tips for picking a clinician
All Outdoor Talk clinicians are licensed therapists who are experienced listeners and educators in all things inner-life. However, finding the clinician that’s the best for you is not one size fits all. So, how do you pick? And how do you know if it’s working? Look for these signs as you check out clinician profiles, ask them a consult question, or have your first session.
Right combo of specialty, schedule, and location.
All Outdoor Talk clinicians are qualified to address issues such as stress, anxiety, depression, grief, relationships, divorce, life transitions, sexual issues, addiction, PTSD, and more. However, each has their area of speciality (see here). Look for a clinician who has a combination of clinical specialty, outdoor specialty, availability, and location that interests you. If there’s not one clinician that ticks every box, weigh which factors are most important to you and make a choice that you feel good about.
Has a way a speaking that speaks to you.
Different people are drawn to different ways of communicating. Look for a clinician whose tone, body language, vocabulary, and approach speaks to you more than another’s. Likewise, different people have different learning styles. For example, some need blunt directness while others need imagery and examples. Look for a clinician whose way of talking builds your trust and helps you learn.
Reflects your inner life with accuracy and insight.
Every word, image, smell, taste, and texture we experience brings up a host of associations in our minds. These associations then guide how we think, feel, and act around an experience. However, these associations are hidden from us, stored as implicit, nonverbal information in our brain. The Outdoor Talk clinician’s job is to help you move that information into an explicit, verbal form so that you can examine and reframe it. One of the tools clinicians use to do this is called reflective listening. When you speak to your clinician, they will often repeat back to you what you said but in different words, with different emphases, or a new perspective. This shift in perspective is meant to shine a flashlight on the hidden associations behind what you said. Some clinicians will be better at reading, guessing, and reflecting what’s hidden in your brain than others. Look for a clinician who reflects your inner life with accuracy and insight. You should feel understood and like you discovered something new and true. If you sense that they don’t really get you, they may not be a good fit.
Check out our team to compare clinician profiles and decide which one is right for you. For more data, use our “ask a clinician a question” page. You can send the same question to multiple clinicians to see which response makes the most sense to you. You don’t have to wonder or struggle to get help. We promise to make the process easy, and with the support of the right Outdoor Talk clinician, you can feel solid about life again.
