There are many psychotherapists with many different skills and talents. And yet, when asked to describe ourselves as therapists, we all end up sounding the same. We’re compassionate and caring and dedicated. We’re interactive and we’re good listeners. We’re down to earth. We have a lot of experience. All this is true of me also but that doesn’t make me different from any other competent therapist.

So how do you go about choosing a therapist from this seemingly homogenous group?

To help you figure out whether you and I would work well together, I have come up with a list of reasons why clients might choose to work with me instead of working with other caring and competent therapists in the area.

Top Nine* Reasons To Work With Me For Therapy

1. I’m a trained Gestalt therapist. Gestalt therapy focuses on awareness, genuine dialogue between therapist and client, and creative experiments to explore thoughts and feelings. Find out more about Gestalt therapy here.
2. I am open about the therapy process and what I am thinking or feeling in the therapy session. I don’t think therapy should be a mystery.
3. I am creative in coming up with experiments to try during therapy sessions that allow us to increase your awareness of what is going on with you. Depending on your comfort and interest, I will use metaphors, stories, role playing, art, and other experiments. These experiments keep the therapy lively and interesting.
4. I have expertise in depression, communication skills, healing from trauma, domestic violence, disability and chronic illness, anxiety, parenting, spirituality and religion. I have led workshops or groups on many of these topics.
5. I have worked with all kinds of clients and have particular experience working with gay men, lesbians, bisexual people, transgender and non-binary people, and people (of all genders) who have survived abuse or assault.
6. I encourage size acceptance and help people focus on feeling better and being healthier instead of looking thinner and being obsessed with eating or not eating. I have a Health At Every Size approach.
7. I like working with clients whom others perceive as “difficult” and who can have trouble finding a therapist who enjoys working with them. I appreciate clients who are labelled “difficult” or “angry” or “entitled” or “narcissistic.” Many therapists – perhaps most? – do not like working with these kinds of people and the therapy can be less effective as a result.
8. I am an effective relationship therapist who has worked with same-sex couples, different-sex couples and people in polyamorous or open relationships. I have expertise in assessing whether there is domestic abuse in a relationship and in offering appropriate support and treatment. (Couples therapy is contraindicated when there is domestic violence in a relationship.) I am also comfortable talking with clients about BDSM/kink.
9. I am a feminist, anti-racist therapist aware of how different kinds of oppression affect our lives. I am able to help clients put their problems in the context of larger societal issues they are facing such as sexism, racism, ageism, and homophobia.

*It was tempting to add one more so it would be the Top Ten, but I refrained.