How to choose a therapist

What Jungian therapy is

Jungian therapy comes from the work of Carl Jung, who broke with Freud in 1913 and spent the rest of his life on a different account of the mind. Its working assumption is that a great deal of what drives a person is outside their awareness, and that it shows itself in images - dreams, recurring situations, the things you react to far more strongly than they deserve.

In practice that means dreams are often taken seriously as material, and so are patterns that keep repeating across a life. The word Jung used for the long process of becoming more fully yourself is individuation. It is not a destination, and no therapist can promise you will arrive at it.

Terms you will encounter - the shadow, the anima and animus, archetypes, the collective unconscious - are ways of talking about experience, not diagnoses.

Who it tends to suit

It tends to suit people who are drawn to depth rather than technique, who have a rich dream life or a recurring one, who are in the middle of a life they no longer recognise, or who have found symptom-focused therapy useful but unfinished.

What the credential line means

The letters after a name tell you which training route someone took, and they differ by country. In the United States a licence is issued by a state board: LPC and LMHC are counsellors, LCSW is a clinical social worker, LMFT is a marriage and family therapist. In the United Kingdom, BACP and NCPS are professional membership bodies with their own entry requirements. In Australia, PACFA, AASW and ACA do the same job. None of them ranks above another, and the one that suits you depends on the work rather than the letters.

Where someone practises matters for a practical reason: a US therapist can normally only see people located in a state they are licensed in. That is why location is on every profile and why the directory is organised by it. Browse by credential, or start with where you are.

Checking a licence or registration

Every profile prints the licence or registration number exactly as the therapist lists it, and US profiles usually also print an NPI, the national provider identifier used across US healthcare. We do not verify either. A US state board keeps a public register, the national NPI registry is free to search, and the BACP, NCPS, PACFA, AASW and ACA all publish searchable member registers. All of them are yours to check in a couple of minutes, and a number that does not come back is worth asking about.

Approaches you will see listed

These are the approaches most often named on this directory. Naming an approach is not evidence of training in it; ask directly how someone uses it.

• Jungian Therapy
• Client-Centered Therapy
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Mindfulness Therapy
• Solution-Focused Therapy
• Trauma-Focused Therapy

Structured approaches such as CBT and solution-focused work set clear goals and often suggest things to try between sessions. Person-centred and mindfulness-based work is more open and gives you room to think out loud. Psychodynamic and depth work looks further back at patterns that keep repeating. Most therapists combine them, and the combination matters less than whether the person makes sense to you.

What to compare on a profile

1. Where you are. Start here, because it decides who can actually see you. Browse by location.
2. What they work with. Every profile lists it. If what you are carrying comes with something else - a bereavement, a separation, work that has become unbearable - look for someone who names that too. See everything therapists here work with.
3. How they work. Read the approaches, then read the biography, which tells you more. Does the way they describe their work sound like someone you could talk to?
4. The licence or registration. It is on every profile. Check it if it matters to you.
5. Experience. Years in practice is background, not a ranking. Newer therapists often have more room in the week.

What a first session is for

Nobody can tell in advance whether a therapist suits them. The first session is where you find out: whether you feel able to say how things really are, and whether the response makes you want to come back. Changing therapist after a session or two is normal and expected, and a good one will not take it personally.

Cost

Costs are shown on the partner platform before you commit to anything. If cost is a concern it is worth asking about reduced-fee options; many therapists keep a few lower-cost places. Community mental health services and university training clinics are also worth asking about, and are usually cheaper.

If you are not safe

Therapy is not an emergency service. If you are in crisis you can reach someone at any hour: call or text 988 in the US (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), call 116 123 in the UK (Samaritans), or call 13 11 14 in Australia (Lifeline). If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 911, 999 or 000.