FAQs about Counseling, Psychotherapy and Therapy in Wakefield

Finding the right Wakefield therapist can be easy!

You have been making your way through recommendations and searches for a therapist and preparing to have consultation calls, but now you are stuck on other things you found in your searches, ugh! While searching, you may have learned that the therapy world is a bit more complicated than you realized, and certainly more complex than you want. Searching for a therapist in Wakefield may have brought up Addictions Counselors, Clinical Social Workers, Psychologists, Mental Health Counselors and that doesn’t even mention all the different letters behind everyone’s name! What is great is that in Wakefield, we do have a variety of professionals all hoping to meet your needs. Yet all you want to do is to find someone to help you feel better. Now you are seeing information about coaching, psych assessment, psychologists versus therapists, and how are you supposed to make sense of it all?!  

I can help you sift through some of the noise to ensure you feel like you are back on track and ready to take the next steps in the direction that is best for you.

What is “therapy?”

It is good to start with the basics! While “therapy” can look really different with different professionals, at its essence, therapy is a process in which an individual, couple or family meets with a professional in order to find relief from emotional symptoms that are causing distress and interfering with that individual/couple/family being able to function optimally.

Therapy generally involves a variety of talking, listening and learning in order to identify barriers to desired changes and develop ways to navigate those barriers more effectively.  What can vary greatly about therapy is the topics someone learns, what is discussed, what is planned for between sessions and how the process evolves over time.

Some forms of therapy focus on making changes in behavior, while others focus on changing thinking patterns. Some focus on understanding your past in new ways, while others focus on the future you desire and how to attain it. With some therapists, you might spend a lot of time considering relationships, while with a different therapist you focus on the impact of your social environment. Another therapist may use music and art extensively as a means of self-understanding and expression. And this just scratches the surface of what can happen in therapy!

Some therapists focus exclusively on one type of therapy in a highly specialized manner, while others are trained in multiple forms of therapy and use them interchangeably with different people they are helping.

In the end, therapy is a process of helping people get past emotional burdens in order to life a more satisfying life.

What is psychology?

To quote the classic Merriam-Webster definition at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/psychology, Psychology is “the science of mind and behavior.” Essentially, Psychology is a field dedicated to how what happens in our brains affects our lives. Neuroscience gets more into the biochemical aspect of Psychology, with a greater emphasis on aspects of Anatomy, Physiology, Cell and Molecular Biology and now uses many Computational models as well. Having studied Neuroscience for my undergraduate degree, I could certainly go on about how exciting the field is, but I will save that for another blog post😊 For now, it is most important to understand that compared with Neuroscience, Psychology is more focused on thoughts and behaviors while Neuroscience is a bit more classically science-focused.

How does Psychology relate to therapy? Training in Psychology can vary from focusing heavily on research to understand how the mind works or study the effectiveness of different interventions to being entirely focused on the delivery of therapy. As with any other graduate training, the forms of therapy taught in Psychology training can vary widely.  Doctoral-level Psychology programs also can focus on psychological or neuropsychological testing, which can be helpful for understanding individual dynamics of attention, memory, processing, learning abilities and general psychological diagnoses.

What is the difference between counseling, psychotherapy and therapy in Wakefield?  

Effectively, they are much more similar than they are different. Some people would describe counseling as more focused on short-term care with more specific goals and therapy as being more long-term with more reflection involved, but that is not reflective of the field today as many therapists do short-term therapy with clear goals. For all intents and purposes, in the Massachusetts area, I find these terms generally interchangeable. Psychotherapy is a term I find most helpful to describe what I do to distinguish it from other fields like Physical Therapy or Occupational Therapy.

Are psychologists and therapists the same thing in Wakefield? 

In some ways, yes, and in other ways, no. Confusing, right? Some psychologists are therapists, and some therapists are psychologists. But not all! You are not alone in being confused. There are many training programs for therapy involving different degrees which lead to different licenses, and then there are a whole slew of other trainings and certifications that therapists can obtain after completing a degree program.   

A psychologist is someone who has completed a doctoral-level degree, which in the United States is typically a PhD or a PsyD. Psychologists are the only discipline that performs neuropsychological  or psychological testing. While not a rule, Psychologists are also more likely to be in academic, teaching and research roles. Most Psychologists earn a Master’s degree on their way to their doctorate.

