I feel your pain. It literally took me a year and a half to pick a therapist I was that tentative about it. First I had to eliminate obvious conflicts: where my therapist best friend works and where she used to work. And if you read any of my other posts, you'll see I ran right into conflict anyway!

Next, it was pure conjecture.

All you ever get is bios, it seems. Particularly in my small town where there aren't any yelp.com type of ratings (there's something to check out). What does a bio tell you? That the T is credentialed, but that's just not enough for me.

So I picked a fairly convenient place that you could tell was legit. From there, I just free associated!!! Something along the lines of:

He's lived in NY and CA and I have connections to both places. He spent a year abroad in Italy and I adore Italy. His smile is nice. He left (a certain employer)...that must mean he's cool! Oh, and he's been practicing forever so he might be able to handle me.

Because when it comes right down to it, you have to click and it is really hard to know that from what you read online. Of course, I think if you can find reviews of Ts in your areas somewhere they seem to speak volumes.