Timely post as I am at the beginning stages of looking for a therapist. There are a lot of good questions to ask that I wouldn’t have thought of. Thanks!
I will add that many private practice therapists will have social media now as they are running a business. Their posts can be checked out to see what content they’re sharing and if they talk about power dynamics or talk about issues related to women.
I think too it’s important to ask about what specific modalities of treatment they’ve received training, supervision and certification for. Each modality of therapy can take about 1 year to get the extensive training and supervision for. These trainings are very expensive so while many therapists will claim to be able to treat many conditions, they’re often only using one approach to treat (ie cognitive behavior therapy CBT). But, there are multiple modalities that have been shown to be evidenced based for PTSD (for example). These include Cognitive Processing Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. There are a couple of others too but what has shown to have NO evidence for is supportive therapy (which is where one just comes in talks and the therapist just listens and says “you’re a great person”, “you’re so brave”, “that sounds difficult” and other positive affirmations but not much else).
I work in the mental health field and found very few therapists actually have the training and education in multiple modalities of treatment. Even ones who say they have hx of working with abuse victims or domestic violence as most therapists in the US start off in the community mental health setting. They are paid very little and are given very difficult cases with patients with numerous social economic problems so little funding actually goes into training. Some of the most worst off patients in our society are given the most inexperienced therapists in this setting.
Totally agree!!!!! Also - I always see it as a red flag when a therapist states/lists that they use lots of different modalities bc that usually means they aren’t highly trained in any of them!!!
I think the useful links is great! My only comment is could you call other useful articles or other things I’ve written about this. I was expecting to see external links to organizations that would help find a therapist.
Great article Zawn! I’m reevaluating my therapist after seeing her for two years. She has been instrumental in my healing and EMDR was excellent but I find the sessions to be very unstructured. I was starting to wonder if this is the norm for therapy. This has been the case for all 7 therapists I’ve seen over the years .I find it’s kinda of like a biweekly “check-in” on her end but I bring my own agenda of things I want to address. I’m going to talk to her about bringing more structure to my sessions. Thanks!
I might be biased bc I used to be a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) but I truly believe that when it comes to therapists that are passionate about all the ‘isms’ they can be a great fit since they are the only type of licensed therapist that has a degree that entails learning extensively about social justice issues in addition to clinical practice - that being said, like any therapist or any profession there are always going to be some shitty LCSWs out there!
It’s also important to note that while it’s great to have a feminist therapist, if not imperative, you still might not be a good fit personality and modality wise with them even if they are a feminist.
Like Zawn summed up - therapists are trained to not impose/reveal any of their own beliefs to a patient in order to make ensure all types of clients feel safe - so at least from what I know a therapist would be unlikely to identify themselves as a feminist to you because that in and of itself takes away from their neutral and unbiased perspective, which is a cornerstone of effective and professional therapy - so… I liked the the articles suggestion to feel out the therapist as you get to know them and you can usually tell by their reactions or responses to certain things you express that will be good indicators of whether or not they are a feminist!
Lastly, I think the most helpful website out there is psychology.com - you can filter by gender, what they treat, what methods they use, and their bio usually gives a good feel for their personality as well - and it’s helpful to note that under the ‘what they treat’ category, ‘women’s issues’ is one of them.
I enjoy and have a knack for helping people navigate and find therapists that are a good fit for their needs if anyone ever wants/needs help :)
Timely post as I am at the beginning stages of looking for a therapist. There are a lot of good questions to ask that I wouldn’t have thought of. Thanks!
Thank you what great advice!
I will add that many private practice therapists will have social media now as they are running a business. Their posts can be checked out to see what content they’re sharing and if they talk about power dynamics or talk about issues related to women.
I think too it’s important to ask about what specific modalities of treatment they’ve received training, supervision and certification for. Each modality of therapy can take about 1 year to get the extensive training and supervision for. These trainings are very expensive so while many therapists will claim to be able to treat many conditions, they’re often only using one approach to treat (ie cognitive behavior therapy CBT). But, there are multiple modalities that have been shown to be evidenced based for PTSD (for example). These include Cognitive Processing Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. There are a couple of others too but what has shown to have NO evidence for is supportive therapy (which is where one just comes in talks and the therapist just listens and says “you’re a great person”, “you’re so brave”, “that sounds difficult” and other positive affirmations but not much else).
I work in the mental health field and found very few therapists actually have the training and education in multiple modalities of treatment. Even ones who say they have hx of working with abuse victims or domestic violence as most therapists in the US start off in the community mental health setting. They are paid very little and are given very difficult cases with patients with numerous social economic problems so little funding actually goes into training. Some of the most worst off patients in our society are given the most inexperienced therapists in this setting.
Totally agree!!!!! Also - I always see it as a red flag when a therapist states/lists that they use lots of different modalities bc that usually means they aren’t highly trained in any of them!!!
I think the useful links is great! My only comment is could you call other useful articles or other things I’ve written about this. I was expecting to see external links to organizations that would help find a therapist.
Great article Zawn! I’m reevaluating my therapist after seeing her for two years. She has been instrumental in my healing and EMDR was excellent but I find the sessions to be very unstructured. I was starting to wonder if this is the norm for therapy. This has been the case for all 7 therapists I’ve seen over the years .I find it’s kinda of like a biweekly “check-in” on her end but I bring my own agenda of things I want to address. I’m going to talk to her about bringing more structure to my sessions. Thanks!
This is such a valuable article thank you!!!
I might be biased bc I used to be a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) but I truly believe that when it comes to therapists that are passionate about all the ‘isms’ they can be a great fit since they are the only type of licensed therapist that has a degree that entails learning extensively about social justice issues in addition to clinical practice - that being said, like any therapist or any profession there are always going to be some shitty LCSWs out there!
It’s also important to note that while it’s great to have a feminist therapist, if not imperative, you still might not be a good fit personality and modality wise with them even if they are a feminist.
Like Zawn summed up - therapists are trained to not impose/reveal any of their own beliefs to a patient in order to make ensure all types of clients feel safe - so at least from what I know a therapist would be unlikely to identify themselves as a feminist to you because that in and of itself takes away from their neutral and unbiased perspective, which is a cornerstone of effective and professional therapy - so… I liked the the articles suggestion to feel out the therapist as you get to know them and you can usually tell by their reactions or responses to certain things you express that will be good indicators of whether or not they are a feminist!
Lastly, I think the most helpful website out there is psychology.com - you can filter by gender, what they treat, what methods they use, and their bio usually gives a good feel for their personality as well - and it’s helpful to note that under the ‘what they treat’ category, ‘women’s issues’ is one of them.
I enjoy and have a knack for helping people navigate and find therapists that are a good fit for their needs if anyone ever wants/needs help :)