Searching for a Trauma Specialist in Philadelphia and The Main Line Suburbs?
Searching for a Trauma Specialist in Philadelphia and The Main Line Suburbs?
Here are 4 Tips on Finding the right therapist for you!
Consider: Are you looking to manage your PTSD symptoms? Or do you want to heal and resolve the underlying issues?
When looking for the right psychotherapist for your specific needs, you’ll need to consider if you’d like tools to manage your emotions and thoughts or if you’d like to also dig deeper to resolve issues from the root. Therapeutic orientations like CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) help you to challenge and reframe your negative beliefs, learn skills like mindfulness and distress tolerance as well as interpersonal effectiveness. These skills are paramount to facing trauma and working through it. If this is the level you’re at and ready for, you can learn more about these skills here or contact us here to obtain a free 15 minute phone consultation with one of our clinicians.
If you’re looking to go deeper, you’ll want to consider clinicians who work with a systems background, a psychodynamic background and/or is trained to provide EMDR. In the above mentioned approaches, clinicians will learn about you, your background, your family and anything and anyone that influences you and is important to you in order to get a sense of who and where you are emotionally. These clinicians will then work with you to face traumatic material and help you to reprocess and resolve the memories or places your trauma is stored in your body.
2. Virtual Telehealth versus Live In Person Therapy: Pro’s and Con’s
Doing virtual counseling by telehealth definitely has it’s benefits.
Virtual platforms allow you to choose anyone in the state of Pennsylvania you’d like to do therapy with rather than being restricted by distance. You can do therapy from the comfort of your own space, you also don’t have to factor in travel time in scheduling your sessions. We’ve seen that telehealth translates really well, even in trauma work, including EMDR, somatic therapy and other trauma sensitive approaches.
The upside to live therapy is being in the room with another human.
There’s a certain energy that can be sensed by many people looking for deep therapeutic work that just doesn’t translate to the screen. When necessary, telehealth is great, especially during lockdown and if there are COVID risks or other issues that prevent clients from feeling safe doing in-person. But on the other hand, when live, in person therapy is available, that’s always my first choice.
3. Personality Matching in Therapy
Especially in respect to trauma work, it is of paramount importance that you, as the client, feel safe with your therapist! Many great therapists may not be your best match. It is important to have a live conversation when your looking for a trauma specialist to see what they’re all about and if your personality and theirs gels well. You’ll know in your gut if it’s the right match.