How to Hire a Mental-Health Professional

If you've just experienced a traumatic event--the death of a loved one, loss of a job--or are at a transition point, you want a trusted professional with whom to talk through your feelings. Here are some ways to help you find the right therapist, psychologist or psychiatrist.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Find out if your insurance policy covers mental-health providers. If so, find out what kind of provider and how many sessions are covered. Ask if you must see a doctor to be reimbursed.

2. Verify that the provider is licensed, which indicates they've undergone rigorous, standardized training. For more information, contact the National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers (see Resources).

3. Book a consultation. Ask the provider to explain his or her predominant theoretical orientation and discuss favored methods. Expect to talk frankly about any issues and how they affect your ability to work, sleep, eat, concentrate, relate to family and so on. Establishing a good rapport is essential to effective therapy.

4. Ask the provider to explain any proposed treatment.

Demystifying the Credentials

5. For psychotherapist you should make sure that they are licensed before you pay for a session because anyone can claim to be one. Many are well trained and highly skilled, but there's no way to identify them by the title alone.

6. Make sure the professional you hire has the proper credentials under his or her belt. Licensed clinical social workers(LCSWs) and certified social workers(ACSWs) generally have a master's degree plus 2 years of supervised experience, and has passed a state exam.

7. Ask if your Marriage, Family and Child Therapists(MFTC) is a member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. These are people who specialize in helping clients deal with major life changes or transitions, such as marriage, divorce, job change and death in the family. Can also help when communication is an issue for families, couples or individuals. In most states, a license signals a professional with similar training to that of a CSW.

Tips & Warnings

• Counselor is another catch all label. They often have a master's degree, but not always. If your state has licensed counselors, training level is similar to that of social worker. They often treat substance abuse, short-term crises and stress-related disorders. Not normally chosen for more serious disorders.
• Clinical Psychologists specializes in testing and assessing mental-health problems. They are licensed professionals, generally with a doctorate or master's degree plus at least 2 years of supervised clinical experience and advanced specialized training. Does all of what an MFTC does and more.
• Psychiatrist are MDs trained in diagnosing and treating severe mental illness with 1 to 2 years of additional training in psychiatry. They can write prescriptions for antidepressants, antianxiety drugs and other psychiatric medications.
• Find out if your state considers mental-health care to be medical care. If so, therapy should be covered by your insurance policy.
• See How to Hire a Child Therapist.
• Find out if your state considers mental-health care to be medical care. If so, therapy should be covered by your insurance policy.
• See How to Hire a Child Therapist.

Resources

• National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers

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[LMFT]

on 10/12/2008 Mental health therapists, the really good ones, are usually older and have 10 or more years experience. Their life experience as well as therapy experience help them remain calm and resourceful while everyone else in the room feels like they're falling apart. They've seen it before. Ask trusted friends, ministers, and health care workers (including nurses) for names of people they respect. If the person has a waiting list, that's a very good sign. If you need to see someone soon, ask that therapist for two or three names of counselors they respect.

on 8/8/2006 I completely agree with the writer who believes it would be helpful to give more description for an LCSW. Licensed Clinical Social Workers go though similar training and testing as a Clinical Psychologist, but differ in their research training. Many Social Work Masters programs offer a LMFT you obtain in a dual program so many LCSW will be LMFT's as well. LCSW are capable of providing a realm of therapeutic intervention for a host of diagnostic criteria/life stages/struggles.

on 11/22/2005 I think it would be more helpful to describe an LCSW more accurately. There was quite a bit of detail about what types of problems a marriage and family therapist would address. In reality, a LCSW can also provide all of these things. More detail about LCSW working with individuals, couples and families in a clinical (mental health) setting would be great. Also, an ACSW is unlicensed (but usually working on state licensing) and and LCSW is licensed having completed a masters, 2 years supervision and state exams.