How do I choose the right psychotherapist?

The right “fit” with your therapist is as important as in any service but because psychotherapy is personal and deeply exploring client’s life it is paramount. There are many different providers and many different approaches to therapy therefore choosing right one can be confusing. I would encourage the client to “shop for a therapist” to ask the people they trust, who had good experience with a therapist and for more details of what made them suitable and effective. That helps to assess if they could work for you. Secondly, it is good to research your therapist, is she a regulated and a registered professional? In Ontario for example to do a psychotherapy outside of Medicine (for example psychiatry), Social Work and Psychology which have their own regulatory colleges, therapists need to be registered with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. These governing bodies make sure that the therapists are qualified to do psychotherapy (they should at least have Masters Degree in Psychotherapy training), as well as they provide continuing quality assurance and professional development standards. That way the psychotherapists are verified and staying on top of their profession. Thirdly it is good to look at their work, and see if it appeals to the client, the easiest way is to look up therapist’s website or many therapists are registered with Psychology Today online service. It is good to see their picture, and think if “would I be able to sit and talk with this person, do they appear friendly and would I feel comfortable with them”?

Some additional questions to ask yourself:

Do I have preference if they are male or female?

Are they more conservative in their training and approaches?

Or do I prefer someone more experiential and  creative?
Do their areas of expertise match my challenges which I want to bring to the sessions?

Do I prefer someone older or not?

Am I in agreement with how they charge for the sessions?

I recommend calling them, the initial contact on the phone can tell you a lot about the “fit”; do they have the right voice, enough empathy? Do you like them? Do they seem caring and interested in you? If it all goes well and they seem fitting we have a green light to setup the first session. In the first session we want to finalize a decision if that will be the right “fit”. Having done our homework there should not be a lot of surprises, but we can still explore it further, does the session including the office space, makes us feel comfortable to be doing therapy work? Does it all feel right? Can we relax and trust the psychotherapist? The way they tackle the problems, does it work for us? We are starting a new journey and establishing a rapport with our therapist (therapeutic relationship), it is uniquely one-sided for us and it needs to feel that we are most important and centered at the time of our session. After the first session, we may have questions about the way psychotherapy works and how our therapist works specifically with our presenting problem, and when these are answered, it is good to make a decision, of course we can always change our therapist or terminate our therapy, but we want to be careful not to invest too much into a therapy that does not work for us. We may feel uncomfortable at times, as it is hard to discuss deep life challenges with a new person, but overall we want to feel good that we are doing the work to grow and change our life. It is a process and there are no quick fixes, but with the therapist that we like and trust, the process will unfold and we will notice changing and learning, we will get better.