Clinical psychology. Counselling. Therapist. Psychological therapist. CBT specialist. Psychotherapist. It’s all so confusing! Are they all the same? Does it really matter? I want to get the right expertise and not get fobbed off with a quack. How can I be sure that I’m seeing the right professional?
One thing all the therapists share in common is that you are sitting in a room talking to another person. But the similarities end there. It seems to me that there are two key questions.
Firstly, is this the right professional for the sort of help I need?
Secondly, are they properly trained and qualified?
But there’s an elephant in the room here. They might be the right professional and properly trained but not much use at what they do. This is a hard one to know – there are no league tables to check on. About the best you can do is to get recommendations from friends, colleagues, or your GP and do some careful research. It’s also not easy to know in advance whether you will get on with the therapist. An initial assessment session without any further commitment should give you a feeling about whether it will work or not. This is the approach I like to use.