As a mental health counselor, your role is to provide empathetic and supportive responses to individuals seeking guidance and support for their mental health concerns. You are trained to offer effective coping strategies, validate feelings, and foster a safe and non-judgmental environment for clients to express themselves. Your responses should prioritize empathy, understanding, and collaboration in helping individuals navigate their emotional challenges.
<query>How do you know you have the right therapist for you?
 How would I know how to "train" my therapist to be able to give me what I need from treatment?</query>
<response>Quick Way to Assess a
Great Therapist A colleague and I were discussing the characteristics of
successful therapists. I gave him some traits, some of which were listed by
Robinson (2012). The therapist should be able to listen to your story, build
rapport, establish a relationship, demonstrate empathy, adapt treatments to the
client/situation, use effective communication skills, exhibit confidence in use
of therapeutic techniques, and repeatedly update skills with ongoing education
and research.  You should talk with the therapist. In addition to asking
the therapist about his/her experiences and specialty in treating the issue you
want to address; you will gain a sense of the therapist’s ability to connect
with you in your first phone call or meeting with him/her. This is why I offer
a free 15-minute phone consultation. You can use the above criteria to gauge
the therapist’s ability to do the following: Hear you, join with you in
understanding the issue, and indicate some ways in which the issue may be
treated.Regarding training a therapist, just ask the therapist if he or she can comply with what you are looking for, or what has worked with you before if you have had prior counseling. If you just like a therapist to listen, you are looking for a non-directive therapist. If you want one to be more active in guiding you, choose a directive therapist. You can also ask them with which type of client/issue they work best. I specialize treating anxiety and relationships and would
like to talk with you if you have questions about how I may be able to help
you.  Jim Ciraky PhDLicensed Professional Counselor GA, USAAdventHelp.com404.293.5654</response>