About Seeing a Therapist

Seeing A Therapist?

What's Wrong?

Counselling deals primarily with solving a specific problem or situation. It tends to be focussed and relatively short term. Your therapist will want to discuss specific goals with you and work towards these goals using a variety of techniques.

Psychotherapy is aimed at changing the person and his and her usual responses to situations. It tends to be mostly a "talking" technique and will take more time than counselling.

Our Therapists

Dr. John Swaine & Associate's therapists are mental health professionals who have met rigorous standards of clinical training, supervision and examination so that they can provide experienced, professional helping services to their clients. They are registered members of their professional organizations and have clear Codes of Ethics which they are required to follow.

What is a Therapist?

What Do Therapists Do?

A therapist begins by listening, asking questions and learning about your life. Questionnaires and standardized tests are often used to save time or to assess specific concerns.

You should feel that you can discuss your issues openly with your therapist so that she or he will fully understand your concerns.

Like a coach, your therapist will help you to learn how to do things in new ways which can be more productive for you. Your therapist will help you to recognize situations that may be problematic for you, to deal with them better and to make better decisions. A therapist's responses to your situation are based on tested theories and methods of change.

Our therapists are required to keep the identity of their clients private. Therefore, they will not talk about you with other clients, may appear to ignore you when you meet in public places, or may decline to attend your family's gatherings if invited.

We will not report private information about you to others without your knowledge or consent. (There are exceptions, such as when there is risk of harm, or if the matter goes to court.)

And when therapy is completed, our therapists' Codes of Ethics do not permit them to be a friend to you like your other friends.

Isn't This the Same as Friendship?

There are important differences between therapy and friendship. Your therapist cannot also be your friend, although he or she will be caring and friendly.

Why Not Friends?

Friends may see your issues only from their personal viewpoints and experiences. Most friends are not trained - they may want to find quick and easy solutions to your problems so that they can feel helpful. These short-term solutions may not be in your long-term best interest. They may expect you to do what they advise and feel disappointed if you do not. Friends do not usually review your progress, follow up on their advice to see whether it was useful, or keep up to date on current research.

Because of the nature of therapy, the relationship with your therapist has to be different from most relationships. It may differ in how long it lasts, the topics you discuss, or the goals of the relationship. Meetings are focussed, scheduled at specific locations and the client (or a third party) pays for the session. Once the problem is cleared up, the relationship stops.

If you and your therapist were to interact in any other ways, the therapist might have a "dual relationship" or "conflict of interest" with you. This would not be right, and might make it harder for you to be successful in therapy.

Some Limitations

We will avoid having any conflicts between our client's best interests and the therapist's interests. In order to offer clients the best care, the therapist's judgment needs to remain objective and professional. For this reason, we need to be clear about what we can and cannot do.

Our therapists cannot:

• also be your supervisor, teacher, or evaluator.
• be a relative, friend, or business contact.
• have any other kind of business relationship with you besides the therapy itself. For example, the therapist cannot employ you, lend to or borrow from you, or trade or barter with you.
• give legal, medical, financial, or any other type of advice outside their areas of expertise.
• have any kind of romantic or sexual relationship with a current or former client, or any other people close to a client.

Concerns?

If you are concerned about the actions of one of our therapists, you should begin by discussing the matter directly with them. If you still have concerns, you may review them with Dr. Swaine. You also have the right to contact the therapist's professional regulatory body.