If you got anxiety and hate doing new things this article is for you.

A little while ago when I was sitting down with my family doctor and we were making a healthcare plan for me for the rest of the year, one of the concerns I mentioned was my long-time struggle with my mental health. She told me a lot of people that go through some major life traumas experience anxiety and depression for a lot of their lives, so I dove a little into my family history and my experiences growing up and I legit MADE MY DOCTOR CRY.

I came home worried that I was going to traumatize my therapist or worse fail to have anyone understand and have to be emotionally vulnerable and cry in front of several different professionals while repeating traumatizing events from my life. Luckily, because I had such an extensive list of questions and took the time to vet everyone, I think I made a good decision and did not have to go through that. If you’re wanting therapy as well, here’s the steps I took.  

Making Lists

Ok so I feel everyone could benefit from having a therapist just in terms of general growth or healing or whatever. It’s daunting because you might not know where to start, cost might be an issue, or you may not have people in your life that are supportive of it. So, I thought I would help out a little and describe my experience in case y’all have your own anxieties about it.   

First was making a list of major concerns or areas you would like to focus on, for me it was depression and anxiety and the behaviors they are associated with. After this step is searching for the right person for you. Therapy is expensive however; a lot of insurance companies cover therapy and if you are in Calgary there is a “pay what you can” for therapy clinic called the “Calgary counselling center.” They have no waitlists, and no one is turned away. If you are looking for an independent therapist (which is what I did) I would start by googling therapist Calgary (or whatever area you’re in) and then honing in on people that have helped clients with similar concerns.  

What YOU want

I love lists apparently, so I also made a list of the qualities I was looking for. Examples include I wanted a woman specifically, someone with similar background or ability to understand cultural biases in thinking, nurturing personality, very informed and up to date with their practice etc. Once I made a list, I made another list of questions hahaha (a lot of lists I know). Here are the exact questions I used:  

1. Scheduling 

   1. How long are the sessions and how frequently do most of your clients come in?  

   2. How long will therapy last?‍ 

   3. What does a typical session look like? 

2. Fee Structure  

   1. Do you have cancellation fees, no show or late fees that I should be aware of? 

   2. How much do you charge per session? 

3. Experience and Journey 

   1. Have you personally been to therapy before? 

   2. What education do you have? 

   3. Are you currently licensed? 

   4. How long have you been a therapist? 

   5. How much experience do you have working with issues like mine? 

4. Theory 

   1. Do you have a typical therapy approach? 

   2. What types of therapy do you specialize in? 

   3. What is your general philosophy and approach to helping? Are you more directive or more guiding? 

   4. How do you set up counseling goals and what is success for you? 

   5. What kind of homework/reading do you give patients? 

   6. Are you religious? How does this affect your approach to therapy? (I ask bc I am and I refer to god and religion quite a bit) 

   7. Have you worked with south asian clients?  

5. Expectations 

   1. Should I choose to do with your counselling services how would I prepare for my first session? 

   2. How can I best make progress in therapy?‍ 

   3. What are your expectations of me during this process? 

   4. Best way to contact you?  

Interviews

Then I began emailing, reaching out to several people and doing phone interviews, I was real professional with this and took notes of everyone’s answers in a word doc to make sure I was making the right decision. Lastly, I picked the right person for me and emailed everyone else to thank them for their time and tell them I went in another direction. The therapist I picked let me know to fill out an intake form and when our first session would be, now all I have to do is be consistent and show up.  

Conclusion

Seems like a lot but I promise it's not. In summary, list your concerns and wants in a therapist, find someone that has handled such concerns, send out emails and boom you have a therapist.

Hope this helps!! xoxo

Love,

Simran