How to Find A Therapist: Why We Recommend Trauma-Informed Therapy

Finding the best therapist for you can feel very overwhelming. Many clients aren’t sure what to ask or how to screen therapists. Additionally, some clients don’t realize they can interview their therapist to assess if that therapist is a good fit for them. When selecting a therapist near you, look for someone who is trauma-informed, competent, makes you feel comfortable, and is open to your questions.

What is Trauma-Informed Therapy?

A trauma-informed therapist is someone who has advanced trauma training and utilizes that perspective to aid in helping their clients. This type of therapist will not only provide coping skills to reduce your symptoms on the surface but will also assist you in identifying the cause of your symptoms.

The Importance of Healing Core Wounds

At Tennessee Mental Wellness, we believe that all mental health issues have their root in some form of individual hurt, relationship wound, false core belief, damaging perspective of the world, or intense fear/concern of what might happen in the future (all of these are most often linked to trauma). Coping skills have their place and do help to reduce symptoms, but they do not heal the core wound. We want to help heal those deeper wounds so that the symptoms do not flare up and bother you again.

Our Approach: Brainspotting

All our clinicians have advanced training in a trauma treatment modality called Brainspotting. Brainspotting is a trauma reprocessing modality that can rapidly reprocess and heal multiple traumatic events providing lasting relief and decreased activation.

How to Choose the Right Trauma-Informed Therapist

When seeking to find the most beneficial trauma-informed therapist for you, consider the following:

• Degrees and Certifications: Ensure the therapist has the necessary qualifications.
• Years of Experience: More experience often means better insight and techniques.
• Knowledge: Read their biographies online and ask about their understanding of Brainspotting.
• Comfort and Attunement: Ensure you feel connected and relaxed with your therapist.
• Openness to Questions: Choose a therapist who can explain the process and answer your questions confidently.

Building Connection and Clear Communication with Your Therapist

Attunement (connection) is an integral part of Brainspotting. Therefore, for it to be most effective, you need to feel both connected and relaxed with your therapist. Comfortability can be both innate and increased over time.

Working with a therapist who can explain what to expect, how Brainspotting works, and how you can return to your normal or baseline state is essential. Conversations around missed expectations, feeling offended, or confusion over the therapist’s intent are highly beneficial and can help create a deep connection between the two of you.

The Healing Journey

Ultimately, you want a therapist who knows how to help you heal, because healing from trauma IS possible. A skilled therapist can put you at ease as you reprocess difficult events and can answer any questions you may have. A therapist with those capabilities will allow you to progress with reprocessing and experience significantly reduced symptoms.

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If you would like to learn more about Brainspotting, here is an article that explains far more about it: Brainspotting Article.

If this article was helpful to you, wonderful! If you have any questions after reading this, feel free to reach out to us! We at Tennessee Mental Wellness are happy to answer any questions, provide further resources, or match you with a therapist.