10 things to ask a potential therapist
So this list is probably more in depth than what a normal person would really ask a therapist before deciding to work with them. I approached it considering what I would want to know about therapists before I would pick one I wanted to work with, which ended up being quite a bit of information. Obviously I love information, so more is always better :) In any case, it’s just fine to figure out what you are looking for in a therapist and what you need to accomplish your goals, and then look carefully to make sure your potential therapist has what it takes.
1. What is your training background? The point of this question is to know where your potential therapist went to school and received any other training, and what they focused on during their training. Therapists should continue to receive training and education after graduation, so you can ask what kind of training they have focused on. You’re looking for good training that is relevant to therapy and what you want to accomplish in therapy (so if you want to work on eating related issues and this therapist focused on marital therapy, they’re probably not the one for you).
2. What is your speciality area? You want a therapist who has an area of focus that is related to the difficulties you’re currently facing (maybe those eating related issues) or the person you are (maybe LGBT clients). You do not want a therapist who says they can do anything- any person, of any age, of any background, with any issue. Multiple areas of focus is fine (“Adults with depression, anxiety, and trauma”), things that run the whole gamut and don’t make sense together probably indicates the person doesn’t really have up-to-date competency in all of those things (“People 0-99, substance abuse, conduct disorders, marital issues, end of life issues, personality disorders”).
3. What is your theoretical orientation? You probably won’t be familiar with different theoretical orientations, so ask your potential therapist to explain their theoretical orientation and outlook. The point is this is to make sure that: a) your therapist has some kind of orientation (they aren’t just making things up as they go along) and b) at the surface level, their orientation is compatible with you.
4. Tell me about your experience with cultural diversity. (You could tailor this to any particular areas of importance to you). There might be aspects of your life that are important to you and you want your therapist to be comfortable with or understand, so feel free to check on this. This could be a pretty wide set of aspects of your life- anything from your ethnic background to your religion. I tend to think that what is important is that atherapist is comfortable with working with people different from themselves, is competent with those groups, and won’t try to inflict their own opinions on their clients.
5. How long do you typically meet with clients? You want a therapist who meets with clients for as long as they need but does not meet with them forever.
6. How do you monitor outcomes? Your therapist should be working with you to monitor your progress, so the two of you can figure out how you are doing and what you need to do to reach your goals. You want a therapist who can talk about how they generally do this.
7. How involved are your clients in treatment planning and other decisions? You might want to be the person making most or all of the decisions in your mental health. You might want your therapist to make all the decisions about your treatment. You might want to collaborate about decisions. Different therapists approach this in different ways, so make sure your potential therapist does this in a way you are comfortable with.
8. Do you collaborate with other providers (like psychiatrists, general practitioners, case managers, etc)? You might have other providers and it can be really helpful for your therapist to be comfortable with collaboration with them. Some providers particularly work with other providers, so if you do have other providers that you would like to be involved in some way with your therapy or therapist, you might want to check whether your therapist has worked with them before or would be willing to work with them.
9. Do you take my insurance? (And other relevant questions about billing). It’s obviously very important to make sure you will be able to afford therapy. Some therapists take insurance, and others only do cash. Some have sliding scale fees.
10. Are you licensed? What is your license in? What is your license number? Because your therapist should be licensed (or working towards licensure with supervision, or in training with supervision).
