When requiring an electrician or plumber, the majority of people will telephone at least two or three service providers and get answers to several questions, like: What are your rates? How many years have you been in business? When will you be available? What types of payment do you accept? And so on… Some people may even check with a consumer-advocacy website, comparable to the one provided by the Better Business Bureau, to tell if any sort of complaints have been filed against the contractor.
When looking for a doctor or medical specialist, just about everyone will ask a number of professionals, friends, and family members for referrals. Even then, as often as not, individuals will seek the advice of two or more medical specialists to acquire that all-important “second opinion.”
However, when searching for a mental health specialist, all too often it seems people just contact the very first therapist they find and schedule an appointment. No confirming qualifications… No searching for complaints… No questions… Nothing to it!
Then again, an effective therapist will ask you a great many questions, and quite a few of them will likely be of a personal nature. Some of these questions will be on forms the therapist expects you to fill out before the initial session. Your therapist will then ask you some other questions in your initial session, as well as more and more during the sessions to follow.
The relationship, trust, and rapport established between a therapist and a client is arguably the single most important contributor to effective therapy. In order for therapy to be successful, you should be honest and genuine regarding your feelings, thoughts, and experiences. Your therapist will reflect whatever they are hearing or seeing in order to make sure you feel heard, understood, and appreciated. It’s this back-and-forth flow that allows your therapist to determine how to help you best and steer the path of your work with each other.
Why You Need to Interview Your Therapist
I know when we’re hurting considerably, we typically don’t think clearly. And it might be hard to know the right questions to ask a potential therapist in an initial “interview.” However, your questions are very important.
So, before calling a couple of therapists to schedule appointments, spend some time thinking about the concerns that matter most to you. For example:
- Do you want to work with a mental health professional who concentrates on serving individuals with similar challenges to those you’re dealing with?
- Does your therapist’s religion, race, marital status, or cultural heritage matter?
- Does it matter whether or not the therapist you work with has raised children?
- Would you feel more comfortable employing a therapist of the same gender?
- How long are you willing to travel for therapy?
- How much time do you have available to spend on therapy?
Considering the fact that rapport and trust tend to be so essential to effective psychotherapy, just about all therapists will do whatever they can to ensure their clients feel comfortable. Accordingly, nearly all mental health professionals are receptive to getting asked a wide range of questions involving their education, professional training, credentials, and the psychotherapy techniques they employ.
Having said that, generally therapists will not provide answers to personal questions or provide clients their individual views on topics such as politics, religion, etc., to ensure that their clients are as authentic as possible in their self-expression during the course of therapy without being worried about what the therapist feels.
There are numerous other things to ask a prospective therapist, a number of the more essential are:
- Which age groups do you work with?
- How long is an average session?
- How frequently will we need to meet?
- How long will treatment continue?
- What treatment methods do you employ to help clients get better?
- Will there be a person I can call if a crisis arises and you’re unavailable?
- Are there any limits of confidentiality?
You don’t have to ask most of these questions before, or even during, your very first visit, but be sure to ask them. This kind of interview process will do more than simply provide you information. It can offer you a feel for the therapist, how they communicate with you, and the likelihood you and the therapist can establish a healthy working relationship.
Never forget, the therapist is in business to help you. We’ve all known people we’d prefer to not work with. Ask the appropriate questions, and make sure your therapist isn’t one of them… After all, this is about your long-term success and happiness!