Hello, if it's not too much trouble to ask, can I ask how someone would go about looking for a therapist in their local area and also, is there any place I can go to look for reviews on specific therapists from past or current patients?
Hi Anon!
When I was looking for my own therapist, I did three things.
First - I reached out to my network - who liked their therapist? From there - I asked those therapists if they had any recommendations (I did this before I was a therapist) or would be willing to post on a therapist list for me (I didn’t know I could do this before I was a therapist but I wish I had done it).
Second - I looked at low income options (like https://openpathcollective.org/ and local therapy collectives/non profits) as well as professional associations (AAMFT/ localstatechapterofMFT/ LBGTQ therapist organizations). The professional organizations often have therapist finders (which didn’t super help me because I wasn’t using to insurance but if you are this might be a good option).
Third - psychologytoday.com. This is where I ultimately found my current therapist. This is a quick search I did for trauma therapists in the Chicago area. You have to do some weeding (I wish you could sort by who has a sliding scale for example). It’s a good way to get started - most people have their orientations and styles and some pricing on that. They will also have websites you can explore.
Regarding reviews - part of the reason why I asked my friends and colleagues about who they know is good is because I can trust them. Sometimes therapists will have comments on their site from current and former clients. I really really don’t trust things like yelp and the like or general online reviews. If you write a shitty restaurant review, the manager can respond and explain that they are very sorry but they close at 11pm and aren’t able to accommodate a party of 8 at 10:50pm. There is no way a therapist can ever do that. They can’t respond or even acknowledge that they have ever seen the client. It would break confidentiality to confirm to deny a client’s participation in Clients writing reviews can come from a lot of different perspectives and people but there isn’t a way to say that who is writing the review has actually seen the therapist you know?
Best of luck! I hope you find a good fit. Don’t forget that you can “interview” a bunch of folks and move on from there.
