Top 5 qualities Your Ideal Therapist Should Have (Part 2 of 2)

In previous blog, I discussed two other must-have qualities your ideal therapist shall possess: competence, and professionalism. Today, let’s continue.

3.  Respect:

·        Is he/she capable of respecting your ownership? The treatment and the sessions are yours and you shall be entitled to your opinions, values, feelings, thoughts, and choices.

·        Can he /she sit with differences between you and him/her by not imposing their frame of references onto you? Simply put, your ideal therapist shall be able to accept you as you are.

·        Does he/she honor your rights to make well-informed choices by fulfilling their obligation to offer necessary psychoeducation regarding therapy process, treatment approaches, office policies, pros and cons of therapy, emergency procedure, etc.

4. Honesty:

·        Is he/she upfront about their boundaries and limits? This may include areas of expertise, financial responsibility, confidentiality, limits of confidentiality, fees for services not covered by your insurance, rights and responsibilities as a client and those for therapist, his / her availabilities between the sessions, etc.

·        Is he/she willing to risk losing your approval when sharing honest observation so that you are properly and therapeutically challenged? If not, he/she is not doing what they get paid for.

5.  Emotional maturity

Working with a therapist whose unfinished business interferes with treatment can be a waste of your time. Your ideal therapist shall have fought their own battles and won. Otherwise, they have nothing to offer you and working with them won’t go far.

This quality may manifest itself in following ways:

·         He/she is very observant and willing to check in with you regarding “the pink elephant in the room”.

·         He/she is open-minded to any constructive criticism of yours

·         He/she is willing to take own inventory and model effective skills and behaviors about building and maintaining healthy relationships. Well, we human being learn well from observing others.

·         He/she embraces hope and positive outlook on life.

Key Takeaways:

Remember these top 5 must-have qualities your ideal therapist shall possess when trying to choose the right fit for yourself

1.    Competent

2.    Professional

3.    Respectful

4.    Honest

5.    Emotionally mature

By keeping these in mind, you shall be able to find the perfect therapist with confidence within shorter amount of time.