[ramonajones]

My individual therapist gave me two referrals and both of them said they're totally booked. Everyone on my insurance list looks like a quack and so now I'm just Googling random people. Any advice on where/how you've found good marriage counselors?

Are you able to have a free consultation? Find out if your employer has an EAP. They will assist you with obtaining a therapist. Generally they will initially provide two appointments with free consultations. Once you meet with the therapist...

- do they have testimonials to provide
- do they work on a measured plan and game plan (you will have to ask yourself if you want just ongoing therapy or a set duration with an agreed upon structure)
- will you and the therapist draw up a plan, how will it be measured? (ie successes), what would it look like
- will all sessions be group or will the therapist also see you separately
- ideally for me I would want a therapist that had high expectations regarding my own participation (ie. are you prepared to do some hard work or do you prefer to have talk therapy)

I think all of these are fair questions to discuss.

It is important too to ask some hard hitting questions of yourself in terms of your expectations and intended results.