How to Find a Therapist: Criteria for Your Online Search

Every month in the Austin area there are 720 and 390 Google searches for the phrases “therapist near me” and “psychologist near me” respectively.  

These search numbers increase to 880 and 480 each month for the phrases “marriage counseling Austin” and “couples counseling Austin.” 

Searching online for professional services has become more than popular—it’s the default method of finding what we need. And the aforementioned Google search numbers show that many Austinites or those living in the Austin area are looking for therapists online.

But how best to sift through the dozens of counselor and therapist websites that come up as a result of your search? 

Let’s look at some different criteria you can use to help make sense of your Austin therapist search results.

Seeking help for a specific issue/struggle

As with the medical profession, mental health practitioners are becoming highly specialized. If, for instance, you are struggling with anxiety/panic attacks and you want symptom relief, seeking a therapist who specializes in or has experience with treating anxiety might be a good place to start. 

Prospective psychologists/therapists might have a great deal of experience treating anxiety disorders, but they might not state on their website that they “specialize” in treating this condition. 

If there is a therapist’s website you are drawn to but it isn’t clear whether the therapist has experience with the issue(s) that are most pressing for you, it can be important to take the next step and email or call the therapist. Ask as many questions as you need to help determine if it seems like a good fit between what you are seeking and what the therapist can offer in terms of treatment. 

If the therapist isn’t open to questions, or seems impatient while answering your questions about his/her experience or areas of competence, that might be a good indication to move on to someone else. 

Do I want to try a particular treatment approach?

Increasing numbers of people are seeking out specific types of therapy based on reading or hearing about a particular treatment. EMDR for trauma (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), cognitive behavioral therapy, and somatic therapies are examples of therapeutic approaches that have become increasingly well-known to the general public. 

Again, if you are motivated to try a specific kind of therapy, do not hesitate to ask about the psychologist’s or therapist’s credentials and experience with that method. 

And on the flip side, if the therapist is recommending a certain approach that s/he thinks might be beneficial to you, and yet you haven’t heard of that particular treatment approach, I encourage you to ask about it. You might start with these questions:

What is the rationale for recommending this particular therapy approach?

What are the benefits and potential pitfalls of this approach?

Are there other options available in addition to what is being recommended? 

What services does the therapist offer and what kind of clients does s/he treat?

A thorough therapy website will often have pages that describe the “services” offered. 

Common therapy services you might see listed on counseling sites: 

• Individual therapy

• Couples/marriage counseling 

• Infidelity counseling

• Family therapy 

• Group therapy

• Psychological testing and evaluation 

In the service section of the website you can also learn whether the therapist works with children, adolescents, adults and/or older adults; and whether s/he works with LGBTQ individuals. 

You may want to start with the “services page” of a website before exploring the other pages of the psychologist’s or counselor’s site. 

Type of degree, experience/training & therapist style of working

Each therapist website should have an “about me” page where you should learn about what kind of degree/license the therapist holds, i.e., doctorate level psychologist (PhD, Psy D); master’s level clinical social worker (LCSW); marriage and family therapist (MFT); licensed professional counselor (LPC). 

The term “therapist” is a generic one that any mental health professional can use to describe him/herself. This tells you nothing about this person’s training and degree, so again, it can be helpful to ask about it if you feel this information can be useful in making your decision. Here you will also learn if the therapist has had any specific additional training in particular therapy approaches.

The “about me” page should also tell you how long the mental health professional has been practicing/doing therapy (how long s/he has been treating clients). 

In this section of their website, some therapists might describe key elements of therapy that they see as important, such as working collaboratively with clients; prioritizing a strengths-based approach; creating a safe space to help clients explore difficult issues; or helping clients examine unconscious dynamics that might be impacting the quality of their life (to name a few examples). 

Some therapists might share personal information about their lives on this page. Some disclose information about their own personal struggles in an effort to let potential clients know that the therapist too has struggled and that they know firsthand what the client is up against because they’ve experienced it. This, however, is not required, and you may find that most therapists choose not to share this kind of information. 

There are different schools of thought when it comes to this point, both from the perspective of the therapist and the client. Many clients are of the mindset that when they seek counseling, they don’t want to think about the therapist’s issues or personal background, but rather, want to figure out how the therapist can help them navigate their own issues in light of their own history.  

In short, after reading the “about me” page, you should come away with a clearer picture of the therapist’s qualifications and their style of working with clients. 

Does a therapist website speak to you?

Websites are an expression of a therapist’s “voice.” After reading articles about different topics on a therapist’s website, you might decide that s/he is someone who will understand your struggles based on how the therapist writes about these issues.  

This is where a therapist’s website matters most: You see yourself and your issues discussed on the website/blog in a manner that makes you feel like you want to take the next step and contact this therapist for an initial visit. 

In answering the question, “How do I find a good therapist?” your experience of the website should motivate you to take the next step and reach out to the therapist. You may want to speak over the phone and ask questions before setting up an initial appointment. Conversely, what the counselor or psychologist described on her/his website may have answered your questions and you may be ready to set up a meeting. 

If, however, your experience of the therapist’s website is some version of “meh,” or if you are getting a sense from hearing the therapist’s online voice that this person is not professional or knowledgeable or compassionate, you’ll sense this pretty quickly and simply move on to the next website that came up in your Google search.

And, of course, the face-to-face interactions are still the ones that matter most — after the first or second therapy session, you should have a deepening sense of being understood by this therapist and a plan for how working together can help you reach your goals. If you don’t, it won’t matter how wowed you may have initially been by the therapist’s website. 

Access and convenience 

This last point may appear last on this list, but for many people, it’s the most important: the matter of convenience.

Truth be told, for instance, no matter how stellar a Round Rock psychologist might appear from her/his website, if you live in South Austin, you’ll likely want to avoid the notorious Austin traffic and find a psychologist or counselor who practices south of the river. 

If convenience is a top priority for you (as it is for so many people raising families, working full-time jobs, and juggling other ongoing commitments), expanding your search phrase to include “near me” (for example, psychologist near me; couples counselor near me) can help narrow your search results to your particular area in Austin. 

And it may go without saying—that you’d want to find a mental health professional within an easy drive when you’re looking for a counselor—but it’s extremely helpful when starting your search for therapists to name all the criteria that are important to you, including those that feel so obvious they’re implied.

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A psychologist in Austin and Georgetown, TX, Dr. Nicastro has over twenty years’ experience working with individuals and couples and running groups. If you’d like to discuss your treatment needs, he can be reached at Rich@RichardNicastro.com or (512) 931-9128.