic and Psychoanalysis.
Free Consultations: Most therapists offer a free phone consultation for 10-20min. Once you've found a few potential therapists, reach out to them to schedule a consultation and see if you feel comfortable and supported by their approach. Most importantly listen to your gut and trust your own wisdom. What kind of feeling do you get from them, how do you feel after the phone call? Could you imagine yourself sharing your challenges and difficulties of heart and mind with them? It’s helpful to jot down some questions to prepare for the call.
Why are you exploring therapy at this time?
What is contributing to your current challenges?
What are you looking for in a therapist?
If you have had therapy before, what worked and did not work about your last experience?
What is the therapist's style and what modalities do they use?
Do they accept your insurance?
Does your availability match up?
Frequency: Therapy frequency is determined by you and your therapist but is most commonly once a week or bi-weekly. Often if you feel you are having difficulties in your day-to-day life, have acute stressors, or are needing more consistent support, weekly is recommended.
Goals for therapy: It is valuable to have goals for therapy and continually reassess them with your therapist. If you are having trouble identifying goals for therapy, you can ask yourself, how will I know that I am feeling better? What changes do I want to see in my life that will indicate that change is happening? If you are seeing a therapist and you don’t know what you are working on anymore, it is time to revisit your goals and assess your needs for continuing.
There is a lot to consider when finding a therapist and engaging in the process can feel daunting. Please don’t give up. Take it one step at a time. Carve out time to do a search and make one phone call or email outreach daily if that’s all you have in you. It may take some time, but the right person will show up and you will know it when they do. This is about you and your personal healing and growth. It’s worth it!
