[RaineD]

Every once in a while I search the interwebs for potential new therapists. But everyone on Psychology Today seems super annoying. Their photo, their blurb, everything--just annoying. I can't imagine contacting any of those people.

The only thing that sometimes works for me is to go to an institute's website and look through their list of members to find someone who is in my geographical area. I select the institute based on the type of therapy I want to try. That's how I found my current therapist. How did you find yours?

[CharlieStarDust]

I just did a random search online in my area. Her profile popped up, and I immediately knew she was the one.

[DP_2017]

Referral.... and what an amazing match they made

I was searching on psychology today the names of some t's my pdoc had given me, and I just happened to stumble on my t's profile cuz the words "dream work" jumped out at me. (I've always my whole life had very vivid dreams and wished I knew what to do with them so I was intrigued!!) I called her, and one on my pdoc's list, and t got back to me first so I made an appointment with her and we clicked so well from the first phone call that I never even bothered to make an appointment with the other one...

[AllHeart]

T2 I found on Psych Today. There was something about this t that jumped out at me. The only time that's ever happened. I browse the website once in a while for fun and everyone seems to annoy me as well.
T3 was a referral by T2 when she retired.
T4 was a "forced" referral from a teacher/mentor type person in my life. She wanted me to enlist T4 to help me break free from T3.

[velcro003]

the first T was through my insurance provider. current T i did find through Psychology Today.

[HowDoYouFeelMeow?]

Other: She worked in the student health center at my school, and I was assigned to her.

[MessyD]

Referral from previous marriage counselor. I'm lucky I liked him from the beginning, it looks like it's not an easy task to find a good therapist that you would click with.

[ElectricManatee]

She worked at my university's counseling center, although I did request her specifically based on her bio on the website. When I have suggested therapy to other people, I have always referred them to Psychology Today.

[fille_folle]

Originally Posted by RaineD

Every once in a while I search the interwebs for potential new therapists. But everyone on Psychology Today seems super annoying. Their photo, their blurb, everything--just annoying. I can't imagine contacting any of those people.

The only thing that sometimes works for me is to go to an institute's website and look through their list of members to find someone who is in my geographical area. I select the institute based on the type of therapy I want to try. That's how I found my current therapist. How did you find yours?

You know, I find most of the blurbs pretty hard to connect with - be they on psychology today or clinician websites. I don't think marketing comes naturally to many therapists. As for psychology today, it seems like everyone in my area has a profile, so I can't really use that to exclude people. I do find it helpful to be able to see their top three conditions/specialities. The institute thing you did sounds like a good idea, though I'm not actually too picky on therapy type. I've tried finding people through membership in other types of relevant organizations (like the International Society for the Study of Trauma), but haven't had any luck finding local results.

[velcro003]

Originally Posted by fille_folle

You know, I find most of the blurbs pretty hard to connect with - be they on psychology today or clinician websites. I don't think marketing comes naturally to many therapists. As for psychology today, it seems like everyone in my area has a profile, so I can't really use that to exclude people. I do find it helpful to be able to see their top three conditions/specialities. The institute thing you did sounds like a good idea, though I'm not actually too picky on therapy type. I've tried finding people through membership in other types of relevant organizations (like the International Society for the Study of Trauma), but haven't had any luck finding local results.

i agree with you on the blurbs thing. that made me realize that i originally saw a T on a website (her own i believe) that seemed to correlate to what I was going through, but she did not have any openings at the times I was available. She then referred me to my current T (who shares her office), and THEN I saw her profile on Psychology Today. I totally forgot all about that.

I just got lucky. I tried out another T before my current one, and while the initial session was okay, I just felt "eh" about it. I knew from my previous therapy experiences that "eh" probably wouldn't work for me, so I didn't go back. It was only a few months later that I contacted this other T, who referred me to my current T. I knew after the first session that she "got" me, whatever that may mean for anyone.

I was in detox/treatment center and they were at loss trying to work me out and recommend I see a good quality T (the ones connected to the treatment centre didn't have the training nor orientation to be of use to me)

[ScarletPimpernel]

I found current T on psychology today. I just did a search for Ts who did DBT in my area, and sifted through the profiles. When I saw the picture of my T, I knew she was the one. Then I went and read her profile and also looked at her website. I was sold. And though the beginning of our relationship was extremely rocky, everything has turned out to be good.

