Somedays, getting out of bed is hard. Like, trying-to-drain-the-ocean-with-a-teaspoon hard. Your physical body may be exhausted, and your mind is carrying the emotional equivalent of the weight of the world. Perhaps you are dealing with apocalypse fatigue, lots of everyday stress, or an underlying mental illness.
If your feelings are starting to feel overwhelming, or you simply wish to learn some new tools for dealing, it may be time to look into getting counseling. The task of looking for a counselor may seem daunting, but there are a few tips that may help smooth the process along.
Exploring and Narrowing Down Options There are two main strategies to look for a counselor. You can either ask people you know – your doctor, a friend, another counselor, or you can do a Google search.
If you ask people you know, they can give personalized feedback about counselors they met with and help you determine if that person would be a good fit. But you may not know many people who see counselors, or their counselor may not be accepting new patients, or the counselor may not be a good fit for you. Either way, your options could end up limited.
At the other end of the services spectrum, you might look online.
Google may be overwhelming, and while some sites like Psychology Today are helpful, they can give you too many options, not show all available practitioners, or suggest therapists who don’t take your insurance. To bypass some extra struggle, check your insurance website or make a call to them to see if they have a list of counselors covered by your insurance.
The list will also likely be long. Narrow it by using keywords of specific things you want treated or diagnosed, like “depression” or “trauma.”
Now you can start clicking on the names and you’ll see things like “LPC,” “LCSW,” and “PhD.” Those are all titles that tell you a little about how they are certified.
An LCP, or Licensed Professional Counselor, usually has at least a master’s degree in counseling and begins their practice with hours of post-graduate supervised work under their belt. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker, or LCSW is somewhat similar to an LPC, but they received their degree in social work. A psychologist with a PhD graduated with a doctorate, for which they must complete an internship.
Finding a Good Fit
There are seem to be many different types of counseling, but there are really five main approaches: psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive, humanist, and holistic/integrative therapy.
A psychodynamic approach will typically focus on the unconscious and interactions between the different parts of your personality and early childhood experiences. It puts emphasis on things we do without realizing why we are doing them. This approach views behavior and thought processes as the tip of an iceberg, with the bulk of it being the unconscious hidden below the water.
A behavioral approach deals more with what is physically seen and how to manipulate our unconscious through our conscious actions. Think about conditioning. It operates off of the belief that behavior is learned, so if you do not like a behavior, learn a different one to replace it. It is often paired with a cognitive approach, which focuses on thinking as the way to change emotions and behavior.
Called cognitive behavioral therapy, it puts an emphasis on changing your thoughts and behaviors to help you achieve your goals. Whereas the psychodynamic approach tends to focus on the past, this approach looks more at the present.
A humanistic approach also tends to focus on the present and believes in the innate goodness of humans, focusing on self-growth, and being true to yourself to live a fulfilling life. It sees a conscious experience, no matter how subjective, as more important than objective reality, and believe that people are motived to reach their highest potential.
Holistic/integrative therapy tries to add different pieces of all the above approaches, and can include less traditional therapies like hypnotherapy. Many practitioners draw on lots of different approaches to varying degrees. However, a focus on a certain type of therapy may be a better fit for you personally.
To maximize the chance of finding a good fit right away, Corvallis LCSW Jana Svoboda suggests in a blogpost that you contact those with openings and give them a short idea of what you want to work on and what you’re looking for. Even if you may not be a good fit with that particular person, they might be able to recommend a person or approach that will work better for you.
“If possible, have a brief call with them to feel them out before scheduling. Expect the first session may be awkward and give it a chance, but if it’s not working after two or three, have a frank talk with the therapist and ask for what you need.” Svoboda said in a recent interview. “You aren’t obliged to continue if it’s not a good fit. But remember you have a role here—be clear about your goals, what works and doesn’t for you, do your homework if given, give feedback.”
Looking Toward the Future
If you want to bypass lists and decisions, Oregon Counseling asks that you fill out an intake form, and they will pair you with whomever they think will be the best fit.
No matter how you decide to approach this, be prepared for a wait.
“Almost everyone is full, especially if you are using certain insurance companies. On the plus side, since most of us are doing tele-health (Zoom, etc.) visits, you can look anywhere within your state,” Svoboda said. “Therapists are licensed by state and most just in one. But this means you could ‘see’ a therapist in Coos Bay or Portland.”
Don’t be discouraged if it takes longer than you expected to find someone, or if your first session is months out. You are worth all the effort you are putting into this.
By: Hannah Ramsey
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