Choosing a therapist

Choosing a therapist can be tricky. You might have all sorts of questions in your mind, such as “Will I feel comfortable talking to them?”, ”Will they understand?”, “Will they know how to help?” Until you meet with your therapist and start to work with them, it’s difficult to answer these questions. There are some things you can do beforehand though.

1. Talk to your therapist on the phone before you arrange an appointment. 
Many therapists will offer a free initial telephone consultation before meeting with them. This allows you to ask questions and make an informed choice about whether you want to start the process of psychological therapy.

2. Don’t feel you have to stay with someone just because you’ve met them. 
Think of your first appointment as a chance to decide if you feel your therapist might be a good match for you. ​

​3. Check out what their qualifications are. 
​There are a range of different professionals offering talking therapies with a wide range of qualifications. The most common you’ll see advertised are counsellors, therapists and clinical or counselling psychologists.

What's the difference between a psychologist, counsellor and a therapist?

Clinical and Counselling Psychologists
Clinical and Counselling Psychologists are amongst the most highly qualified level of therapist. 
“Clinical Psychologist” and "Counselling Psychologist" are protected titles so by law, you can only call yourself a clinical or counselling psychologist if you have completed rigorous training, including at a minimum, an honours level undergraduate degree and a doctorate level degree. As well as academic learning, clinical and counselling psychologists must have had their therapy skills observed and assessed on numerous occasions to be considered competent. Psychologists also have to have regular ongoing professional development and supervision to maintain their registration and adhere to strict ethical and professional standards.

Psychologists are trained in delivering a range of therapies, one of which must be CBT if they are trained in the UK. Because clinical and counselling psychologists learn a range of therapies they can work flexibly with individually tailored approaches and aren’t limited to using a specific approach. Instead, psychologists aim to work with you to develop a joint understanding of how your difficulties have developed and draw from a range of evidence based approaches to find an approach which suits you as an individual. 

Counsellors
Counsellors will typically provide you with an open space to talk about and reflect on the difficulties you are experiencing. Counselling tends to be less structured than other forms of talking therapy and can be particularly helpful if you are experiencing a difficult situations which might be beyond your control to change. Anyone can call themselves a counsellor, so check what qualifications someone has if they advertise themselves as a counsellor. Counsellors may be highly trained with doctoral levels degrees, or they may have minimal qualifications, so it’s always worth checking what qualification they have. Ideally look for a good university degree and registration with a professional body.

Therapists
Again, anyone can call themselves a therapist, but usually people will specify what type of therapist they are, e.g. a CBT therapist, as the title “therapist” is very generic. Again, this isn’t a protected title anyone can call themselves a therapist so check out that they have good, recognisable qualifications and are accredited by a national body. Therapists may be an expert in a specific form of therapy but might not be qualified to use other approaches so have a look into the type of therapy they provide and see if you think it will suit you.