The journey to officially starting therapy and seeking out mental health care can be a long and frightening one. In places like Guyana where stigma lurks excessively even in the most open of spaces, where cultural myths surrounding mental health reign supreme and trust at times feels elusive in our small communities, many never make the bold step to seek out help.
Even after reaching the point of acknowledgment that one needs help, selecting a fitting therapist may take several attempts due to availability and options. These attempts can sometimes prove daunting and may lead to clients feeling as if the process is useless or worst of all that their cases are impossible and cannot be solved. I started therapy in 2016 in Belgium and I have had the same clinical therapist up until now.
This reality isn’t by chance or luck. Nicole was carefully selected for a lengthy number of reasons. I want to share and expand on these reasons so we all have full agency when it comes to appropriately addressing our needs and treatment plans with the therapist of our choice.
Working history and individual needs
Therapists aren’t gods. They are human beings just like us. They can be prone to the same biases as us and have life experiences that can influence the way in which they design treatment plans. Due to the reality of our plural society and our history with race-based violence, having someone who had experience working with clients under similar circumstances was critical for me. Having someone who fully understood the power dynamics in a plural society that were cobbled together by an imperialist state was not only paramount but essential to me feeling safe and heard.
Ethical boundaries
Your therapist isn’t your friend and any good therapist would enforce boundaries to ensure that your personal life doesn’t slip into the therapist- client life, which would in turn influence care and blur the lines of professionalism. Very often it can feel like the perfect friendship and because therapy makes room for so much vulnerability, clients can sometimes develop feelings of dependence while therapists may lose their ability to concentrate on clients’ needs because they are overwhelmed with opinionated personal observations. No to Friday night drinks and no to seeing family and friends are some of the most basic indicators that your therapist understands the importance of ethical boundaries and the effects of not having them enforced.
Supervisory board
Your therapist should be linked to an oversight board or senior therapist that can facilitate debriefing sessions and discuss further clinical issues. This factor was critical as it assured me that my therapist wasn’t working in isolation, because of the nature of the job, it ensures checks and balances and guarantees that they are constantly challenged with an external view which in turn ensures better care.
Respect
Therapists must use language that ensures non-judgement, acceptance and acknowledgment of whatever it is that you are saying. Their words must be carefully selected to allow for alternative ways of thinking while skilfully recognising and respecting your point of view and beliefs.
Therapists are not gods but provision of these basic and necessary factors plays an integral role in whether or not they will be able to deliver appropriate care for you and should not be taken lightly. They, in fact, should be mandatory.
