How do I find a private therapist?

The first step is narrowing down what is important for you when looking for a private therapist.   

Here aresome questions to consider:

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• Are there are any particular characteristics or areas of experience/expertise you might need?  You

        might prefer a female therapist, someone who is queer or a therapist who has experience working

        with eating disorders for example.

• How do you want to do therapy: in a room, outdoors, online, over the phone?  Do you want mainly

         talking therapy, or a talking therapy which integrates creative ways of working?  You might also

         consider different types of therapy like Dramatherapy, Dance Movement Psychotherapy,

         Body-based psychotherapies or eco-therapy for example.     

• Now we think about logistics:  where is a good location for you to get to?  It doesn't have to be next

        door, but it does have to be somewhere that doesn't involve a whole lot of stress to travel to regularly. 

• Do you have any accessibility needs?  (Bristol is a tough city for this one as so many of the buildings

         are old and have steps which is frustrating.)  And money, how much can you afford to spend on private therapy?  You might have a                   limited amount to work with, so be upfront with any potential therapists.  You might be able to access a concessionary rate, or plan a               set number of sessions to suit your budget.   

 

So you now have a list of potentially who, what, where and how much.    

 

​The second step is to search for people who might fit these criteria.  There are a few main directories which can be a good place to start: Counselling Directory, BACP Therapist Directory, Psychology Today.  These all have good filter functions so you can narrow down your search.  You can also use a search engine for some of your keywords but you will have to wade past the sponsored ones which take up space!  But your search might look like this: private therapist - south bristol - ADHD - male  

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Make a few notes of who springs out at you, it might be something in their experience, their location or how they look in their photo or video.  Hopefully you should have at least a few options to start with.  

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The third step is to make contact.  This could be a phone call, contact form, email or Whatsapp saying you're looking for a therapist.  You could say briefly what you would like support with, you don't have to go into lots of detail at this stage.   It can be useful to include your availability so that the therapist can see if your schedules line up.

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​The fourth step is to arrange either a phone call or an initial meeting.  In both scenarios you might want to ask the therapist about how they work, what their experience or training is with certain issues, and you might explore how they would approach working with you.  If you have an initial session, this will give you more time to find out about the therapist and vice versa.  After the session you might want to jot down a few notes, what were your impression of them, did you think their approach would suit you, did they seem to get what you needed from therapy at this time?  Was there anything you were unsure about, or would like to find out more from them?  A further email or message is totally fine.   If both you and the therapist judge that it could work well, then hopefully you will on to the last step.

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                                                                                                            The last step​ is actually the first step of another process - the therapy itself.   You might

                                                                                                     be working for a set number of sessions, or you might be aiming for more long-term                                                                                                                 work.  Either way, having reviews with your therapist will be useful.  Some will do this                                                                                                                 more formally, others less so.  I would advise getting in to the habit of making a few notes

                                                                                                     after sessions of the main areas you touched on and any tasks or goals to work before

                                                                                                     your next session.  You might also write briefly how you felt in the session and anything

                                                                                                     you'd like to bring to future sessions.  It can be very easy when in regular therapy to

                                                                                                     imagine that we'll remember it all with absolute clarity, but time can dim and soften our

                                                                                                     memories so having something written down means you can look back on your time and

                                                                                                     act as a prompt to check on your continued progress - and remind you of any tips you

                                                                                                     picked up but have forgotten!  

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