What Type of Therapist is Right For Me?

What's up, Cadre fam? Evan here, your resident mental health and addiction therapist. And this is mental health matters, where we discuss issues around mental health and addiction because mental health is important. Double entendre. There we go. So today I brought a topic, and it's just gonna be about therapy, but what type of therapist is right for you, and what, like, what type of therapists are out there? So hopefully we're gonna have some people join. We could talk about experiences in therapy, what types of therapists you had, but quickly, I'll do a breakdown, and I do have a video coming out on this that goes into a little bit more detail, or maybe it's out right now, but essentially, when it comes down to people who can do therapy with you, there are basically like four general types.

5. You found your first therapist today. Oh, my God. How appropriate. Alec, do you know what type? So this will be, like a good experiment here. Alec, do you know what kind of therapist they are? Like, are there certain letters behind their name? Like, is that something you know or you just, like, maybe found? Where did you find them? Was it like psychology today or Google? So that'd be interesting. This will be a good experiment if you are willing to share that. So again, when I say type of therapist, there's different letters after people's names.

And sometimes it varies state by state. However, it's pretty much the same type of. So you got recommended from another therapist. Okay, so there you go. And that's the thing is, like, does it matter now? Because most people don't necessarily know what. What, like, what do these things mean? What do the letters after their name mean? And does it really matter? So you found about psychology today, and that's a really good resource. It's like a therapist directory, and it's nice. It's like, if you ever, like, shop for a car and you're like, okay, I want a used car between these years.

This color and this type of engine. Right? So you could, like, do that. And it's kind of the same with psychology today, where you can search therapists based on all these different variables. Location, what do they specialize in? What insurance do they take? You know, what types of therapy modalities do they use? Because we have different ones of those. And that's just a real. It's a really good resource because it's not always easy to find one. So I have a video, probably one of my earlier videos.

I know I have a couple with this topic, but one in specific of, like, here are my five recommendations for finding a therapist. So you could that, it's probably one of my earlier videos I've done on here, probably in that first batch. So you could check that out. So Alec, thanks for sharing because I find that, you know, your experience is pretty much the norm of like, okay, I'm just trying to find a therapist. I don't know if I care what letters they have after their name. I just want, you know, I did a post on this recently on social media, a similar one, and people were like, I like the one that takes my insurance.

Right? Because just like any healthcare service expenditure, you know, therapy is pretty expensive and could be difficult for most people to pay out of pocket. Now granted it's probably less expensive than most any other healthcare service. However, it's still, you know, $100 to, I mean, $300 a session. It just depends, probably an average a couple hundred bucks a session. And some of it is what you have to bill insurance, you got to bill the same thing. And some individuals don't take it. That's like another search thing you could do, let's say psychology today.

One of those questions you want to ask when looking for a therapist to make sure it's something that's affordable, that you're able to do it enough that it's going to have a benefit, not like, oh, I could afford it once a year, probably not the recommended course of action that you're going to get much benefit from. So anyway, just like the different types. All right, so I'm going to break down the different types and why and what they specialize in and in what instances maybe is it best to find one of these folks if possible?

First, let's start off with kind of probably the most general, which is like your masters of counseling. And this is like more from the psychology discipline would probably be the best way of describing it. And these folks take a general approach, but also like that approach of psychology, that biology, psychology, sociology, one's environment. So a general mix of how we conceptualize people, mental health, mental health disorders. So these folks are just great in general and they could do a little bit of everything.

And again, it's, and I'll talk a little about this more at the end, but it doesn't always matter their background as much as what they've done after they've graduated. So not to get too much into weeds, but like each one of these disciplines is like based on like the school you go to, like your degree and then you could get different licenses with each degree. And essentially these four are the ones that these licenses allow you to practice mental health therapy, give diagnoses depending on which state, etcetera.

So yeah, these are all different master's programs, different licenses. However, they're all pretty closely related and enable you to do almost all the same things with a couple variances. So that's your masters of counseling who then get the license of like a licensed clinical counselor, licensed practical clinical counselor, licensed professional. So like, I don't know, each state is going to have a little bit different licensed professional clinical counselor, like in Minnesota. And so yeah, that's your, that's one route.

So you'll see some of those licenses that look like that. And Alec, maybe we'll see. And so sometimes too, as you go through the process of school to license, there's actually a middle step, which is being in supervision. So you're basically practicing, but you have someone who's like generally overseeing you, signing off on notes just means you're a little bit newer and it actually takes a while. It takes a lot to get the license. A lot of times the folks who maybe don't have it yet are still like pretty well trained and know what they're doing and it just takes a couple years to get it at best, like at least two years.

And it's pretty similar for all of them. So that's why you may not even see a license. You may just see the degree like Ma for these individuals, particularly masters of art in counseling is typically what that would be. And then the second we would have marriage and family therapist MFT or LMFT. So that's pretty, that one's like much more universal where someone will be an LMFT. And these individuals specialize in family systems, couples marriage counseling, that's like really their specific focus.

Now they also do, you know, general mental health as well, but that really is their special. So if you're looking for a couples therapist, that's a very safe bet. Many of these other disciplines can still do family couples therapy. They have additional training after school, not like after school program, but after they graduate, there's all these different trainings. Like I'm going to do a training in it just because I have to do trainings and maybe. Interesting. So yeah, you can specialize in these things after.

