Once upon a time, before I got married, before having babies, I was a serial dater. I didn’t set out to be one. But there I was, 25 and freshly single from a 4-year relationship and all I wanted was to get out there and have fun. And it was fun...but it was also a bit exhausting. Fast forward six years into the future and I am now doing a different sort of dating: I’m on the hunt for the perfect therapist. For so many people, are innumerable benefits of having a therapist: It can help them make amends with past situations, help them to reduce stress in their lives, or improve relationships. Personally, I’m in need of regular therapy mainly to resolve the PTSD and anxiety following the death of my daughter and the traumatic birth and first few months of my son’s life. So clearly, finding the right person to work with on these issues is vitally important, as I'm sure it is for anyone who's seeking a new therapist for any reason.
Finding the right therapist isn’t as easy as simply making an appointment. For therapy to work, you need to find someone whom you feel you can trust and open up to. I recently had a terrible experience with a therapist who thought it was somehow OK to victim blame, so now I’m a bit more gun-shy than before about the next one I visit. In this process of “trying on” therapists, I can’t help but be reminded of what it's like to put yourself out there in the dating world, trusting someone you don’t even know with your time, your thoughts, and possibly your heart. Entering the dating scene and returning to the world of therapy, when you think about it, really do have a lot of similarities.