Finding a Therapist
If you are at the point where you feel you may benefit from professional help unless you have
some insight into this area you may be uncertain of where to start.
There is an increasing number of people who profess to offer "Counselling" and forms of "Therapy" however to avoid unpleasant experiences and wasted money you need to ensure that you are placing yourself in good hands.
As a brief guide to finding a capable and competent clinician we would recommend checking out the following areas.
1: Ask about their academic qualifications:
What are they?
Where did they study?
Was the course accredited, if so who by?
We would recommend that you only engage the services of a Therapist with a minimum of a
Masters Degree level qualification. Entering into therapy is a very important step and you
must make certain that you make an informed choice so that you can go from where you
are to where you want to be.
However, it is true that you could work with a Professor in Psychotherapy
yet not connect with them but you will improve your chances of improvement
if the therapist you choose has had a robust academic education.
It is also true that there are some fine professional helpers
who do wonderful work with little or no academic experience.
However, if you were looking for a heart surgeon to save your life
it's likely that you would look for the best.
2. Do ask about the Therapists experience.
Again, if you are not familiar with this area we would recommend asking questions such as:
What areas of Therapy have they worked in?
What types of problems have they treated?
How long have they been practising for?
Do they have any specialisms?
Will they offer short and long term therapy?
Any Therapist confident with their service will be more then happy to answer these
questions as a minimum
Ask also:What type of therapy do they offer?
There is also a seemingly ever increasing choice of types of therapy which are all marketed
with very reassuring messages.
However, not all therapies are robust or with proven research to back up their effectiveness.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is the exception to this as it an evidence based practice.
Also, CBT is recommended here by the National Institute for for Health and Clinical Care Excellence who advise the NHS.
If you feel that CBT is the best type of therapy for you please ensure that you are treated by an actual Cognitive Behavioural Therapist rather than somebody who may be only qualified in the basics and combine CBT with other forms of therapy.
If you would like to have a conversation with us about any aspect of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing please do get in touch with us for free advice and help.
3: Ask about Accreditation:
There are several professional bodies who accredit their members and this does give you a level of safeguarding in that you are likely to be employing a very competent therapist if they are accredited. However, once again different therapeutic bodies have different criteria to become accredited. As such you can expect accreditation with The British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists at Total Therapeutics as standard.
4:Ask generally about their "style" and how they would describe themselves as a Therapist, what do they place an emphasis on and what do they feel are their strengths.
It may be that some of these questions sound a little odd, please rest assured they are not.
This brief guide is here to help you to know the questions you might need to ask rather than asking questions that you may feel are the rights ones.
Again, any therapist who is confident with their practice will have no reservations about answering questions like these, actually they may be glad of them!
Finally, a word on cost. It is well known that people working in this area often struggle with the business side of things and don't always charge they prices they perhaps could.
However, once again we would encourage you to use the heart surgeon comparison and to ensure that you employ a therapist who has no qualms about answering all of the above questions or the fee they charge.
If you would any help with any aspect of choosing a Therapist or anything mentioned on this page, please do get in touch.
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some insight into this area you may be uncertain of where to start.
There is an increasing number of people who profess to offer "Counselling" and forms of "Therapy" however to avoid unpleasant experiences and wasted money you need to ensure that you are placing yourself in good hands.
As a brief guide to finding a capable and competent clinician we would recommend checking out the following areas.
1: Ask about their academic qualifications:
What are they?
Where did they study?
Was the course accredited, if so who by?
We would recommend that you only engage the services of a Therapist with a minimum of a
Masters Degree level qualification. Entering into therapy is a very important step and you
must make certain that you make an informed choice so that you can go from where you
are to where you want to be.
However, it is true that you could work with a Professor in Psychotherapy
yet not connect with them but you will improve your chances of improvement
if the therapist you choose has had a robust academic education.
It is also true that there are some fine professional helpers
who do wonderful work with little or no academic experience.
However, if you were looking for a heart surgeon to save your life
it's likely that you would look for the best.
2. Do ask about the Therapists experience.
Again, if you are not familiar with this area we would recommend asking questions such as:
What areas of Therapy have they worked in?
What types of problems have they treated?
How long have they been practising for?
Do they have any specialisms?
Will they offer short and long term therapy?
Any Therapist confident with their service will be more then happy to answer these
questions as a minimum
Ask also:What type of therapy do they offer?
There is also a seemingly ever increasing choice of types of therapy which are all marketed
with very reassuring messages.
However, not all therapies are robust or with proven research to back up their effectiveness.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is the exception to this as it an evidence based practice.
Also, CBT is recommended here by the National Institute for for Health and Clinical Care Excellence who advise the NHS.
If you feel that CBT is the best type of therapy for you please ensure that you are treated by an actual Cognitive Behavioural Therapist rather than somebody who may be only qualified in the basics and combine CBT with other forms of therapy.
If you would like to have a conversation with us about any aspect of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing please do get in touch with us for free advice and help.
3: Ask about Accreditation:
There are several professional bodies who accredit their members and this does give you a level of safeguarding in that you are likely to be employing a very competent therapist if they are accredited. However, once again different therapeutic bodies have different criteria to become accredited. As such you can expect accreditation with The British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapists at Total Therapeutics as standard.
4:Ask generally about their "style" and how they would describe themselves as a Therapist, what do they place an emphasis on and what do they feel are their strengths.
It may be that some of these questions sound a little odd, please rest assured they are not.
This brief guide is here to help you to know the questions you might need to ask rather than asking questions that you may feel are the rights ones.
Again, any therapist who is confident with their practice will have no reservations about answering questions like these, actually they may be glad of them!
Finally, a word on cost. It is well known that people working in this area often struggle with the business side of things and don't always charge they prices they perhaps could.
However, once again we would encourage you to use the heart surgeon comparison and to ensure that you employ a therapist who has no qualms about answering all of the above questions or the fee they charge.
If you would any help with any aspect of choosing a Therapist or anything mentioned on this page, please do get in touch.
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