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What are some questions that are important to ask before starting with a new therapist?

FeelinTired
Community Member

Hey all. I've spent the last few weeks short listing about 50-60 therapists to find someone for long-term treatment. In the past year I tried about 4-5 therapists and none really seemed qualified to help me. I learned that none of them have 'clinical' qualifications and it's mostly been Gestalt or Jung theory, but more importantly I didn't have a conversation before booking, it was just 'are you available, what time should we book?'.

 

I want to find someone I can click with, I'm going to call each potential therapist and ask them a list of questions (assuming they have availability) to see if they are a right fit. I have a rough idea of my 'problem', albeit it's difficult to discuss upfront. I don't know what 'kind' of therapy would help, I'm just looking for someone who makes me feel like there's hope and can give me some assurance that I'm not wasting my time.

 

For people who have actually improved from their therapy, can you recommend me some vital questions to ask before committing to a session?

3 Replies 3

Junior1962
Community Member

Hi there

It’s a good idea to look for a therapist who is going to be a good fit for you. I’ve studied psychology and it is broad field. 
To help you frame your questions, it would be useful to consider what you want to get out of therapy. What goals would you set for yourself? What are you hoping to achieve?

smallwolf
Community Champion
Community Champion

a few answers spring to mind ...

 

the first is to ask google with "questions to ask therapist" and look at any of the questions on the page mentioned.

 

I noticed you were looking for clinical qualifications. What do you mean by that exactly?  What I am getting at is ... therapist (for me) is somewhat of an umbrella term and could be a counsellor or psychologist or ???? Perhaps the one to find out is their licencing number? 

 

The last thing I wanted to mention is the relationship between you and the therapist is the most important thing. And a good relationship will be a great help in a success outcome - whatever that looks like. 

 

I hope you are able to find what you are looking for. 

romantic_thi3f
Blue Voices Member
Blue Voices Member

Hi FeelinTired,

 

This is a great question!  A tough one to answer though.

 

Unfortunately while there are some places that do free intro consults that's pretty rare here so a lot of the time the best way to know is in the first session.  

Maybe you can have a think about some of the therapists you've seen and why they didn't seem qualified; what did they say/do that suggested that?

 

Based on your post, some of the questions you could ask could be:

 

  • What is your experience in working with x issue?  Note that I say experience in x, not qualifications; because you can have a multitude of degrees but that doesn't imply competency.
  • What theories do you pull from and what therapies do you use?  (This is where you'll find out if they use Gestalt and Jung, and you can have a bit of a search here as well)

 

Hope this is helpful.  Remember, you can also be upfront with them about your experiences; therapy is your time so feel free to ask any questions you need to or share your hesitations.

 

rt