Blogging on Good Therapy

Dear GoodTherapy.org Member’s and visitors to our site,

The GoodTherapy.org Team is pleased to announce the opening of the Healing Story Collection. This Collection is a project we started about 3 years ago to collect and share stories about the healing process experienced during psychotherapy. Over this time we’ve collected some beautiful stories and poems about healing. Every month we will be featuring and presenting one of these stories in our collection. We hope these stories will inspire us all to open our hearts, to witness the spiritual and mystical depths of psychotherapy, and learn experientially about the psychotherapeutic process.

Every month when we introduce a new story we will announce it here on the GoodTherapy.org blog. If you’d like to receive an email when we feature a new story or make any update to our blog: click here to subscribe.

Click here to visit the GoodTherapy.org Healing Story Collection

GoodTherapy.org recently updated its list of psychotherapy approaches and its list of concerns addressed. In response we received a small handful of emails from some thoughtful members with concerns about our lists: (more…)

Dear GoodTherapy.org Members,

GoodTherapy.org is once again in the process of updating our list of psychotherapy models. We want to share with you the update and ask for your help.

Below you’ll find 4 lists of therapy approaches: Those which have been added to our list; those already listed, those we need more information about before making a decision, and those which we have not included. Please note: you will not find the complete list of models listed in this post. For the complete list of therapy approaches click here: http://www.goodtherapy.org/1657.html and see the “Type of therapy you want” drop down list. We would be grateful for any information or opinions you have about the approaches below which we need more info about. Whether your can provide a quick yea or a nay, a link to a website with more info, or even a dissertation on why we should add or exclude an approach :), we’d love to hear it. Our team will research these approaches on our own, but we know there are many talented and knowledgeable therapists listed in Goodtherapy.org who can give us a running start. Please feel free to reply to this post (scroll down to the end of post to do so) and add any info you may have about any of the models. Thanks for your help! Here’s the list: (more…)

Dear GoodTherapy.org Members,

GoodTherapy.org has just finished updating our list of concerns. We want to thank everyone for many excellent suggestions. Over a dozen concerns have been added. Below you will find the Updated list of Concerns as well as a list of every suggestion we received along with our team’s response.

Updated List of Concerns Addressed:

Abuse Survivor Issues
Abandonment and/or Fear of
Abortion / Post Abortion Issues
Academic Concerns
Addictions (Drug & Alcohol)
Addictions (Other)
Adjusting to Change / Life Transitions
Adoption / Reunion Issues
Aggression
Agoraphobia
Anger
Anxiety
Attachment Issues
Batterer Intervention
Bereavement
Bipolar
Blended Family Issues
Career Choice
Caregiver Issues/Stress
Child and/or Adolescent Issues
Chronic Pain
Codependency / Dependency
Communication Problems
Compulsions
Control Issues
Creative Blocks
Depression
Developmental Disorders (Autism, Aspergers, etc.)
Dissociation
Divorce / Divorce Adjustment
Domestic Violence
Eating & Food Issues
Emptiness
Emotional Abuse
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Overwhelm
End-of-life Adjustment
Family Problems
Family of Origin Issues
Fertility Issues
Forgiveness
Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, & Transgender Issues
Geriatric Issues
Grief & Loss
Habits
Hyperactivity
Identity Issues
Impulsivity
Inadequacy
Inattention
Infidelity / Affair Recovery
Irritability
Isolation (Emotional & Social)
Learning Difficulties
Life Purpose/Meaning/Inner-Guidance
Men’s Issues
Midlife Transition
Mood Disturbance
Mood Swings
Multicultural Concerns
Obsessions
Oppositional & Defiant Behavior
Panic
Parenting
Phobias / Fears
Physical Abuse
Physical or Terminal Illness
Post Partum Depression
Post Traumatic Stress
Prejudice / Discrimination
Relationships & Marriage
Reproduction, Pregnancy, & Birthing
Religion
Self-Care
Self-Confidence
Self-Criticism
Self-Doubt
Self-Esteem
Self-Harm (Cutting, etc.)
Self-Love
Sensitivity to Criticism
Sex / Sexuality Issues
Sexual Abuse
Shame
Social Phobia/Anxiety
Spirituality
Stress
Suicidal (Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors)
Suspiciousness
Trauma
Trust Issues
Values Clarification
Violence
Women’s Issues
Workplace Issues
Worry
Worthlessness
Other - not listed here