At the Master’s level, the most popular degree programs that qualify someone to become a therapist are for clinical social workers, mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists. Different programs and degree tracks have regional popularity which I have always found interesting. Each of these degree tracks have a different emphasis in training, though all train individuals to become therapists.

Speaking of social work specifically, since that is my training, there is a heavy emphasis on how someone’s environment influences them. Not only their physical environment (such as where they live) but also their social environment (how connected they might be to others) and their cultural environment (including the values and messages of their culture). Social work considers how people are both influenced by these environments and how they might also exert influence on their environments in order to make the desired changes in their lives.  

What about coaching? Is a coach what I need over a therapist in Wakefield? 

Coaching is a field that has exploded recently, and like many fields with rapid growth there are some benefits and drawbacks to coaching. Coaching is generally highly focused on reaching goals of the client, whether those be personal or professional. Coaches will encourage clients to reach these goals and determine how to navigate roadblocks. Coaches can be amazing to helping someone stay on track, recognize barriers they could not see on their own and discover their strengths and how to leverage them best to meet their goals.

Does that sound like therapy? The two can be similar and there can be dynamics of coaching in therapy. Therapists can provide coaching, but coaches can not provide therapy. Coaching does not involve treatment of mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, panic and OCD, all which have research-backed interventions which therapists are trained to use in their work.

Additionally, coaching does not have the same rigorous process for training, credentialing, ongoing education and ongoing oversight as therapy professions entail. Which means that you might get an excellent coach, yet you may also be at greater risk or someone who has gone rogue or is ill-equipped to handle your goals and you would not have any recourse or protection from this from an organization such as a state licensing board

What about LPC, LICSW, LMFT, Psychologists, LMHC, etc.? What letters do I need in a therapist? 

As noted above, there are a lot of different professional disciplines who are all qualified to be therapists, and each discipline has their own alphabet soup when it comes to degrees and licensing. This is where I find it important to emphasize that research has shown consistently for years that the best indicator of success in therapy is not the therapist’s degree, discipline or licensure. It is not the therapist’s years of experience or where they went to school. It is the strength of the relationship between the therapist and the person in therapy.

With that said, I highly recommend seeing a therapist who is professionally licensed by whatever professional licensing board applies to their training. Maintaining a professional licensure ensure the therapist has met a minimum training, both academically (in school) and in the field (through practicums/internships and supervised work) and also participates in ongoing education. Licensure also provides clients with a mechanism through which to report inappropriate actions by a therapist and have a mechanism for receiving related support. Generally, most professionals will obtain and maintain a professional license if they are eligible for one. If you want to see someone unlicensed, I highly suggest you find out why they are practicing without a license and weigh this in your decision.

Can talking really help or is there more to therapy?

There is SO much more to therapy than talking! While talking is a natural part of therapy as a means of communication (for those with the ability to do so, though it is important to note that other modalities are available for those with disabilities that interfere with verbal communication), the way that topics are discussed is very different than casual conversation. Conversations with therapists can involve topics that people never feel comfortable to discuss outside of therapy. Also, therapy involves addressing concerns in a structured manner backed by all sorts of theories and research evidence. Often, the questions explored in therapy would not arise in casual conversation, nor are the recommendations made what one would hear in a natural environment. Moreover, the pace of the conversation in therapy is designed to allow people to come to conclusions that are harder to reach in casual conversations.

This is why, as therapists, we have lots of deep and meaningful or emotional conversations with our friends and family but we are not doing therapy with them! We may offer empathy and understanding, but if we are doing therapy, we are working with someone’s goals and using strategies, not simply being a kind ear to listen.  

A free consultation with a therapist in Wakefield

You deserve help from someone who knows how to help someone in your circumstances. Therapy goes beyond chatting to help you reach your goals and make meaningful, lasting changes in your life.

Whether you are entering therapy for the first time or looking to reconnect with the process, I offer a welcoming, supportive space to explore your challenges and goals. With the flexibility of in-person and online therapy, we can find a space for therapy in your lifestyle and schedule. You deserve the help that therapy can provide.

Specializing in working with young adults and adults during life transitions as well as with caregivers, I am committed to finding strategies to have you feeling your best. Are you ready to take the next step? Let’s connect over a free, 15-minute phone consultation for therapy in Wakefield.

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