Posted by gardenergirl on June 22, 2005, at 7:26:23
In reply to Re: Interviewing therapists (poss TRIGGER?) » partlycloudy, posted by Jazzed on June 21, 2005, at 21:04:57
Hi PC,
Sorry to hear of your T woes. How awful. But it sounds like moving on is the right thing to do for you. And of course you want someone who is committed to helping you look forward.Can I share (Are you sitting down?) my husband's approach to finding a T? (WOO HOOO!!!!!!) Okay, just a little giddy there.
At any rate, I started the process by going to my state psych association's site nad using their online referral program. You can put in a ton of parameters such as different disorders, hours available, gender, location, orientation, specialty areas, etc. and it spits out a list. I compared that to our insurance panel and gave him some names, making sure to cross out anyone I know professionally.
He took it from there and basically did the same thing, LOL. I had no idea he would run his own search, but maybe he had a criteria I am not aware of. He also then checked the person's license with the State Board to make sure she is in good standing. Jeepers, he does that with all of his docs. I never do that, although for a T I would. And then he called a few. He based his decision on how responsive on the phone she was, as well as available late in the day.
At any rate, he plans to tell her that I suggested he come (cringe) because of my depression. I reframed that for him (can't help it) to suggesting he come to get support for himself since I cannot always provide it. At any rate, he knows that the first session is important to establishing a connection. I tried to talk with him about empathy and caring, and how this is communicated, but is someone who is not a people person, so I don't think he quite "got" what I was saying. And he brought up the "she's being paid to care" issue already. Cracked me up. Um, does he think I only care about my clients because I get paid a pittance to see them? Sheesh.
Okay, enough about me. I would tell anyone to ask about orientation and general ways of doing things. I would ask how long they might anticipate you being in therapy based on what they know so far. I would ask what kinds of cases they have most success with and which do they find more challenging.
Falls has that wonderful post from the past, which I keep meaning to bookmark.
And of course I would talk about your recent experiences. Any good T wants to know how previous therapy went. What worked and what didn't, how you feel about it, etc.
Sorry for this to be so long, and more about me than your question. I just found all this out from hubby last night during our first "marriage meeting."
Woo hoo!
Good luck with your appointments. I hope you find a dynamite T.
gg
poster:gardenergirl
thread:516823
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050622/msgs/516967.html