How to Find the Right Therapist for You: Counselling, Psychotherapy, and Choosing a Good Fit
- sandrakuehl
- Jun 25
- 4 min read
Perhaps you have already done some counselling, therapy, or personal development work and are now looking for a therapist who can help you understand yourself more deeply. You may be wondering:
How to find the right therapist?
Do I need counselling or psychotherapy?
What type of therapy should I choose?
How many sessions will I need?
This article explores some of the questions people commonly ask while looking for a therapist.
Is it Better to See an Individual Therapist or Go Through a Practice?
Many towns have both: therapy practices and independent therapists working in private practice.
One advantage of a practice is that a practice may be able to offer lower-cost sessions through extra funding or by employing trainees. Some clients also like the reassurance of working with someone who belongs to a wider organization.
That said, all professional therapists should be registered with a recognized professional body and work within its ethical framework. I would not recommend working with someone who is not registered.
Practices often offer a free initial consultation, although many independent therapists offer a brief phone or Zoom call. Some practices match clients with a therapist, whereas finding your own independent therapist gives you more choice in deciding who feels right for you.
You may also find it helpful to read my article on How to Choose a Therapist.
How Many Therapy Sessions Will I Need?
Most therapists offer either:
Short-term therapy (often 6–12 sessions)
Longer-term, open-ended work
If you are unsure what you need, discuss it with your therapist. You can always agree an initial number of sessions then review how things are progressing together.
Can I Have Therapy Fortnightly?
Therapy can feel expensive, but there are many costs involved in running a professional practice, including supervision, room rental, insurance, ongoing training, and let’s not forget the absence of holiday or sick pay.
Some therapists offer fortnightly sessions, others do not. This can be a practical decision, but it is also worth noting that research suggests weekly sessions tend to be more effective than fortnightly ones. Many therapists therefore recommend weekly sessions with the client's wellbeing in mind.
Do I Need Counselling or Psychotherapy?
People often describe counselling as shorter-term work focused on a particular issue, such as:
· Bereavement
· Illness
· Relationship difficulties
· Anxiety
Psychotherapy is often described as deeper and longer-term.
In reality, the distinction is not always so clear. Some clients see a counsellor for years, while some psychotherapists also offer brief therapy.
What matters most is whether the therapist and their way of working feel right for you.
What's the Difference Between Counselling and Psychotherapy?
Typically, counselling training is shorter, while psychotherapy training takes around five to seven years.
Whilst a longer training provides the therapist with more theoretical knowledge, a therapist who has trained longer will also have undertaken more personal work themselves.
Good training programmes also require trainees to attend their own therapy and participate in group work. Over several years, this can lead the trainee to a much deeper understanding of themselves. Their lived experience will also find its way back into the therapeutic relationship and help the therapist to understand their client more deeply.
What Type of Therapy Is Right for Me?
There are many different approaches to therapy. Broadly speaking, these include:
CBT
Humanistic therapies
Psychodynamic and psychoanalytic therapies
We are often sold the idea that successful therapy depends on finding the ‘right’ modality or approach. A while ago, CBT was hailed as the most effective therapy. However, it was also the most researched one and favoured partially due to its cost-effective time-limit and easily accessible protocol. Yet, research consistently suggests that the quality of the relationship between therapist and client is one of the most important factors in successful therapy.
If you feel safe, understood and supported, whilst also at times appropriately challenged in considering a different perspective, you are probably in the right place.
That said, two things may be worth considering:
1. The Therapist’s Philosophy
Different therapy approaches are based on different ideas about how change happens.
For example:
CBT
CBT focuses on challenging and changing unhelpful thoughts and beliefs.
Humanistic Therapies
Humanistic therapists believe that each person has an innate capacity for growth.
They seek to support the client in finding out what this might look like for them through empathy, acceptance and building a strong therapeutic relationship.
Examples include:
· Person-Centered therapy
· Transactional Analysis
· Gestalt therapy
The Gestalt therapist encourages the client to explore their thoughts, beliefs and feelings, believing that pain arises when the client disconnects from aspects of themselves, that may be too painful or difficult.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Psychodynamic Therapy subscribes to the idea that unconscious patterns and past experiences shape how we show up in life with the therapist trying to find the connection between the present and the past.
2. Does Therapy Include the Body, i.e. your Nervous System, Feelings and Sensations?
If you are hoping to work through trauma, it can be helpful to find a therapist who includes the body and nervous system in their approach.
Trauma affects not only our thoughts and emotions but also our physiology. For many people, healing involves bringing awareness and healing to all of these aspects.
Gestalt therapy offers a balance of this. As a Gestalt therapist myself, I will explore this approach in more detail in my next article.
Final Thoughts
Finding the right therapist is rarely about choosing the person with the longest list of qualifications, the ‘perfect’ match of expertise or the 'best' type of therapy.
More often, it is about finding someone with whom you feel safe enough to be honest, curious enough to explore hidden parts of yourself more deeply, and supported enough to make changes in your life.
If you would like to explore whether we might be a good fit to work together, you can read more about me here. You are also very welcome to get in touch to arrange an initial consultation.
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