List of most recent suggestions made to the GoodTherapy.org List of Concerns Addressed: (more…)

Dear Members & Newsletter Subscribers:We’re writing with two important announcements:

1. This week we’re celebrating GoodTherapy.org’s 5 month anniversary.  In this short time we’ve grown tremendously and have become highly visible on the web.  With nearly 1200 therapists in our directory, our site is viewed by over 8000 people each month and our directory is searched by 6000 independent users every month.  We have hundreds of pages targeting specific cities which are listed in the top 1, 2, and 3.  

2.  In addition to tooting our own horn, we’re celebrating this anniversary by providing you with more ways to promote your practice.  Here are some new ways to draw client to your practice:

1. Publish an Article on GoodTherapy.org  This is an excellent way to draw attention to your practice.  Click here to learn more about the benefits.

2. Advertise your Workshop or Training, FREE of cost, in our Workshop Directory

3. Post a comment to our Blog.  This is a great way to create a backlink to your website or your goodtherapy.org profile.  Here are some recent topics you can comment on, click on any of them to read the post and to comment:

Do you believe “Personality Disorder” diagnoses are pathologizing?

Why do We Use Personality Disorder Diagnoses Anyway?How to Choose a Counselor or Therapist

What are the Warning Signs of “Unhealthy” Therapy?

Thanks to all of you who have linked back to us and have told others about our site,

Noah Rubinstein, LMFT and the GoodTherapy.org Team :)

www.GoodTherapy.org

Hi Team,

GoodTherapy.org received an email from a mental health provider concerned about how we allow unlicensed people to list on our site.  We very much respect his concern for the various professions represented by our members and for the people we aim to help.  This was a decision we did not make casually.   We do allow prelicensed, registered, certified, and unlicensed providers to list, in addition to licensed providers.  Our reasoning is explained below.  If you’d like to comment on this, feel free to post your comment to our blog by clicking here but please read the following first:

First, we are not a licensing board and don’t have the resources to certify that each member is licensed correctly.  If we were responsible for validating members’ license we could, in our effort to help, inadvertently contribute to the harming of others.  What if we mistakenly certified a member as licensed when they actually were not?   And imagine if a person was harmed in therapy because they were treated by someone verified as licensed who was actually inexperienced and unlicensed.  Because of this possibility, we believe it’s actually safer for consumers to do their own homework by checking with an actual licensing board.  And frankly, there’s much less liability for Goodtherapy.org to shoulder by doing it this way. 

Second, licensure laws differ from state to state and country to country; and we are an international directory. 

Third, we believe that there are many unlicensed folks who are good therapists and knowledgeable enough to “do no harm.”  Certainly we believe that in general licensed therapists are less likely to do harm than unlicensed therapists because of the supervision hours and continuing education required of licensed individuals. 

Fourth, we make efforts on our site and in our blog to inform consumers about the differences between licensed and unlicensed therapists and how to choose a “good” therapist.  We encourage consumers to check the credentials of any therapist or counselor they see and to be familiar with basic ethical guidelines. 

Fifth, we are very clear to the users of our site that we do not verify that the mental health care providers listed in our directory are currently or properly licensed, nor do we examine, determine, or warrant their competency.  All users of our directory are required to certify that they have read our Terms and Conditions which includes the above information. 

Sixth, we believe that people generally have the ability to do their own homework and to choose wisely for themselves if they are informed. 

Seventh,  GoodTherapy.org DOES require new members to certify, using the honor system, that:  A) they are a Mental Health Professional (Counselor, Psychotherapist, Social Worker, Marriage & Family Therapist, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Physician, Nurse Practitioner, or other related professional); and B) that they have graduate level academic training in psychotherapy and mental health counseling and a degree from an accredited institution. 

Eighth, we review every new listing and delete one’s that are suspect.  In some cases, when profiles look fishy, we require the new member to certify their graduate level education.

