Are you ready to improve your mental health in 2021!?
You need to know how to find a good therapist.
This video post will review 5 easy steps on how to find a good therapist
so you can actually improve your mental health in 2021.
If you prefer to watch the video, click this image here:
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Here’s what you need to know about how to find a good therapist + actually improve your mental health in 2021:
Finding a therapist you feel comfortable with is a lot like dating. You need to know what it is you're looking for and how to see if they're the right fit for you.
Getting started with therapy is great because it can help you improve your grades, your mood, and your relationships (even with yourself!).
STEP 1: WHY NOW?
What is it about now that is making you want to seek therapy services?
Is there something in your life that just isn't going the way that you thought it would go? 2020 anyone?
Or maybe you just have more stress coming at you? again, 2020 anyone?
There might be circumstances you weren't expecting that caught you by surprise like a breakup or the death of a loved one, or maybe you just didn't get into the college of your dreams.
You might not even be able to figure out why it is that you're feeling the way you do, you just know that you want to feel differently.
Before you even search for a therapist, you need to figure out what you would like to be different by the end of therapy. This will help you get clear on what goals you wanna work on and accomplish in your therapy, and help you find a therapist who specializes in the areas that you need help with.
Therapists are not one-size-fits-all.
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Now, not everybody who struggles with that is aware of what it is that they're struggling with, and that's where your first meeting could be really helpful. You can get a leg up if you just take some time and get real real with yourself about what issues are impacting you the most and where you would like things to be different by the time you complete therapy.
One of the ways that I recommend that you go about this is by asking yourself this question:
If you were to go to bed tonight and by some miracle some magical thing happened and all your problems and struggles and worries just disappeared.
When you woke up that next morning, what would life look like for you?
What would be different? What would be the same?
This will help you get clear on what it is that you're actually looking for therapy to help you with.
STEP 2: INSURANCE + BUDGET
You may remember that I need a video a few weeks back about the four costs of therapy for teens (though this is really for anybody).
Look at your budget for those four areas (time, energy, commitment + financial).
Also knowing what your health insurance covers and doesn't cover when it comes to therapy services, and what therapists in your area work with that insurance, will make the search so much easier and save you a lot of time and effort if you just get that information upfront.
STEP 3: START YOUR SEARCH
Searching for a therapist is a lot like searching for a romantic partner or a friend.
You don't always know where to start, but one of the best places to start is by asking the people that you know, love, trust, and respect who they think a good fit for you would be.
You wanna make sure that this is a trustworthy and supportive individual that has good judgment because you're gonna be trusting that they can respect your privacy and confidentiality with this information. Just know that they may also hold you accountable and ask how your search is going.
Just like dating apps, there are actually therapist profiles available online on search directories like GoodTherapy, Psychology Today, TherapyDen, and Therapy for Black Girls.
You don't have to necessarily limit your search to just one but there's also just good old plain google.com. Google is great because you can put in different search factors like specialty area or location.
In the United States of America, our licensing laws tend to be by state, at least at the time that this video is being recorded. I hope that it changes at some point but we're not quite there yet. So you need to make sure that wherever you're searching the person is also licensed in your particular area where you will physically be located at the time of service.
This is not your primary residence, it's actually your physical location. That's because the licensing laws are made to protect the people in that actual state.
STEP 4: GET TO KNOW THEM
You can start to get to know different therapists by checking out their profiles or their websites. A lot of therapists, even if they don't have a YouTube channel like me, do you have some sort of video on their website now which can showcase their personality and therapy style.
As you start to get to know them, ask yourself:
💛 Do you like them and how they help?
💛 Do you trust that they're a good provider for your needs?
Now you won't get that all just from Google and websites, you'll also have to schedule what's called a Client Assessment appointment.
That first appointment is all about getting to know each other and seeing if you're the right fit for each other. It's kind of like a first date.
You might see their profile on a dating app and be like, “oh, okay they are speaking my language,” but then you show up, and maybe there's just not a vibe.
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Now just like WITH dating, don't always go based on that first date. You might wanna give them a few tries to see if there's room to grow in that relationship or not if you're interested in a relationship. Therapy is not a hookup situation, we're not like dip in, dip out.
Therapy really is a relationship.
So you're gonna wanna invest a little more time and energy to see if it's a good fit. And just like in dating, as much as you are getting to know them let the therapist get to know you, too.
STEP 5: ASSESS + REASSESS
We know that relationships change and grow over time as they should.
The people who got you to where you are today may not be the same people to get you to where you're going tomorrow. And the same is true for therapy.
Sometimes we outgrow that relationship, sometimes the help that we need morphs and changes into a new direction.
Therapy is one of those unique relationships where you want to talk to your therapist about what's changing and what you need. We're weird that way, in that we actually like to celebrate with you when it's time to move on whether you've accomplished all the goals that you've set out to complete in therapy, or your needs and circumstances have changed and you're ready to try out a different form of help.
We are here to celebrate you and all of your success.
Tell me….
What information did you find most valuable and helpful? Let me know in the comments over on my YouTube channel- you can click here to go to this video.
And please be sure to share this video because you never know who you could be helping in the process.
If you want to know more about how to tell your parents you want to see a teen therapist, click this link to watch a great video playlist on this very important topic.
IF YOU ARE CONCERNED THAT YOU, OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW, MAY BE CONSIDERING KILLING THEMSELVES, PLEASE CONNECT THEM WITH HELP.
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