What things do you consider when choosing a therapist

What sorts of things did you look at when deciding to see a specific therapist?

For me - they needed to be old, female, not perky, no office staff or other therapists, and not immediately a condescending jerk. And absolutely no cbt

For me, they have to be the same gender. That's my only thing. I can't talk to make therapist.

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Gender (female), age (older than me), not a jerk/don't annoy me too much.

Education: I won't see anyone with an online degree in psych, has to been in a high quality program, had to have therapy themselves

Type of Degrees: Won't see a social worker pretending to be therapist, needs at least a masters (preferably doctorates) degree in counseling psychology.

Seemed Authentic: I need a no BS, real, honest person. Not a stooge or someone who placated.

Need to Feel the Click: I need attachment therapy and re-parenting and can't do that with someone you don't click with.

First and foremost for me is do they accept my lousy insurance. And then that the have some understanding of deafness( finding those who both sign and accept my insurance is impossible) gander, age degrees matter less than their abilities as a T. But I do consider the physical surroundings.

Gender: Would prefer male, but gender is not a deal-breaker.
Location: Very important. I cannot commute to therapy.
Type of Degree: had good luck with LCSW; would see one again. Would not see bachelor's-level therapist.
Age: Very important that they be older. I would not see a therapist my age (in 20's)
Not a Condescending Jerk: I prefer my therapist without condescension, but if push came to shove I'd probably go with someone closer to the "jerk" end of the spectrum than the perky-touchy-huggy-sentimental end.

Sort of in order of importance to me:

First 5 I can tell before I even meet them --
1. On my insurance (if I can't pay for it, it isn't going to happen)
2. Location (if I can't get there it doesn't do me any good)
3. Gender (male)
4. Level of Experience (not on your list)
5. Degree (prefer a psychologist)

Once I meet them --
6. Personality - "clicking"/authenticity/lack of jerkness (not really separable to be personally)
7. Age - prefer around my age or older
8. Staff - prefer a competent office staff so I don't have to play phone tag with a therapist

I need a t that is older and wiser than me that seems authentic and warm-hearted, takes on the spiritual, humanistic approach, and treats me respectfully. I definitely prefer a female t, but, would consider a male t if the shoe fit.

All sort of equally important:

Age; Education (both the school's reputation and having a terminal degree matter); Experience (both years and types of clients seen); Race (prefer a person of color); Needs to not inflict a specific viewpoint / technique on me after I say 'No' to it the first time around (surprisingly hard to find it seems).

So, umm, all of the above

I actually took all those things in to account when choosing my latest T.

Playing devils advocate here, but as an MSW student I am a little agitated by your social worker comment. Social workers get almost the same therapy training as psychologists, with the added emphasis on the environment the person is in. Psych programs focus solely on the individual person with little to no regard on how living conditions, race/gender, family systems, or even social policies affect the client.

Perfectly okay to be agitated.

I have never had a good experience with LSW as therapist. 'get almost the same therapy training' isn't the same as a counseling psychology degree which is what I need my focus on, not my living environment.

My T's psych program was focused on race/gender, family systems, and social policies. She also has her phd in marriage/family psych as well, not that it matters. We all have our opinions and the thread asked what I look for in a therapist so I stated what I look for.

I ticked "other" as one key factor is if they are willing to work outside. I just can't do the pokey office thing, and I have been spoilt with my current T as we work outside in woods, on hill tops, and in fields of the friendliest sheep ever. I couldn't ever go back to permanently indoor sessions.

I chose "other" because I also consider years of experience, type of experience (do they have experience with my type of issues), and recommendations from trusted colleagues/friends as well. These are more important than anything I checked in the poll (education, type of degree, etc.).

I could deal better with an authentic condescending jerk than
with someone who is inauthentic. A therapist doesn't have to--shouldn't--"let it all hang out" all the time, that's not professional. But a blank slate, I don't know anything and all the answers are inside of you MobiusPsyche therapist would drive me up the wall. I prefer that they let a little of themselves show through; otherwise I don't think I could really trust them.

Currently, poll results show gender is a factor for more people than whether potential T is a condescending jerk. A little boggle for me, unless most people experience a strong correlation between gender and jerkishness.

I kind of lump all the personality factors together as one, and I think gender for many people is strongly tied to their history which can be strongly triggering, tied to abuse, etc. The reaction can be very visceral for those with abuse history.

I put gender first because at this point I wouldn't even consider a female therapist having run into too many who weren't jerks but who were very much not a personality and approach fit for me. I've actually not run into a therapist who was a jerk. Some I didn't like for various reasons, but it wasn't jerkness. Now Neurosurgeons, yes, most of them have been jerks.

My ex/bff actually has a neurosurgeon who I find less jerkish than a couple of therapists I interviewed (one man and one woman) - even I am astonished at this what with my feelings about mds and all.

There really should be a LOL button

I could have almost ticked all of them. When I looked for this T my criteria was older (over 40 at least) male, easy to drive to/not too far, experienced and it was a bonus that he was well respected in the field.
I didn't feel that we clicked though, but I persevered and actually it's probably been better for me that he is so different from me. It has meant that I can see the attachment that has developed in isolation and understand where it comes from in me; if we had clicked straight away I would be wondering how much of the attachment was because of that and how much was my stuff (if that makes sense).
If I was looking for a T now, I would consider a female T as my fear of forming close relationships with women has been largely resolved through therapy.

I did not consider (until seeing people's comments) about age and experience as two separate things. I see two who are both around 70 to 70 something - one has been practicing for over 30 years and the other about 20 years so because I already choose them that old, I assume some sort of experience.
Interesting to realize I sort of just lumped those two ideas together.

Let me just say that I have had an MD, a PhD psych, and a LCSW all as therapists, and I have made the most progress with the LCSW. I don't think that the training as opposed to the experience is necessarily key for all people. Maybe even experience isn't key for many clients, I don't know. The "fit" and all that is certainly key in my own therapy, and my social worker T just gets me even though she's not perfect.

But a 2 year MSW program cannot provide the same training as a PhD program (usually 6 years on average), so I can't agree with you on that. Also, my spouse is a clinical PhD and her training had quite a bit of focus on how extra-individual forces impact people's mental health. Social workers do not have the market on systems theory.

My first T was in his late fifties but had only been a T for about 3 years. His lack of experience is glaringly obvious now I have the comparison with current T who has 40 years experience.

Really interesting to see what others think is most important about their T. For me it´s gender that´s most important together with type of therapy they practise. As I´ve seen several T:s in evaluation sessions I also feel that sometimes the first impression isn´t all. I didn´t like my current T that much from the beginning but has come to like her a bit more lately. Of course I would want that "true match" but unfortunately I can´t just pick the one I want as I´m within public healthcare.

Beating heart within a two hour drive. Didn't turn out so well. I have no expectations now. I won't see one again.

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The one with relatively less experience is the one I do better with. When I started with her it was only about 15 years.