What are Red Flags in a Therapist?
We discussed green flags in a therapist, so what are red flags to be on the lookout for when working with a therapist?
You don’t feel comfortable with them
Your comfort is paramount during therapy. If you don’t feel safe or comfortable within the therapeutic relationship or environment, it will be hard to get much work done. Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to feel comfortable with everything—it can actually feel pretty uncomfortable doing some of the work and that’s okay! But this does mean that you and your therapist should work together to find what helps you to feel safe enough to get into the tough stuff.
You don’t feel like they really care
It’s really important to feel like your therapist genuinely cares about you. If you feel like they don’t give a crap about you, or that you’re an inconvenience to them, it’s time to either have a discussion with them or start looking for a new therapist.
They aren’t open to feedback
Therapists are humans, which means we’re not going to get it right all the time. If your therapist isn’t willing to discuss things they said or did that made you feel negatively, this is a red flag.
Their list of specialties is a mile long
Not to say that therapists can’t specialize with a broad population, but I would have some questions if I see a therapist that specializes in anything and everything. Why? Because each population, specialty, and approach requires nuanced knowledge and expertise in order to provide informed care. If they will work with anyone, it may be a sign that they aren’t providing the highest standard of care.
They don’t enforce any boundaries
Therapists are not your friends. We care about you!! But at the end of the day, we are professionals who need to uphold professional boundaries. Red flags are if boundary lines are becoming fuzzy (like talking to them all the time outside of session, oversharing a lot of personal information, offering to hang out outside of session).
