(Research and writing done by humans. Images AI generated.)
You know you want therapy but when you start to look online, you’re flooded with modalities, professions, and the alphabet rearranged in a thousand ways after people’s names. Why is it so complicated? Seriously, I work in the industry and I want to know too 😅
Hopefully, this article and the tool within it, are going to simplify things and help you choose the right type of professional. Then you can focus on the actually interesting task of choosing your therapist for the best match. You just need to know what you’re looking for help with, make sure it fits in the scope of a profession’s duties and limitations, and you’re good to go.
A tool to help you choose the right professional
We developed this quick questionnaire so you can just follow the steps and get a list of all types of professionals who could potentially help you. Since it’s self-led, we can’t guarantee that it’ll be perfect, so if your gut tells you something is off, it’s always best to contact the clinic or professional and talk to a human who can guide you.
How to use the tool’s results
You’ll have noticed that you are given a list of professions. If your list contains more than 2-3 professions, you might be thinking it hasn’t helped you narrow your search at all. So here’s how to use it. While not strictly accurate, you can read the list from top to bottom as most accessible and qualified, to least accessible and potentially overqualified. It’s worth noting that those near the top of the list generally have a smaller scope, meaning they are more likely to be specialized within that scope.
For example, a relationship therapist is going to have more experience working with clients on communication and relationship skills, than a psychologist who might be more accustomed to diagnosing mental illness or working with trauma. So even though psychologists can help you develop your communication skills, there’s a chance that they have less experience with that. Considering they’ll likely be charging almost double what a relationship therapist would, it’s up to you to decide if it still makes sense to you to search for a psychologist. However, if you think your relationship skills are being affected by trauma or even a mental disorder you might be unaware of, then it makes sense to get a psychotherapist or psychologist involved.
Before you go to choose a therapist
Obviously, there are always exceptions and it’s important to check-in with any professional to see if what you want to work on is something they are able to help with. Any certified mental health practitioner is trained to guide you towards the right profession when your situation falls outside the scope of their practice.
A professional’s scope of practice is also just one piece of the puzzle, the other pieces are their worldview and specialty. If you’re curious about what that means and how to get the most out of therapy, this article on choosing a therapist could be the next step.
