This series is a collaboration with Katelyn Ward, who recently completed her M.A. in Counselling Psychology at McGill University and currently works at Concordia University as a therapist. In part 1, we talked about why we need therapy and what therapy can accomplish in our personal and professional lives. Last week, we discussed how therapy can help us in our academic lives and what therapy cannot do for us. This week, we discuss how to find a therapist. This post gets a bit messy, because it’s a combination of both of us talking. I affectionately encourage you to deal with it.
How to Find a Therapist
This is a hard question to answer because there are so many different ways to find a therapist.
My (Katelyn’s) number one piece of advice is to keep in mind that your therapist’s type of qualifications should not be your ultimate deciding factor. Research by Barry Duncan indicates that the best predictor of success in therapy is the therapeutic relationship, not the therapist’s specific set of qualifications. The therapeutic relationship includes how you feel about your therapist. Did you feel heard, understood, and respected in session with him or her? This doesn’t mean that you will always leave session feeling good, or you will love everything they say. But do you respect him or her? Do you think he or she respects you? Does your gut tell you the relationship is a good fit? It’s all about the fit, not your therapist’s PhD or recent publication in Science.
Therapists in Canada can have a variety of educational backgrounds and titles. A therapist is simply someone who practices psychotherapy, also known as talk therapy. Therapists can be counsellors, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, social workers, and clinical and counselling psychologists. Some family physicians have additional training and experience in providing therapy. The qualifications of your therapist may vary depending on your province or territory. As for therapists outside Canada…well, neither of us can say much about that, since we both reside in the Great White North!
Therapy can be expensive, and there’s no harm in having initial meetings with a number of therapists until you find one you are comfortable with and who you think will be a good investment, both in terms of your time and in terms of your money.
A good place to start shopping for a therapist is by getting recommendations from friends you trust, or from other health professionals. Your family doctor may have a list of therapists who he/she works collaboratively with. Alternatively, you can browse the Internet and read about different therapists in your area. Most therapeutic services have websites with small bios and information about their therapists. This can give you some insight into what their therapeutic style will be like, and how they can help you.
If you are short on cash, you can look for centres that do therapy on a sliding scale. Many universities have centres where students are trained, and you can see a very bright, fully-supervised, and well-qualified Masters or PhD candidate for sometimes under $40/hour.
Therapy in Canada
Canada’s licensing body, The Canadian Psychologist Association (CPA), primarily lists therapists who hold a PhD in either Counselling Psychology or Clinical Psychology. There is additional information available on their website about finding a psychologist.
Collectively, Katelyn and I are only familiar with a couple of provinces, which we will talk about in brief. Katelyn practices in Quebec, formerly has lived in both British Columbia and Ontario, and knows colleagues licensed in Alberta, so these are the provinces we will discuss below. Of course, some of our information will be incomplete, due to the constraints of space and the limits of our knowledge, but we hope it will give you a jumping off point for investigating therapy in your province.
For each province we discuss, we will talk a bit about professional licensing. Knowing a bit about professional licensing is important for a number of reasons. A licensed therapist has the necessary educational background to offer therapy and will have been trained at a reputable and accredited institution. Second, therapists who are licensed are held to specific ethical standards, and there is recourse available to you if you feel your licensed therapist has acted outside of these standards. Finally, most licensing bodies require ongoing professional development; seeing a licensed therapist gives you the best chance of receiving the most updated therapy supported by the most current evidence.
Quebec
The professional licensing body for psychologists and psychotherapists (counsellors licensed to practice psychotherapy) in Quebec is the Ordre des Psychologues du Quebec (OPQ). Until recently, Quebec was like Alberta (see below) in that you could become a licensed psychologist with a Master’s degree instead of a PhD, which is the requirement in many other places. Because of this, many psychologists working in Quebec are Master’s level clinicians working under the Ordre des conseillers et conseilleres d’orientation du Quebec (OCCOQ) to finish their clinical hours and get their psychotherapy license.
To find a licensed therapist in Quebec, check here.
Ontario
Ontario is similar to Quebec in that the title of psychotherapist and the practice of psychotherapy is becoming increasingly protected. Mental health professionals will soon have to become part of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario. The initial act to protect the title of psychotherapist in Ontario was passed in 2007, and enactment is underway. In the meantime, therapists in Ontario are encouraged to become members of the college. Look for a counsellor who has this membership by visiting the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario website.
British Columbia
In BC, ‘counsellor’ is not a protected title. Non-licensed individuals can call themselves counsellors and practice psychotherapy without qualification. Because of this, it is important to specifically look for a therapist who is either CPA accredited or a Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC). RCC licensing requires a Master’s degree or higher, a baseline number of supervised clinical training hours, and specific coursework.
If you are a resident of BC, find an RCC at the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors website.
Alberta
In Alberta, you can become a registered Psychologist with a Master’s degree, unlike in some other areas of the country, where you must have a PhD to hold that title. Psychologists can diagnose mental health conditions and do psychological testing (e.g., for learning disabilities, or intelligence tests). Unlike in other provinces, where ‘counsellors’ predominate, you will find many more psychologists than counsellors in Alberta because of this difference in licensing.
For more information and to find a therapist in Alberta, check out the website of the College of Alberta Psychologists (which, I note, looks like it was put together in 1996…no judgement, though).
Counselling Specifically for Physicians
Many physician organisations in Canada have physician health programs meant to provide assistance to physicians, trainees, and the families of physicians and trainees. Rather than listing each individually, we direct you to the Canadian Medical Association listing of physician health programs. I (Luckett) have not personally availed myself of these services in particular (I found my therapist through a friend’s recommendation), but I do know a number of residents and physicians who have reached out via these programs for themselves or their families and found great support.
With that, we conclude our three-week exploration of therapy.
Just one final thought: Being a physician is hard. Residency is sometimes nearly impossible. Many of us struggle in silence, feeling powerless in a system that expects us to be invulnerable, macho, and self-sufficient. Nobody makes it into residency alone, and nobody makes it through alone, either. In the helping professions, we see things that other people do not see. We are expected to deal with things that other people do not have to deal with. We are not superhuman, though our profession requires us to function as if we were. If you are feeling sad, frightened, hopeless, or numb, please reach out to a friend, colleague, family member, or your physician. You are strong beyond your own imagining, and part of being strong is being strong enough to ask for help when you need it.
We need to have one another’s backs.
I got your back.