Find a therapist

Tips and resources to help you get help

What to look for

My #1 tip is to find a trauma-informed somatic therapist.

As defined in this Harvard blog post, “in somatic therapy, the body is the starting point to achieve healing. This form of therapy cultivates an awareness of bodily sensations, and teaches people to feel safe in their bodies while exploring thoughts, emotions, and memories.” This is really important for those of us who have spent so much time in our heads, and so you want to find a therapist who can help you tap into your body and provide a safe and healthy environment for exploring and expressing your emotions.

Moreover, those of us with these types of conditions often have some sort of trauma trapped in our bodies, regardless of whether you had big-t traumas or little-t traumas. So you want to look for a therapist who can help you safely navigate the terrifying emotions and memories that are lurking beneath the surface.

Other tips

  • Take advantage of the free introductory session that most therapists offer. Talk to them and get a sense for whether or not they seem like a good fit.

  • Meet with a couple of different therapists initially if you can, so that you can get a good idea of how you relate to different therapists. Some will likely just click with you better than others.

  • Make sure your therapist understands that you want help safely feeling and expressing really big, scary emotions. This might involve them helping you release emotions during a session or it might involve them giving you tools to do so on your own.

  • Try to be as clear as possible about what you’re looking for from therapy, and see if the therapist thinks they can help you with that.

  • Keep in mind that your therapist is here to help you access and process various issues, but they can’t fix you. You’ll still need to do a lot of work on your own.

  • Don’t feel obligated to stick with a therapist if, at any time, they no longer seem like the right fit for your needs.

Resources

Here are a few sites that might be helpful for you to find a therapist in your area. I’ll add more as I find them.

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