Finally, I would say that what makes our site more credible than our competition is that we are the only site that requires its members to certify that the therapy they provide accords in orientation and attitude to our philosophy as defined in the Elements of Good Therapy document.  Sure, this does not guarantee that every therapist listed truly works in a healthy, collaborative, and nonpathologizing way, but it comes closer to the ideal than any other directory.  We put more work into supporting healthy psychotherapy than any other directory.  We believe that given a choice between GoodTherapy (a directory of empowering and collaborative therapists) and any other directory where you don’t know what kind of therapist you’ll get, consumers will choose us every time. 

 Open to everyone’s thoughts.  Feel free to comment by clicking here. Noah :)

Dear Members & Newsletter Subscribers:

We’re writing with some important announcements:

1. Last week we posted a new Blog article titled, “Do you believe “Personality Disorder” diagnoses are pathologizing?“  We’d really appreciate your ideas and responses.  Please have a look at the article by clicking here and feel free to post your comments by clicking on the “Comments” link near the bottom of the article.  All feedback and suggestions are welcome.

2. An exiting new update has been added to all GoodTherapy.org listings: Optional Video Introductions!  You can now add a video greeting or introduction to your listing to share with potential new clients. To upload a video log into your listing.  Please note, at this time only Windows Media Video (WMV) files are accepted.

3. We’ve listened to all of your suggestions and have again made some changes to the licensure designation question. During the sign up process members will now have a choice to select (or not select) any or all of the 5 licensure designations.  These are the options:

A. I’m a licensed mental health professional.
B. I’m a certified mental health professional.
C. I’m an accredited mental health professional
D. I’m a registered mental health professional
E. Other (see explanation below).

If you need to change your designation feel free to log back in and update your profile.  Click here if you can’t remember your password.

4. Lastly, we ask you to please help us by putting a link to GoodTherapy.org on your website.  Even if it’s in a place on your site where people don’t see it, the search engines (such as Google) will see it and that will help us go higher in search engine rankings.

Thanks to all of you,

Noah Rubinstein, LMFT and The GoodTherapy.org Team  :)

www.GoodTherapy.org

Dear Members:

We’re writing with some important announcements about your listing:

1. GoodTherapy has updated our Terms of Service.  This is one of two documents that all GoodTherapy.org members agree to before joining  (The other is the “Elements of Good Therapy”)  Over the last few months a number of members have pointed out how confusing our Terms of Service document was.  So we’ve finally reorganized it, narrowed it down (10 pages to about 5), translated much of the legal babble, and made it much more “human” than it was before.  We hope you’ll find the document much easier to read, though we’re sure it’s still the cure for insomnia :)  If you’d like to review it go here:  Terms of Service.

2. During the sign up process members now have a choice to select one of 6 licensure designations.  These options are:

A. I’m a licensed mental health professional.
B. I’m a certified mental health professional.
C. I’m an accredited mental health professional
D. I’m a registered mental health professional
E. I’m prelicensed / precertified / preaccredited.
F. Other (see explanation below).

If you need to change your designation to the prelicensed option feel free to log back in and update your profile.  Click here if you can’t remember your password.

3. Last week we posted a new Blog article titled “How to Choose a Counselor or Therapist.”  We’d really appreciate you’re suggestions and feedback.  Perhaps there’s another guideline you have in mind which we could add to the document?  Please have a look at the 15 guidelines for choosing a therapist and feel free to post your comments by clicking on the ” Comments” link near the bottom of the article.  All feedback and suggestions are welcome.

4. For those of you interested in our website statistics, we’re pleased to let you know that we’re getting thousands of hits per month.  In just over 3 months, nearly 10,000 searches for therapists have been counted and hundreds of emails to therapists through our system have been sent.    We expect theses numbers to triple in the next few months due to our online marketing efforts…   Thanks again for helping to make GoodTherapy.org a success.   It’s a pleasure to help influence the mental health community in a positive way and to imagine all the people who will benefit by finding you through GoodTherapy.org.  Thanks for being a part of this. 

5. Lastly, we ask you to please help us by putting a link to GoodTherapy.org on your website.  Even if it’s in a place on your site where people don’t see it, the search engines (such as Google) will see it and that will help us go higher in search engine rankings.

