What to Look for in a Therapist
Starting counselling can feel like a daunting task, especially when you're feeling mentally or physically exhausted. Concerns that "it may not help" or previous negative experiences with therapy can often create additional hurdles, making it harder to form an effective relationship with your counsellor. These fears are valid, but with the right approach, it’s possible to find a counsellor who meets your needs and helps you feel supported.
This blog explores essential factors to consider when seeking therapy, from ensuring your counsellor is appropriately qualified to understanding the importance of professional ethics and personal connection. By taking these into account, you can make informed decisions about your mental health journey and find the right therapeutic support..
What Should I Look For in a Counsellor?
Finding the right counsellor can be a tricky process and perhaps creates an unnecessary barrier to seeking support.
If like me, you have spent many hours looking for a counsellor but instead ended up confused as to what is a ‘good counsellor’, the following considerations may be helpful
Some of these may be conscious considerations such as cost, location, type of counselling offered but there are also some other aspects that should be considered just as important, which many potential clients are not aware of:
Qualifications
Unfortunately, Counselling is not a regulated profession. What this means is that there is no legal requirement level or restrictions in place for the counselling profession. An individual could take a one-day course and set up a counselling practice with very little practical or theoretical knowledge of what being a counsellor really entails. So ensuring that your counsellor is appropriately qualified is essential. – Do not be afraid to ask to see your therapist’s qualification.
Affiliated Professional Bodies
As there is no legal requirement for the counselling profession in terms of qualifications or level of practice, organisations such as the BACP (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy ), HCPC (Health and Care Professionals Council ) and BABCP (British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies), have taken on the role of self-regulation. Counsellors who join these recognised bodies have met a certain level of training and qualification and have undergone personal therapy and training placements to learn and develop their skills. When seeking a counsellor, it is good practice to make sure that they are part of a recognised professional body. – Again please ask for the details of their registered professional body and check their affiliation using the links to the professional bodies above. No reputable therapist would question such an enquiry.
.Ethical Framework
Counsellors who are part of a recognised professional body have also agreed to abide by a code of ethics and standard of working. This is important because it provides guidelines and ways of working that ensure the client receives a professional high standard of service. The standard of service that a client should expect can be found in the BACP Ethical framework guide.
As a client you should expect to see these principles modelled by any therapist that you choose to work with:
Being Trustworthy
As a counselling client you may feel vulnerable especially as you are talking about events/feelings/experiences that can be very painful. It is especially important that a client feels able to trust their counsellor and your counsellor should demonstrate this by ensuring your confidentiality is maintained during and outside sessions.
Respecting Your Autonomy
This means that your counsellor should be directed by you in the sessions that you have together. You are the expert in you and counselling should not be about a counsellor telling you what you need or what you should do. A counsellor's role is to support the client in finding their own answers /way forward.
Beneficence
This means your counsellor should be committed to ensuring that they act within the best interests of you as their client. They should be mindful of working within the limits of their competence and provide a level of counselling that is within the training and qualifications that they have, for example a counsellor should not be offering Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) if they have not adequately trained and received a recognised form of qualification in this area of expertise.
Non-maleficence
This principle can be summed up as "do no harm". A counsellor should not be involved with or take part in activities that can cause harm to their clients. By this I mean that your counsellor is human, and like the rest of us they will experience life events such as death, family/relationship issues, anxiety and all of these can affect their ability to competently counsel someone. Counsellors MUST have access to their own supervisor (a supervisor should be someone that is experienced in the world of counselling, having been a counsellor for many years, and has also undertaken an adequate qualification in supervision) and have regular sessions with them to ensure that they stay on top of their own mental health and work through any issues that may affect their ability to counsel effectively.
Counsellors should also be undertaking Continual Professional Development (CPD).
A counsellor is never finished with learning, there is always studying, reading and thinking to be done. This is an important aspect of being a good counsellor. By making sure that their skills are up to date and learning about new types of counselling available, this shows that a counsellor is committed to providing their clients with a professional and relevant service.
As a practicing counsellor I believe that there is another area of professionalism to consider, within the wider community. As a therapist, if I am going to uphold all of these ethical principles, I also have a responsibility to ensure that my conduct and the activities that I engage in, at all times, do not undermine my profession as a counsellor.
To make this clearer, I should display the same qualities and behave in the same way whether I am in the counselling room or doing my weekly shop.
Justice
This principle is referring to the fair and impartial treatment for every single client that a therapist works with. It is important to understand what this principle means. It is not referring to equality in the sense that everyone should receive the same treatment from their counsellor because clients may need different types of therapy, what it is referring to is that the counsellor should not enter a counselling room with pre-conceived judgements or opinions that influence the level of service that they give to a client. All clients are entitled to receive the best, professional service regardless of their background, occupation, race or gender.
