I started with a list of about 15 possibilities for a new therapist in a different city for the upcoming spring. I've only managed to make an appointment with one so far.

I eliminated a good number on the basis of things like:
- they can't answer immediately when I ask, "are you taking new clients?" If you're in private practice and running your own business, as these people all are, and you don't know that, and you need to get back to me with an answer, it suggests to me that you are a flake.
- they follow practices I don't think much of, such as having fellow therapists review them online.
- and I know this makes me like Chandler on "Friends," who would dump a woman if she said supposably instead of supposedly, but incorrect use of language on their websites - not talking typos here, but things like using "phase" for "faze." Not cause for elimination on its own, but a strike.

I have four left on the list, not counting the one I made an appointment with. What's giving me pause is that on their websites they each have a statement like: "Ms./Dr. X uses a variety of therapeutic approaches in order to treat each client as they need, and to meet the client where they actually are in life."

Perhaps I've sat on too many college teaching search committees, but I've heard that answer (modified for context, naturally) to the question "How would you describe your approach to teaching?" so many times that I think it's meaningless. It's intended only to sound good, not mean anything.

Surely I'm being harsh here? I did ask one "what does that mean?" only to have the statement repeated back to me in a slightly different form. So, can anyone tell me not what it actually means, but what does such therapy actually look like in practice?