What should I look for in a therapist?

The first thing I would suggest is that your therapist is a member of a regulated body. It doesn't mean that they will be good, but it does mean that you have someone to complain to if they practice unethically, and that they could be removed from that regulatory body for poor practice. The main regulatory bodies in the UK are the BACP, the NCPS, and the UKCP. There is increasing expectation that therapists are Accredited with these bodies, rather than just being a member. Personally I wouldn't necessarily go for someone Accredited over being Registered if you felt better with someone Registered. Some of the best therapists I know haven't yet gone through the Accreditation process, so in my experience it's not really a marker of excellence.

Aside from that, I think you should look for someone that you feel as though you trust, that understands you, and that cares for you. Sometimes therapists will tick every possible issue on the Directories so that get the most clients. I feel a bit queasy about this - is it really possible for a therapist to specialist in everything? As a result, I wouldn't just go with someone having ticked the specialism that I want to work on.

I also would look for someone who answers your questions honestly. For me, there should be no secrecy from your therapist about how they work. They should be able to describe their way of working to you honestly and clearly, and what they believe they are doing in the therapy room for you. Different therapists will hold different views on what is important in therapy, and what their role is, and counter-intuitively, different modalities (which is what we call different approaches to therapy) all have about the same positive outcomes.

The bit about therapy that seems to make it more likely to work or not according to studies is the quality of the relationship between the client and the therapist, and that the therapist believes what they are doing will work. So when I talk about finding someone that you feel that you trust, that understands you, and that cares for you, this is really the most important thing in therapy.

Personally, I would stay away from therapists who's profiles read as AI (look out for the - in between regular words, and an unearthly feeling). If someone is going to use AI to speak with you, then you're not going anywhere near reality with the therapist. The therapist being authentic, means that you will feel more able to be authentically yourself too.

There are also practicialities to think about: Is the therapist's location feasible for you? Can you afforrd the price that they are charging long-term? Can they do the times that you need? Do you want a session in person or online?

It's also worth thinking about whether you have to sign up for a length of sessions as well. For me, the client's choice is paramount and so it would feel unethical to make the client sign up to a minimum of sessions. It is important to me that someone can finish sessions whenever they want, and the ability to leave is a valid and important choic

e for them. Other therapists have different views on this, and may well be consistent in their ethical framework when they do so. It is worth checking when you speak to a therapist, and working out what you think about it.

I hope that you find the search for a therapist useful.