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SEEKING HELP - THE SCREENING PROCESS
a.
Overview
When you obtain information about a therapist or mental health
program, try to find out about the therapist’s or program’s
specialty area, such as addiction, stress management, panic
disorder, and so on; and contact only those therapists or groups
whose specialty area(s) match your needs.
After you’ve come up with
the names of at least four or five good prospects (i.e., ones whose
specialties seem to fit your needs), contact each of them by phone
or email. Before making an appointment, ask about fees, what types
of insurances are accepted, whether they have any openings, and
whether the available time slots would be workable for you.
Eliminate therapists and
programs that are geographically inaccessible or whose fees are
prohibitive. When
discussing fees, remember to ask about the possibility of a sliding
scale, how payments are to be made, and what happens if you miss an
appointment.
b.
Questions to Ask
If a therapist or program
meets your needs for the above described criteria, then inquire
about their training, experience, and focus.
Don’t be afraid to ask how
many workshops they have attended or how many books they have read
about your area of concern. You can also ask therapists or program
staff members how they keep up with the latest developments in your
area of concern and whether they have colleagues available for
consultation who are trained in that area.
You
needn’t sound hostile, but don’t avoid asking the hard questions for
fear of offending, either. Remember, your mental and physical health
are at stake!
You might want to preface
your questions by telling the counselor or staff member that you are
faced with a bewildering array of alternatives now and you want to
make the best choice for you.
Consider asking questions
such as the following (if you are considering a program, you would
ask these questions in terms of the program’s staff). Gear your
questions to your particular problems.
How long have you been in practice? How many individuals with my
symptoms have you treated?
Are you a member of or affiliated with any professional
organizations?
What is your background (or your staff’s background) in my
area of concern?
What approaches do you (or your staff) take towards helping
someone with my concerns?
What are your views regarding self‑help groups or other group
therapy?
Do you also conduct family or couples’ therapy? If not, do you
work with a family counselor? What is your format for communicating with your clients?
Do you accept phone calls outside of regularly scheduled
sessions?
Perhaps it may seem
self‑evident to you that a traumatic event, such as the one you
experienced, would be seen as both important and real by any
professional. Yet there are schools of thought in the mental health
field that regard trauma as relatively minor compared to other problems.
In-depth coursework on trauma
recovery is not required training even for licensed social workers,
psychologists, and psychiatrists. Hence, it is critical that you inquire
about the background of any potential therapist or the staff in any
therapeutic program.
If you are seeking trauma
recovery, the only therapists or programs you should consider must do
the following:
Regard the trauma as real and important in itself, apart from your other
concerns.
View you as capable of being healed, not as a someone who is genetically
or biochemically addicted to suffering or as a hopeless psychiatric case
or addict.
Be familiar with and be able to educate you about the facts of your particular trauma; the grieving process; the various kinds of post-traumatic reactions (such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and dissociation); the physical, emotional, sexual and interpersonal aftereffects of trauma; and the nature of the recovery process.
Be aware of the effects of racism, sex-role stereotyping,
blame-the-victim attitudes, and other societal biases on the recovery
process and not show evidence of such biases themselves.
Provide you with information
about your particular trauma’s related health and legal issues or be
willing to either get this information or direct you to sources where
you can obtain it for yourself.
Be willing to listen to details of your traumatic experiences, yet not
pressure you to share aspects of your past that you do not wish to
disclose.
Not push you to discuss your trauma (or any other aspect of your
past) if you are coping with a current life crisis; if you have an
untreated addiction, psychiatric, or medical problem; or if you develop
any of the warning signs listed in the section below entitled
“Emergencies.”
Either teach you coping skills, such as relaxation techniques or
anger management, or make appropriate referrals for you to receive such
help.
Use or recommend medication and behavior-management techniques
when appropriate, but not to the exclusion of examining past and present
events important to you.
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