It can be overwhelming trying to choose a counsellor or coach. As you search for someone, you’ll be evaluating their approach, experience levels, fees, hours, availability, skills, specialities, and location.
You want to know that the person you’re entrusting is professional, results-oriented, understanding, and caring.
Many counsellors have counsellors of their own
Criteria Counsellors Look for When Seeking Counselling for Themselves
Many professional and competent counsellors seek out counselling for themselves. As a responsible counsellors, it’s important to experience the practice from the client’s perspective. We need to understand what it feels like to be in our patient’s shoes. It also helps us to become more self-aware and to learn to better guide our patients.
Here are some of the qualities that we search for when we find counsellors of our own.
The Basics
First, we look at specialties, location, hours, etc. We may call these the basics.
We look for credentials, meaning the counsellor or therapist must have a Master’s degree or a PhD in Psychology or Counselling Psychology from an accredited university. We tend to prefer counsellors with scientific backgrounds and an evidence-based practice. We want to know they’re only using effective, tested methods.
We look at their websites, search for them online, watch their videos, listen to or read their work, and we spend a few minutes talking to them on the phone. It’s important that we trust and connect with the person that will be counselling us.
First, we look at specialties, location, hours, etc. We may call these the basics.
We look for credentials, meaning the counsellor or therapist must have a Master’s degree or a PhD in Psychology or Counselling Psychology from an accredited university. We tend to prefer counsellors with scientific backgrounds and an evidence-based practice. We want to know they’re only using effective, tested methods.
We look at their websites, search for them online, watch their videos, listen to or read their work, and we spend a few minutes talking to them on the phone. It’s important that we trust and connect with the person that will be counselling us.
Diving Deeper
If we feel we’ve found a good match regarding all the basics, we find counsellors or therapists that exhibit the HSP / HAP trait – empathy and attunement. We want to know that they’re listening and understanding us at a deeper level. We want counsellors who will notice our behaviour patterns, and will care about us as people and know what we need from them.
We look for counsellors who are non-judgemental, careful with their patient’s feelings and vulnerabilities, and that build trust gradually.
The Approach
To ensure we have found a great match when we seek counselling, we look for counsellors who practice approaches or techniques that will suit us best. I look for counsellors or therapists who practice EMDR regularly and with attunement.
EMDR works faster than traditional therapy, is highly effective, and achieves long lasting results, especially if done with attunement to the individual.
People with the HSP trait have inherited an unusual ability to notice and adapt to what people are experiencing or what they need. The accurate empathy helps create attachment. We look for this in a client-counsellor relationship as it is necessary for trust and growth to occur, meaning that the client can achieve their goals.
Summarizing what one counsellor looks for in another
When seeking out a counsellor of their own, many therapists look for the following traits:
- Nonjudgemental—attunement or HSP / HAP trait
- EMDR practice
- Scientific background / Evidence-based practice
- Self aware, mature, and have been to therapy themselves
- Master’s Degree or PhD in Counselling Psychology
- Have expertise in the areas we want help with
- Have the right hours, locations, and fees to match our needs