But if it were me, I'd probably lean towards finding one of these folks if I were to go to couples therapy or family therapy in some respects. So that would be another route. Another. So if you see those letters, then you know, the third, which is pretty common and fairly universal, is masters of social work. And that's like, what I have. It's a MSW is the education, and then the license is usually like LicsW, LCSW. So like a licensed clinical social worker, like in Minnesota, you would have an LGSW.

Is that middle ground? You actually get a license before you get your full license? Most of them, you just go from school and then eventually get it. There's no middle license anyway. It's neither here nor there. But just like, if you see the LGSW in Minnesota, you know, or you just see MSW without a license, letters after the l, blah, blah, blah, that usually means they're in training as well. And typically it is expected that when you go to see the person, that they disclose that they're like, yeah, by the way, like, I'm working towards slice, I'm in training.

Here's the name of my supervisor. So if there's anything you need or ever feel a need to speak with them about anything or otherwise, like, this is their information. And so social workers take a. Again, these are just generalizations, but it is learning about a systems approach, and that can mean many things, like how someone is impacted, how their mental health is impacted by their environment. So it could be the family system, it could be the social system, their community. It could be based on history, like historically marginalized groups, and how that impacts people.

Now, a lot of it, too, is about basic needs. And so social workers will do therapy, but often are. It's probably the most diverse as far as different roles one could take, like being a CPS, you know, child protective worker, outreach worker, sometimes managing nonprofits, community organizing. It's probably the most general even under the umbrella of the license. So some people just don't get licensed. They do some of these other things, but as far as therapy goes, it's a specific track that you would take within your masters of social work to be able to get your license, to be able to diagnose and treat mental health disorders.

So, yeah, I say these folks are pretty good generalists as well, but have a specific lens and focus that they tend to use and that can evolve. And it's different for every individual. So, yeah, those are the three, and the last one is the LP, the licensed psychologists. And these individuals are at a doctorate level. There's actually some, let's say in Minnesota, people were able to get it at a master's level, but they phased that out. So some people are grandfathered into that. But like a psychologist, right?

They could do everything these other folks can do, and not all of them choose to do this additional thing, which is psych testing, which is like more in depth, which is doing things like the MMPI Minnesota multifaceted personality inventory to look at diagnosing things like autism, adhd, more complex. So doing these different batteries like the Rorschach test, right, where you look at the ink blots and interpret those. So they're able to do IQ testing, and so a lot of different things. Now, again, not all of them choose to do that or really care to do it or find it even that interesting.

And they just want to be therapists as well, but also research. A lot of the folks who have the PhD often have been involved in, like, psychological research, too, and maybe decide they don't even want to do the clinical. But for our purposes, that doesn't really matter because we're just talking about therapists. But sometimes they don't necessarily do that either. And, yeah, so these folks are doctorate level. They're going to be probably as well trained as possible. So sometimes they have the PhD, or sometimes they have something called the psyduck, which is also a doctorate, but it's really just more focused on the clinical end and not the research end.

So it's just more hyper focused and often, will it be more attainable to get into those programs, but a little more expensive? So there you have it. So who do we go to? Well, again, it just depends, you know. Again, most all these folks, for your general run of the mill just needing therapy, you know, they're pretty much. Most folks are going to be able to. It may not matter what license. What matters more is like, the relationship you have with them. Do you trust them? Do you feel like they're helpful?

Sometimes you're not going to know that beforehand. One of the things I recommend is the vibe check. So even, like, going on something like psychology today, when you read someone's profile, that gives you a certain amount of information, you know, not just what they say they specialize in, which is important, but, you know, reading their narrative, I think that does say a lot about a person. And a lot of people reach out to me because for whatever reason, my profile, I said something that struck with them.

And I find that most of the time, when somebody reaches out on a site like that, it's pretty good fit, you know, not always, but, you know, it often is. JFJ, you're late. I'm just kidding. You're probably the most on time. I'm so used to just being here like that. So, yeah, finding a good fit as a therapist, it's important doing that vibe check. Doing a few sessions, you don't have to, you know, I say usually give it three sessions. The first one is a lot about. The first session is often doing like an assessment.

So it's not really the therapy dynamic. But yeah, give it a few sessions, see how you vibe, and you can find someone else. If it doesn't work, be honest with your therapist. Essentially, ghost them, too. I mean, I don't know if I recommend that, but it doesn't matter per se. But yeah, you can find someone else. You're under no obligation to them and find that one is a good fit because you deserve that. I mean, therapy is about you. It is a lot at stake. So, Evan, so, you know, my grieving therapy through hospice, individually and group, is helping.

That's awesome. JFJ, that's an awesome update to hear. I know that you have really struggled with this recent grief and loss. We talked about it, gave you a couple recommendations, but it sounds like this group therapy or grieving therapy through hospice. Yeah. Especially, you know, these folks are going to know better than anybody, you know, that's going to be, again, their specialty. And that's another good example there of having individuals who are trained in something really specific, like grief and loss is very specific.

And I guess any therapist could help a bit, but this is where that specialty, certain things are maybe really important to find a specialist on. And it. It's not always realistic, but if you can do that, do it. And I think that's a good example. Anyway, folks, if you have any questions next week, I'm going to be doing. Ask me anything. You could tag me in the community feed, ask a question. You could go to my videos and tag me in a comment on any of my videos and ask a question. Otherwise, I'll bring some that I've gotten emails from or on social media, blast me stuff that I'll bring.

Or just come join and ask a question then. Yeah, hope you got something out of this and I will see you next week. Take care. Bye.