Finding the Right Therapist: Understanding Your Needs in Therapy

Shopping for a new therapist can be exhausting, especially if you end up with someone who isn’t a good fit. Knowing what you need out of therapy and communicating those needs can help increase your chances of finding a therapist who’s a good fit, without having to go through several rounds of unsuccessful therapists. Here are some common therapeutic needs to help you understand what you might need:

To Vent

Some people use therapy to vent. They may have pent-up anger, frustration, or a myriad of thoughts or feelings that they need to get out. This person would benefit from a therapist who listens, hears them, and validates their experiences. If you need to vent, you may not need the therapist to provide “active” intervention (e.g., homework, thought exercises, etc.), as much as you need a space to release your pure thoughts or emotions. It’s important that the therapist is an empathic listener and genuinely cares about their client’s concerns. If you need to mostly vent in session, let your therapist know that you need them to primarily listen and validate your experiences. Feel free to ask them if they’re familiar with, or practice from a person-centered approach.

To Process

Processing involves deeply reflecting on something. Processing in therapy may involve sharing your thoughts and feelings with curiosity…you may question why you think or behave a certain way. Processing can also involve sharing stories or situations that you want to reflect on or have a different perspective. If you mostly need to process, let your therapist know you prefer an approach that will help you deepen your understanding of yourself or a particular situation. Most therapeutic approaches lend themselves well to processing, but some approaches offer deeper levels of processing than others. A deep processing approach is psychodynamic, which connects childhood dynamics or early experiences with current behavior.

To Learn

Learning new skills, technique, or ways of handling a situation is what brings some people to therapy. This type of therapy is active, with the therapist teaching their client skill(s) to help them better handle a situation or improve their well-being. For this approach to be most effective, you must be ready to learn and open to trying new things. Skills-based approaches, such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) are examples of good learning approaches.



These therapeutic needs are not exhaustive, but they are a good place to start if you’re wanting to better understand what you need out of therapy. You may also have a mixture of needs; most clients do. However, it’s important to discover your primary need at the time of therapy, which can help you find a therapist who’s a good fit. Your needs can change throughout therapy, which is totally fine and to be expected!

Understanding your therapeutic needs is a vital step in finding the right therapist tailored to your needs, and can make the process of finding a good fit less daunting and more successful. 

I hope this helps.

Until next time…

-Alana