[feralkittymom]

I used a personal referral that I then researched before making an appointment. Interestingly, when I've looked on Psych Today for my area, the only Ts listed there are either fairly new to practice or the area, have minimal credentials, or are Ts I know of from living here for many years not to have great reputations. It may be different in a large city, but in a smaller area, I think the best Ts are fully booked through word of mouth and referrals from other community resources.

[annielovesbacon]

My current therapist was recommended to me by my first therapist, but I was connected to my first therapist through my university's therapy clinic (as others have said above). I called the front desk, asked for an appointment, and they just placed me with the therapist who had the next available appointment.

[Lemoncake]

On a website offering Skype therapy, because I don't live in London all the time. He was on the first page after I filtered by gender and I picked based on profile picture. He just seemed "nice".

.

[LostOnTheTrail]

During a wide ranging conversation about my mental health, I was asked a fateful question by somebody who was carrying out a disability assessment.

Possible trigger:

Do you consider yourself to be a victim of a crime?

I didn't know what to do with that, so the other person who was in the room at the time of the assessment said that they considered me to have been a victim of a crime. And then she connected me with R, who works for a victim support service.

Coming up on a year working together, and I am grateful, even as I am scared.

Psychology today was my starting point. From there I went to her website, followed by a Google search on her, her office, and the owner of the business. Most of the blurbs on Psychology Today were pretty cheesy but hers stood out.... plus she was the only one who didn't look like an idiot or a jerk in her picture.

[wheeler]

I found current T through my insurance.

I own a retail business and I recognized her name on my ‘covered mental health providers’ list. Because I sort of knew who she was I called to ask for a referral as I thought there might be a conflict. She said I could also meet with her and see if I wanted to work with her. I thought I might be uncomfortable as she frequently comes to my shop but we’ve worked through the awkwardness and she’s been great.

[ChickenNoodleSoup]

A friend of mine called a emergency psychiatrist to come talk to me one day.

We talked for an hour, she said she would recommend I go to therapy regularly, but she didn't have any openings. But her husband did (although she didn't mention he was her husband) and she gave me his number.

[LonesomeTonight]

I found ex-T and current T on Psychology today. With ex-T, I was looking for a female T who specialized in anxiety. With current T, I was looking for a male T. Their profiles both jumped out at me. As RaineD said, so many of the profiles on there are awful--so the good ones stand out! (I'm lucky to live in an area with lots of therapists, so plenty of choices.) Current T's profile said he mostly works with teens and young adults. I liked his profile so much that I e-mail to ask, "Do you work with 'less-young adults'?" He responded almost immediately to my inquiry, saying that yes he did and that he had openings, to contact him and he'd call me when he was done with his clients for the day. That kind of responsiveness also made me want to see him.

Marriage counselor was by referral of ex-T--they work in same practice, and she'd actually worked with him doing marriage counseling of a couple, so she knew he was good at it. I've never seen him listed on Psychology Today, but if he had listed the same profile they had on the pactice's website, his would have jumped out at me as well.

[Teddy Bear]

My T is a social worker that I was assigned

[Wonderfalls]

I ended up rejecting all of the (yes. awful) website therapists except the one who was referred to me. His website was actually okay but I should have realized from it that he had different therapy interests than I do. Actually that is what went wrong. I can't believe how mushy the profiles tend to be, or just strange. One of them prominently featured the many musical albums she had made.

[junkDNA]

He was the clinical director (head therapist) at a residential treatment facility I was in for almost 5 yrs

[nottrustin]

I was referred to long term T by my Pcp. She knew I was VERY reluctant to go to therapy so there was one chance to get it right. She went against the policies of where she worked and referred me to somebody outside of her network. She had worked with T years earlier and knew she was the best.

EMDR T I Had searched psychology today and asked my T, psych np and coworkers what the thought of the person I found. Pych np said try her if it didnt work she had another person she could recommend located at her clinic. The others had hard good thongs from but didn't really on know her. It was AWFUL. I was done. Eventually I went with psych nps recommendation. I originally didn't want to travel 50 miles to see her but glad I am.