Finding the Right Therapist for You

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Couples therapy

If you’ve decided you’re ready to go to therapy, the next step is finding a reputable therapist. If you have a referral from a friend, family member, or a trusted Doctor, start there. If not, you can check with your insurance carrier, or go on-line and research therapists yourself. Once you find a few names, give them a call or send an email. Some questions to keep in mind are:

  • Experience – The longer a therapist has been practicing, the more competent they are likely to be. Also ask what percentage of their clients are in your age group and have had similar issues. If the therapist is something other than a psychologist, ask what their bachelors degree was in. Social workers, for example, can apply to graduate school with any bachelor’s degree. If their first 4 years was NOT in psychology, then they’ve essentially only had 2 years training!

 

  • Basic therapy style – Believe it or not, this is important to clarify. Some therapists guide their clients from a  “Brief Solution Focused” model (behaviors), “Cognitive-Behavioral” (thinking patterns), “Psychodynamic” (childhood experiences), etc. This may be too much information, but you might ask how they would approach your particular issue. This gives you a “feel” for the person you might be spending time with.
  • Life Experience – Therapists are supposed to be objective, well-trained professionals, but let’s face it – they are still people. If you think someone will understand you better if they’ve been through a few things like you, go ahead and ask! In Salt Lake City, for instance, most people have strong views about church affiliation. It’s OK to want a counselor that understands you in that area. Also, if you are struggling with children or a divorce, it makes sense to want to work with someone who has “been there”.
  • Personality Fit – Once you’ve made an appointment, a good rule to keep in mind is this – do not waste your time if you do not click with the therapist. (One to three sessions should give you enough information on the “click” factor!) Feeling confident that he or she can help you is the most important aspect of successful therapy. If you are not comfortable with the therapist’s style, you need to find someone else.
  • Location – It may be important that your therapist isn’t more than ____ minutes drive from you. This may be close to home or close to where you work. (If location is not a big deal for you, you can use your commute time to listen to a podcast or relaxation music!)
  • Availability – What are the times that would be ideal for you? Some like going during a lunch hour, before kids are home from school, or on the way home from work.

REMEMBER –  Therapy is for you. You will be their employer. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or to talk about what you expect from therapy. We are people people – we can handle it!

Happy Hunting!

The Best of You – MBTI

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 “What’s right for one person may not be right for someone else.  And there are things that are important to me that others don’t care about at all.

And sometimes others’ behavior doesn’t make any sense to me.

I have my own Thoughts and my own Ideas that may or may not fit into your vision of who I should be.” ~PleaseUnderstandMe by DavidKeirsey

 The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

The Theory of Psychological Types was described by C. G. Jung in the 1920’s. He theorized that much of the seemingly random variations in peoples’ behaviors are actually rather systematic and reliable. Their basic differences can be viewed as the ways an individual prefers to perceive reality – all the ways of becoming aware of things, people, happenings, or ideas, and then evaluate those perceptions – all the ways of coming to conclusions about what has been perceived. Jung also talks of attitudes of consciousness, or the basic direction in which a person’s conscious interests and energies may flow – either inward to subjective, psychological experience, or outward to the environment of objects, other people and collective norms.

Isabel Briggs Myers studied Jung’s ideas and added her own insights. After 30 years of research and over 5,000 participants, she created a survey that would eventually become the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI ). It is the most widely used personality test.. Learning about our Personality Type helps us to understand why certain areas in life come easily to us and others are more of a struggle. Learning about other people’s Personality Types helps us to understand the most effective way to communicate with them.

This self-report questionnaire assesses the following::

  1. The flow of energy defines how you receive the essential part of your experience. Do you receive it from within yourself (Introverted) or from external sources (Extraverted)?
  2. How you take in information shows your preference for focusing on the basic information taken in through the five senses (Sensing), or by interpreting and adding meaning based on prior experiences (iNuition).
  3. How you prefer to make judgment calls— objectively, using logic and consistency (Thinking), or subjectively, considering other people and special circumstances (Feeling).
  4. The basic day-to-day decision-style that you prefer –  how you interact with the outer world — with a preference towards getting things decided (Judging), or for staying open to new information and options (Perception/Prospecting).

The test is amazingly accurate and informative. Why not give it a whirl?

I’ve searched high and low and found these great online tools.

  • The first link is to a very good adaptation of the original test (Copyright infringements prohibit the availability of the real one):

16Personalities- Get to know yourself – the BEST questionnaire on the web.  

 The Best of YOU!!!

Share your results if you’d like! ;)