How to Find a Therapist When You’re Training to be a Therapist

There are a lot of unique aspects to the profession of counseling and being a therapist.

And finding a therapist as a therapist (or therapist-in-training) can be one of those unique aspects that can end up being challenging.

For starters, very few therapists list ‘therapists’ as their area of focus/specialities or the type of clients they see themselves being a good fit for.

There could be a few reasons for this, but rather than speculate on why this is, it’s probably most useful to level-set expectations that searching “therapists that see therapists” isn’t going to bring up many options in a cursory search.

What I’d encourage instead is leaning into one of the benefits of being in the field: modality knowledge. What modality do you connect with the most? This does not have to be the same modalities you’re trained in, although it may be.

Try searching that modality first and navigate the process as every other client would - explore their profiles, their websites, read their blogs, and reach out if you feel the fit seems right. This is where you want to pay attention to their embodied identities as well (are you seeking out a trans therapist or a fat therapist or a third-culture-kid therapist or a therapist that matches your ethnicity). It is not only training that matters; lived experience matters too.

The benefit of leading with modality preference, alongside identity connections, over only looking for a therapist marketing themselves as seeing therapists is that you can prioritize your own needs and what you feel connected to or want for your own healing outside of your work identity. This is SO important for you to remember as a therapist-in-training: your needs and wants for yourself in your healing matters.

Who your therapist is during this time can have a major impact on the sustainability of you in the field including how to receive care, how to de-armor, how to be self-compassionate, how to feel through your own sh*t, to experience being seen.

Remember seeing a therapist as a therapist-in-training is not supervision or consultation so you don’t have to be aligned in program or trainings. This isn’t client consultation or practicing active listening. You might discuss the impacts of training to be a therapist, what it brings up in you, how you feel about how you feel during the process, the dynamics of who you’re training with, overwhelm or stress, uncertainty and fear, and so on. But this is a distinctly different space than supervision and consultation.

It may be of utmost importance to you to share that you’re a therapist-in-training during the consultation call or you might want to wait to share it later, as the reason you’re wanting to start therapy is unrelated. It may just be valuable to you that you know they’ve seen another therapist before as a client, you can ask in a consult call, or for them to know what you do for work even if you don’t want to talk about it there.

Whatever it may be, remember that what you need matters most here. You can use your clinical knowledge to evaluate who might be a good fit, but then spend time exploring the potential fit for you as a whole person.

Dr. S