Find a Great Mental Health Practitioner

A real­is­tic approach to find­ing the right men­tal health pro­fes­sion­al is important.

Many peo­ple will try one provider and then give up if it doesn’t work to their expectations.

So, think of a ther­a­pist as a ser­vice provider, like a lawyer or an accoun­tant. Chances are you’d do your home­work before choos­ing some­one to work with you. You’d like­ly inter­view sev­er­al can­di­dates and check ref­er­ences and qual­i­fi­ca­tions, to deter­mine if they are the right fit for your needs.

Find­ing a men­tal health pro­fes­sion­al is no different.

Com­pat­i­bil­i­ty is Everything

In my expe­ri­ence, with coach­es, psy­chol­o­gists, or coun­selors, there are cer­tain peo­ple who res­onate with you and oth­ers with whom you could nev­er work.

You want to make sure, beyond qual­i­fi­ca­tions and exper­tise, that your per­son­al­i­ties, val­ues, beliefs, and work­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tion styles work well together.

So, I rec­om­mend you plan for an ini­tial ses­sion with two, four or, if need­ed, five or six dif­fer­ent men­tal health prac­ti­tion­ers until you find one that’s right for you.

If you expect that it’s going to take three or four or five con­ver­sa­tions with dif­fer­ent pro­fes­sion­als to find the right fit, you’re bound to be successful.

The First Step

An ide­al place to start is to get rec­om­men­da­tions from peo­ple you know and respect – peo­ple who have sim­i­lar beliefs and approach­es to the world.

When a client asks us for a rec­om­men­da­tion, we first assess what they need, and con­sid­er which of of the dozens of advi­sors we know that would be the best can­di­dates to suit their sit­u­a­tion and personality.

When it comes to choos­ing this kind of ser­vice provider, you want to make sure you make the right choice. Your men­tal health will thank you for it.

The Chal­lenge

• If you already have a great coun­selor, psy­chol­o­gist or oth­er men­tal health prac­ti­tion­er, con­grat­u­la­tions! Maybe you can con­nect peo­ple in your net­work to them.
• If you don’t have one and would like to, what can you do to make sure you try three or four or five pro­fes­sion­als to find one you’re com­fort­able work­ing with.

Oth­er blogs

• What Makes You Happy?
• Run­ning to Catch Up or Lead­ing the Pack?
• The Psy­cho­log­i­cal Price of Entre­pre­neur­ship 

Old­er podcasts

• The Pow­er & Strug­gle of Say­ing No
• Odds Are, Your Team is Strug­gling and Not Telling You

Resources

9−8−8 hot­line for men­tal health and sui­cide pre­ven­tion support.

Free, 24 hours a day, sev­en days a week, 365 days a year. Trained cri­sis respon­ders will lis­ten to you and pro­vide sup­port with com­pas­sion, and a safe space to talk.