Finding the Right Therapist in Ontario

Updated: March 5, 2024

Finding the right therapist in Ontario can be hard, similar to building friendships, it takes time to build a relationship with a therapist and develop rapport. It can sometimes be challenging to determine after a 15-minute consult if the therapist is going to be the right fit, which can be anxiety-provoking; but if you do get started and find that after a few sessions, you would like to go in a different direction, that’s okay. If you let us know, we can often provide some recommendations. We often recommend doing a free consult with 2-3 different therapists to get a feel for each therapist’s style.

Therapist’s Treatment Approach

Having them provide you with an explanation for the type of therapy they provide is also very important. At Virtual CBT we offer primarily Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for anxiety, OCD, depression and Prolonged Exposure or Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD symptoms.

Some of us are flexible in offering supportive counselling as well, which is typically less structured than CBT. Some therapists at other agencies may offer dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT), attachment therapy, family therapy etc. During our free consults, we offer a description of what this could look like based on your symptoms and then typically describe each of our therapist’s approaches to help make sure we are setting you up with the most appropriate VBCT therapist.

Check your Health Benefits

Another thing to consider is what you are covered for with benefits. Therapy can be a big financial investment, and benefit providers rarely cover all regulated professions. VCBT has team members from a variety of different backgrounds (Psychotherapists, Social Workers, Nurses, and Psychologists) which typically means that we can pair you with at least one person on our team.

Therapist Wait-List

Availability is another key piece, are you looking for weekly? Biweekly? Monthly? Not all therapists have as flexible of availability, and some therapists may only be open to weekly or biweekly appointments to maintain a consistent caseload or because certain therapies work best weekly (e.g. CBT, CPT, PE, and ERP) and they want to set you up for success. You may also want to ask the therapist how many sessions they think it would take to help you, as this may impact your decision. Some therapies are long-term and some are more short-term like CBT.

Therapist Specialities

If you are looking for therapy for a specific condition (e.g. PTSD, trauma, OCD, anxiety or depression), you may want to look up which therapies are best supported by research for that mental health condition. During the free consult, it’s okay to ask the therapist how much experience they have had with a type of therapy or mental health condition (e.g. how many people have you treated with PTSD? What courses have you taken? Have you received consultation or supervision for this therapy?).

Finding a Regulated Psychotherapist in Ontario

Additionally, we always recommend seeing somebody from a regulated body (Registered Social Work, Registered Psychotherapist, Registered Nurse, Registered Psychologist, etc.) This fancy “registered” addition to the title ensures that your therapist is being held to a high standard, and essentially the term registered is part of a larger system designed to protect the public!

Conflict with your Therapist

It can also be helpful to keep in mind once you start therapy that ruptures (i.e. conflict) are normal! Sometimes you might disagree with what your therapist is saying, or maybe it’s a slow week, or you’re feeling like you have plateaued. It can be an uncomfortable conversation to have, but in the spirit of self-growth (that’s why we’re in therapy right?) it can be extremely beneficial to have this conversation with your therapist.

Oftentimes it could simply be that there is a misunderstanding or miscommunication, and addressing this can help your therapeutic rapport together evolve. Another thing is your therapist may be having an off week because let’s face it we are humans too and we may not always be on our A-game, so clarifying with your therapist about something that was important to you or needs to be discussed further is perfectly fine.

As therapists, we invite these difficult conversations, and they are completely normal to have. We are master communicators and welcome open and transparent dialogue! So in summary – no, we won’t be offended!

Get Connected with an Ontario Therapist

If you are considering therapy, enter with an open mind and ask all of the questions!

Your therapist is there to support you, but also challenge you. Therapy is HARD WORK, but the skills that you will learn can be invaluable.

If you are looking for a therapist who can help you overcome depression, anxiety, PTSD, trauma or OCD, book a free consultation with our clinic and our Clinical Directors will match you with a therapist in Ontario. Learn more about our team: registered social workers, registered psychotherapists, and registered psychologists.

Free Downloadable Therapist Checklist

We’ve created a free downloadable checklist below that you can use for your free consults with therapists as you start your therapy journey!

Click here: Finding a Therapist Checklist