How Do I Choose the Right Therapist?

"How do I go about choosing the right therapist?"

This is an important question as a therapist’s effectiveness significantly impacts the quality of one's therapy journey. Hence, we have put together some tips to guide you through this important milestone in your recovery journey.

Here are 5 steps to choosing the right therapist:

Step 1: Type of Therapy Modality

First, decide the type of therapy you wish to go for. Psychodynamic therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) are two popular therapy approaches. Art psychotherapy is a form of psychodynamic therapy.

Some key differences between them are:

• Psychodynamic therapy is insight-oriented. The focus is on early life experiences to identify and address the root causes of current difficulties. CBT focuses on the present and identifying practical solutions to current difficulties. Gratitude journaling is an example of a practical solution.
• Psychodynamic therapy centres on the subconscious to effect transformation. CBT focuses on the conscious mind to change how you perceive and structure your experiences.

Step 2: Qualifications and Experience

Once you've decided on your preferred modality, list down prospective practitioners and seek out their credentials. At the moment, mental health services are not regulated in Singapore. Hence, it may be difficult to identify legitimate and qualified mental health practitioners.

Nonetheless, here are some guidelines to make your task easier:

• Counsellors should be clinical members of the Singapore Association for Counselling (SAC). This ensures that they have completed a SAC Recognised Programme and have fulfilled at least 600 hours of face-to-face counselling.
• Psychologists should be registered in the Singapore Register of Psychologists. A registered psychologist would have at least a Masters’ degree in applied psychology and completed stringent practicum requirements.
• Art Psychotherapists must have at least a Masters’ qualification in Art Therapy. The art psychotherapist should also be a registered member of an art therapy professional body. Such bodies include ANZACATA, BAAT, AATA and ATAS.

Our art therapists at Solace have a MA in Art Therapy from LASALLE College of the Arts and have completed at least 800 hours of supervised clinical hours. They are also registered with either ANZACATA or ATAS.

Step 3: Specialisation

Mental health practitioners tackle a variety of issues, from anxiety and depression to schizophrenia and eating disorders. Each of these requires different approaches. As such, you should ensure that the therapist you are considering has experience with your specific concerns. For example, the Singapore General Hospital Eating Disorders Programme is structured to help people with eating disorders.

If you would like to process trauma you have experienced, our art psychotherapists at Solace Art Psychotherapy may be a good fit. We have extensive experience and specialise in trauma-informed work for youths and adults.

Some forms of trauma include bullying in school, childhood physical abuse, and the death of a loved one. We also help improve the quality of life for our clients who have frequent anger outbursts; poor relationships with family members; or struggling with self-esteem issues that may stem from past traumatic experiences. If you are curious to learn more, check out our post on how art psychotherapy can heal trauma.

Step 4: Try it Out

Once you have shortlisted a therapist, book your first appointment with them. Attending an actual session allows you to assess the therapy space and see if you feel safe and comfortable enough to share. You should also use these sessions to evaluate a therapist’s soft skills (such as their demeanour, pace, etc) and determine if the therapist is a right fit for you.

Mental health practitioners are also bound by a duty of confidentiality to the client and are required to comply with their respective ethical guidelines and codes of conduct. You should assess the therapist’s practices regarding these as well.

To fully benefit from the therapy sessions, it is important to feel comfortable with the therapy modality and the therapist themselves.

At Solace, we strongly encourage new clients to attend one or two single sessions with our art psychotherapists before signing a package. We want our clients to commit to a package with us only when they are certain there is a good client-therapy and client-therapist fit.

Step 5: Repeat (if necessary)

We cannot emphasise enough how a good client-therapy and client-therapist fit is essential to the effectiveness of therapy. Hence, if you are not comfortable with the therapist or therapy modality after 1-2 sessions, consider a different type of therapy and repeat steps 2 to 4.

The process of finding a suitable therapist may be daunting and discouraging, but a good client-therapy and client-therapist fit is essential to the effectiveness of therapy.

Lastly, commit to healing and recovery

If you found the right therapist fit and a suitable modality, congratulations!

What you should do now is to commit wholeheartedly to the therapy process. This is simple to do, yet hard to keep doing. Prevention is better than cure and this applies to your mental health. It is better to deal with issues earlier, instead of letting them fester and grow.

Remember, there are no shortcuts to healing

In our fast-changing world, we want convenience and speed. But that is not how therapy, especially transformative therapy, works. Therapy can help you heal and recover but this process will take time. There are no shortcuts to the process, no magic pills that you can swallow.

Jonathan Shedler, an acclaimed researcher and clinician, states that “psychotherapy is about slowing things down—so we can begin to see and understand the patterns that otherwise happen quickly, automatically, without reflection or awareness.” Therefore, it is important to commit and give the process the time it needs to heal you.

If you would like to know what to expect during your first art psychotherapy session with us, check out the video below:

Art Psychotherapy at Solace

At Solace, our registered art therapists have at least a Masters's qualification and a minimum of 750 hours of clinical supervision, in accordance with the requirements of the Australian, New Zealand, and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA).

We deliver competent therapy services through ethical, safe, and empathetic art psychotherapy interventions with the aim of building emotional resilience. With our guidance, we are confident in helping teens and adults identify, process, and work through difficulties to emerge stronger and be who they truly are.

Take the First Step Forward and Resolve Inner Conflicts

Enjoyed this article? Share it!