How to Choose The Right Counselor

Finding the right counselor for you can seem very daunting, create more anxiety, and feelings of being unsure.  Here are some tips to help you find a counselor that fits you better. Always remember that counseling is something that happens with everyone in the room not the identified clients. What that means is that your counselor has to be a part of the process.

Write down some of your non-negotiables for your counselor and stick to them. There might be somethings that you are flexible on, but it is perfectly fine to have certain non-negotiables for the counselor you are looking for. Whether those non-negotiables are accepting a certain insurance, rates under a certain dollar, gender, and or ethnicity. What ever your non-negotiables are, keep those.

Ask questions. Ask your counselor what ever question you may need to know to feel comfortable. With every new client I have a moment where they ask me questions. Any questions. I want my clients to feel comfortable with who I am as a person.There are multiple websites that counselors are on. Knowing which are the right ones can be difficult. The two best and most reputable places to find a counselor are Psychology Today and Google search for “Counseling (insert your city).

There are two different reasons why each of these are good places. Psychology Today holds a large directory of counselors that is works almost like the yellow pages for finding a counselor. If you aren’t sure what yellow pages are then take a look outside your home and find that big book that gets thrown away every two months. Google allows you to see other client reviews, which gives you an idea of what to expect.