Simone's Guide On How To Find A Therapist
Happy Mental Health Awareness Month!
In the spirit of continuing conversation around mental health and helping end the stigma around therapy, I have created a guide on how to find a therapist! Finding the right therapist is SO important, and too often people just go with the first therapist available. When you do that, you aren’t giving yourself the chance to find someone you truly connect with, and when you meet in real life, you might hate them. I want all of you to have a good experience with therapy, and that’s why I put together these tips!
1. Start by researching! Google articles about how to find a good therapist. Here’s an article from The Cut that really helped me.
2. Brainstorm what kind of therapist you’re looking for. Do you have a preference of gender? Do you want a therapist who has a similar background to you? I personally felt more comfortable with a female therapist. I also wanted to find a therapist with a similar upbringing, and I am so happy to have found a therapist I can relate to. She’s a woman of color therapist who also grew up with immigrant parents, and she ROCKS.
3. Look for therapists on psychologytoday.com. I like their website because you can filter your search by neighborhood and by specialty (anxiety, racial identity, sexuality, life transitions, etc.). On psychologytoday.com, you can also see what licenses each therapist has. There are a lot of licenses but two examples include Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW). You can also see where they went to school, their experience, and their areas of focus. Additionally, this website shows you what insurance they take, but be warned, this part is not super accurate.
4. After finding a couple candidates, it’s time to cross reference them with their company/personal website. Check out their bio and see if their approach and goals resonate with you. Sometimes these websites also show what times they practice, office locations, and insurance accepted.
5. When you find a potential therapist, reach out to them by email! You can find their email on psychologytoday.com or on their company/personal website. Introduce yourself, see if they’re accepting patients, and ask to set up a free 15 minute phone consultation. I know writing emails can be HARD, so I have created an email template you can use!
6. Once you set up a free 15 minute phone consultation, think about what you want to talk to them about. To help you out, I have created a set of questions you can use during the consultation! Shoutout to my sister Carmen for coming up with some of these!
7. After the phone consultation, assess how you feel. Did you connect with this person? Did you feel comfortable talking to them? Were they a good listener? Did you feel understood? If so, set up a session with them! If not, don’t move forward with them! Keep on looking.
8. Keep track of all the potential therapists you’re reaching out to. I wrote a list down in my notebook, and I took notes on if they met my criteria or not.
9. Once you finally find a therapist, assess how you feel after a couple sessions. If you discover that your therapist is not for you, don’t settle! Sometimes it takes a couple tries to find a therapist who makes you feel understood.
10. Don’t give up! Finding a good therapist can be a tedious process, and at times it may seem like more effort than it’s worth. Therapy has been proven to better your life, and it will pay off! Need some convincing? Here’s an article on the benefits of therapy.
These are tips I’ve picked up along my own journey with therapy, and it’s ok if not all of these work for you. I am not a professional, but I am someone who wants you and your mental health to flourish. Once again, if you have any questions, please ask! My DMs are always open.
Good luck!
Simone