On Choosing a Therapist: Part Two
Types of counselling support
There are many different approaches to counselling and psychotherapy. If you’re looking for support for the first time it can be hard to know what might work for you. Here, we’ll look at two of the more prominent approaches.
Your choice of therapist and approach will likely be informed by your goals for therapy. If you’re struggling to cope with a difficult ongoing life-situation, such as living with a chronic illness or disability, you may be seeking longer-term support. Though person-centred counselling can be delivered over the shorter term, clients often benefit from sessions over a longer period. You might be looking for a different kind of support if you’re trying to overcome a phobia or suffering from a panic disorder. People looking for more short-term, problem-focused support may gravitate towards Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), which tends to offer brief, structured and solution-focused help.
The route you take might also be informed by your past experiences with therapy, your personality, and personal preferences. Do you value exploring your experience at your own pace, and in an organic way, addressing things as they naturally develop through thinking and talking about yourself, or do you prefer more direction and focus to addressing your challenges? These are good questions to ask yourself.
Lots of research shows that the relationship you have with your therapist can be more important than the approach they take. Whether you select them based on liking their profile photo, something they wrote on their website, or because of a particular qualification they have, I recommend trusting your gut when considering your options. The approach the therapist takes will inform what therapy looks like in practice. Ultimately, the therapist is a person, and whether therapy is useful for you or not is strongly influenced by how you feel about them. Do you feel safe with this person, do you feel respected, are they genuine.
Many counsellors offer a free call or introductory session for you to get a sense for the way they work and whether it’s right for you. In addition, it’s helpful to remember that good therapists understand it can be hard to choose. If one counsellor doesn't feel right for you, then you can try another. If you’re looking for something that the therapist feels they can’t provide, they’ll say so, and will likely help you choose someone that might be a better fit for you.
In my practice, I seek to offer a strong relationship first and foremost. I may offer some ways of working that fit with how you like to work. As my understanding of you develops, I might offer activities that draw on different approaches. These are always offerings, and I’ll regularly seek feedback from you to see if my suggestions are helping, or if you have ideas about what might work better for you. This is one of the reasons why feeling safe in the relationship is so important. If something isn’t working, I welcome you telling me. The counselling hour is your time to grow, heal and change, and you are in the driving seat.
In the next post, we’ll look at some key ideas of person-centred counselling and some of the ways it could help you.