Self-Respect
This can also be termed self-care. A good counsellor will recognise that they are giving out a lot to each client and this can result in becoming burnt out. Professional burn out can result in client’s receiving a lower standard of care and the counsellor can also find themselves suffering with mental health concerns. To avoid this, a counsellor should engage in activities that help them maintain a good physical and mental health. They should also be aware of when they may need to seek extra support in the form of personal counselling to work through any concerns that may be affecting their ability to counsel effectively.
Personal Connection
I have had many clients who have told me that they have tried counselling in the past, but felt that they did not "click" with their counsellor or felt "judged and told what to do". Sadly these are not isolated incidents and can put people off from engaging in counselling at another point in their lives.
It is important to ask yourself before you try to find a counsellor: What are you looking for?
Is there anything that would make you uncomfortable from the beginning?
When I was looking for a therapist, the counselling room was a particularly important factor to me. I had received some counselling in a very clinical and sterile looking room and it was very difficult for me to relax and build a relationship with my counsellor and to be honest I didn’t really try. I was never fully comfortable in the environment so the next time I wanted to seek counselling I knew the places that I did not want to go to, which narrowed my search. All counsellors have their own ways of working and it is important to acknowledge that finding the right counsellor for you may take time.
Honesty
is an important quality when looking for the right counsellor. That first meeting with a counsellor is as much for you, the client, to ask questions and see whether you feel comfortable, as it is for the counsellor to see whether they have the right skills and tools to be able to support you through the counselling process.
Do not be afraid to speak your mind and share your thoughts with a counsellor, if you feel that you do not “click” with them or you would like to meet with another counsellor before you make a decision on who you would like to work with. Professional and ethical counsellors will not feel inconvenienced by this because we understand the importance of finding the right counsellor.
All of our counsellors meet the above requirements,
please get in touch to talk more if you are looking for a therapist.
Counselling Techniques
Counsellors may hold qualifications in one particular counselling technique.
For example Humanistic counselling may use Person-Centred Counselling or “talking Therapies.” Cognitive Counselling may focus on techniques such as Cognitive Behavioural techniques and Psychodynamic Therapy may use techniques such as dream analysis.
Counsellors will often obtain training and qualifications in many different types of counselling techniques and these become what are termed as “Integrative Counsellors”. This means that a counsellor is able to work with a client using many different therapeutic techniques.
This is good news for the client as a counsellor is able to tailor their counselling approach to the needs of their client and offer different types of counselling rather than just using one type of counselling for every single client.
CBT
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
CPT
Cognitive Processing Therapy
DBT
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy
REBT
Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy
ACT
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
EMDR
Eye Movement and desensitisation reprocessing
Systemic Family Therapy
Used to help families/couples to learn to better communicate and work through difficult situations.
Gestalt Therapy
Looks at exploring the client’s non-verbal and body language and to accept responsibility for feelings and actions
Transactional Analysis
Looks at social communication and transactions that take place.
Solution focused brief therapy
Focuses on a particular concern to promote positive change rather than looking at the past.
Art Therapy
Using creativity as a way of exploring a client’s world and concerns.
Colour Therapy
Using colour to work with and understand the body’s inner vibrations.
Dream Analysis
Using dreams to explore a person’s unconscious.
Music Therapy
Using music as a form of self-expression.
Research has concluded that some counselling techniques statistically provide more success when used to treat certain types of conditions, for example Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Anxiety and Depression can be helped using CBT techniques. CBT however does focus on the here and now and in particular looks at thought patterns that influence behaviour. In my experience as a counsellor, the underlying root cause of many of these type of conditions stems from past experiences and situations, therefore it can be important to consider using other techniques such as talking therapies as well as CBT techniques to allow you to explore all of these areas.
When is the Right Time to Access Counselling?
In my opinion counselling should be readily available in school and employment settings as it can help maintain good mental health and also be used as a preventive tool to stop young people, managers and employees developing more complex mental health concerns such as anxiety.
In fact, counselling should be readily available in any setting as this may help reduce the stigma surrounding mental health.
Counselling can be sought at anytime and for any reason, but the following are some examples when it is especially useful:
Trauma
Grief
Relationship concerns
Long term sick/unemployed
Stress
Identity/self esteem
Abuse
Existential Crisis
Often this happens after experiencing a loss
Addictions
Emotional support
Anxiety and Depression
Help with recognising emotions
Communication