Looking for a therapist/counselor is often a new experience for a person. For the most part, most calls to Tampa Therapy start out with “I have never done this before. I’m not sure what the process is.”
And it’s a perfectly okay to feel that way (meaning, a combination of many emotions perhaps including a tad confused, ambivalent, unsure, excited, ready, etc.)! In many ways, finding a therapist is similar to finding another medical provider. The same way that you would go about looking for any other kind of doctor is how you might look for a therapist. This could include looking up the therapist’s educational background, profile, experience, years in practice, and areas of specialization. You might also look up reviews to see how the practice as a whole functions and if people are satisfied with their experiences.
Likewise, there are nuance differences specific to finding a therapist that can make the experience of doing so quite a bit different. Since a therapist is someone who you meet and talk with on a weekly basis, it is important to find someone who you feel comfortable with. Below are some of the key factors we would suggest taking into consideration when looking for a therapist in Tampa:
- Their profile: At Tampa Therapy, our therapist’s profiles capture their license type, areas of experience, treatments offered, and specialization. This helps inform where they really excel in their clinical work and how they can be of help to you.
- License type: is the clinician a Doctor (either a Licensed Psychologist or Psychiatrist), Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist? These licenses all hold different meanings. License type is a direct relationship to the degree program the clinician was enrolled in, and graduated from. In some cases, license type does have a direct implication on the type of previous clinical experience and treatment offered. However, rest assured that if you are seeking therapy at our practice, all of our clinicians are qualified to provide treatment in our areas of specialization.
- Specialization: this is important! While sometimes it can be helpful to see someone who has knowledge in different areas, you truly want to work with a clinician who is specialized in the area that you are dealing with. There is a difference between being a “jack of all trades” versus “a master at one” -or a few, usually. Someone who is specialized has advanced training, supervised experience prior to practicing independently, and a lot of clinical experience working with similar types of cases. They know how to address the problems that you are dealing with and they do it well.
- At Tampa Therapy, we specialize in treating trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and relationships. This means we are really good at treating these areas. If you are challenged with one or more of these, we are the practice that you want to call, and our clinicians are the ones who can best help you.
- Experience: While it does take time to accumulate experience, and it is important to honor that all clinicians start somewhere, it is typically best to see someone who has some amount of it behind them. This means they have at minimum a fair amount of hands-on experience treating clients with similar backgrounds or presenting problems, and that experience means they know how to work with you on your therapeutic journey. All of our clinicians are experienced because we want to provide the most effective therapy services possible.
- Practice where you will be seen: This matters.
- What is the environment where therapy will take place? Is it sterile, too clinical, taking place in a converted doctor’s exam room or a dated business office? Part of the therapy process is having an environment that is conducive to doing good therapy work. We work hard to provide a relaxed, beautiful, and truly therapeutic environment for our patients.
- Are others happy with their services? Check reviews. Get word of mouth referrals.
- Take time to understand their policies. Clients of Tampa Therapy know that all of our policies are focused on providing high quality care, and increasing access to services. Everything we do is founded on those two factors. This also means we care. Truly. Like, a lot…
- Will you be seen weekly? Years and years of clinical research has shown that to get the most from the therapy process, weekly appointments are essential. Practicing any other way is simply not providing services in line with best practices. As our practice is founded on only providing the most effective services, we will only see our clients weekly at the beginning of treatment. We want you to get the most out of treatment, and this means not wasting your mental and emotional energy, time, or money. After several weeks of engagement in sessions and noted progress, it’s absolutely an option to step down to biweekly. But therapy should always be weekly when you start out. Any less and you’re not getting the most out of it.
HOW TAMPA THERAPY CAN HELP
As a practice founded on providing the best quality services, we check all the boxes above. We are here to help. We are committed to providing a relaxing, healing, and non-judgmental environment to support you on your journey. If you want things to be different, you have to change them. Give us a call today to start making important changes in your life.