Choosing The Right Therapist

Whether you want to improve your relationship with your spouse, overcome long-time insecurities or need help coping with a loss or managing your stress levels, therapy can help. Although finding the right therapist may take some trial and error, it can be a worthy investment in your long-term mental health. Here, the team at SACAC Counselling offers some guidance in choosing the best fit for your needs.

- AMY GREENBURG

As one of the oldest mental health providers in Singapore, SACAC Counselling knows a thing or two about matching patients with therapists. The practice, which is celebrating its 50th year in operation next month, provides counselling and psychotherapy to adults, couples, teens, children and families using a range of modalities to help them cope with their challenges.

At the core of successful treatment outcomes, they say, are strong “therapeutic alliances” between the therapist and client. When choosing a therapist, they suggest taking into account the following factors.

1 Professional experience and skill set

While many therapists see a variety of clients for various reasons, some specialise in certain areas and have undergone specialised training for them. For example, all work on depression and anxiety but others work on specific challenges like addiction and trauma. Some mental health providers even work only with certain age groups.