When I google ‘counselling in Skipton’ I get approximately 72,000 results. How on earth do I find the right therapist for me?
This is a question I am asked on a regular basis. When people ring to make an enquiry about psychotherapy or counselling, they are trying to make a decision about whether or not I am the right therapist for them. They are usually trying to make this decision via email or over the telephone in a very short space of time and with very little information about me, how I practice or knowing what they really want to get from visiting a therapist.
There is an unspoken process going on here:
What should I ask about your qualifications?
How much do I need to know about your background?
Is your training and type of therapy important to me or not?
Let me try and help with some of these questions. All of the important research suggests that the most important curative factors in psychotherapy and counselling are:
the quality of the relationship between the client and the therapist
the belief of the therapist in their own skill and their ability to help you
There is only one way to find out if the person listed in google fits this criteria, and that is by using your intuition to decide whether or not this person is someone you can trust and make a relationship with.
This is why I often suggest to potential clients that they do some ‘therapy shopping’: check out two or three therapists to ensure that they have suitable training and qualifications and then arrange a one-off session with them all. You choose the therapist who feels that they ‘fit’ with you, and that means the person that you feel you are most able to work successfully with rather than the person who sells you the best product.
