Many factors contribute to choosing the right therapist. This includes their personality traits, specialisations, licensing and education, etc. However, the following are the things you must look for while choosing the right therapist:
- Personality Fit: When looking for the right therapist, you must find someone to have a strong bond with your therapist for a successful therapy session. You cannot term it friendship but a positive connection between the two. It is necessary to trust your therapist enough to discuss your feelings and thoughts, even if they are harmful and uncomfortable. A good therapist must be a knowledgeable person with an honest and genuine personality.
- Encouraging: They must respect you, and push you towards development with a believe in your ability to progress. When pointing out areas of your growth, the therapist must communicate openly with you. Encouraging patients to understand their situation and help them move forward should be the approach of a good therapist.
- Observant: While picking the right therapist you must always seek someone who has excellent observation skills. A good therapist can understand deeply from your body language and your communication skills. Therefore, the power of observation is an added quality that your therapist must possess.
- Recognise Patterns: Since most mental health problems are patterns. Hence, it is necessary for a good therapist to recognise those patterns and treat their patients accordingly.
- Specialisation: If you are already aware what kind of therapy you need, look for therapists who have specialisation in that arena. For example, some may have special training in conducting Cognitive behaviour therapy while others in Dialectical behaviour therapy.
- Licencing or Certification: Many people fall into the traps of fraud therapists when they do not check their licence or certification. Different therapists have different levels of certification and licensing. It means they have completed years of training to help people deal with their issues. Therefore, you must carefully look into the certificates and credentials before booking an appointment with them.
- Ethical: Most patients fail to draw a line when sharing their feelings to a therapist. It is the job of a reliable therapist to maintain ethical boundaries and act appropriately. You must know a good therapist would never ask you to meet outside your session or overstep your personal boundaries.
- Congruent: If a therapist is making you believe they have all the answers or manipulates you in any given situation. You must consider it as a warning sign. A good and reliable therapist would work to be themselves around their client. This is called being congruent.
However, now that you know how to choose a good therapist, you must find a therapist from a reliable source before selecting one.