Thanks to all of you,

Noah Rubinstein, LMFT and The GoodTherapy.org Team  :)

www.GoodTherapy.org
 

Dear Members, I received a blog post this morning from a caring professional who’s concerned about some of the therapies in our List of Models. This is a topic I’ve addressed in an earlier post called Good Model of Therapy?… Not for us to decide… , but as a result of this post I feel the need to address this again. It is an important topic. First, here is what she writes:

“Healing and powerful? Your website is full of therapies that have been engaging in aggressive marketing campaigns making unsupported claims for years with no evidence to support those claims and some such as CISD have been shown to do more harm than good in a number of reviews of the evidence. The kinds of therapies you promote here are many of the ones I warn people about so I will be warning buyers to beware about your website.

Even though you truthfully state on your list of therapies that not all have empirical support, you also make claims that they are “healing and powerful” and your listing of them on a site entitled goodtherapy.com is aiding and abetting promoters who are making false claims. You do consumers a grave disservice. Now I’ll wait and see if you’ll post this comment on your website but I won’t be holding my breath.”

We’ll I’m happy that you didn’t hold your breath. :) I’m pleased to have the integrity and confidence in the mission of GoodTherapy.org to share your statement and address it publicly. I have a number of points to make:

1. First and foremost, we state clearly here that, “GoodTherapy.org is not in a position to endorse or disapprove any therapy models.”

2. I agree with you that it is irresponsible of us to describe all the therapies in our list as “healing and powerful.” Doing so contradicts our claim that we are nor in a position to endorse these models. I searched our site to find where “healing and powerful” was written and found it on a support page and promptly removed it. This piece of text was unfortunately a left over from an earlier time when GoodTherapy.org had taken up the grandiose task of attempting to completely evaluate and research models before putting them on our list. Our list was much shorter then. Our task is much different now. Thanks for pointing this out to us.

3. If you believe a particular therapy model is harmful, by all means name names. In your post you’ve named CISD and I’m willing to consider the evidence from all sides. If you have others that you believe are harmful, please open a dialogue with me about it. There are numerous opportunities on this blog in which you could share your concerns. You can also contact me individually. I will take your concerns seriously. As I state on our models page “we do reserve the right to exclude models which clearly conflict with the elements of good therapy” But, let’s not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

4. There are numerous models in our list that I do not practice, have no interest in practicing, and some I am even skeptical of. But we leave the evaluation of therapy models up to people to decide for themselves. Most therapy approaches have some controversy. Even traditional models, such as psychoanalysis, have both followers who are highly in favor (and even tout the miracles of this approach) and naysayers who see the approach as arrogant, condescending, and abusive. I know your concern is really about the possibility of unaware consumers being harmed by dangerous therapy models and I salute you for your compassion. As a therapist and one who has spent many years doing his own work, I know the dangers of bad therapy first hand - it’s why we created this site. I believe knowledge is power and I trust people, generally, to see for themselves, to research, to ask around, to check a therapy model out. This is why we provide links to more information on each therapy model. And this is why we remove some models: because knowledge from a caring person, like you helps us to make an informed decision.

5. We require all consumers who view our List of Models to first view the Terms and Conditions for viewing the Models of Therapy List which clearly warns consumers of the danger of therapy and therapists.

6. We state the following on our Models of Therapy page:

The following is a list of therapies which can, if used accordingly, adhere to the spirit, philosophy, and principles of what we at GoodTherapy.org believe to be “good therapy.” Some have been around for many years, others are relatively new. Some have been grounded in research, others in theory, and some rely on anecdotal evidence. Some are popularly accepted, others are cutting edge, and some controversial. GoodTherapy.org is not in a position to endorse or disapprove any therapy models. Our intention is to promote the use and awareness of the universal elements of good therapy which can be found across therapies. However, we do reserve the right to exclude models which clearly conflict with the elements of good therapy. We encourage you to explore, research, and discover for yourself which therapies may be a fit for you. We’ve included links to other sites with information on these models so you can have any easy starting point. We wish you the best on your journey :)

For those searching for help, please know that even a healthy model of therapy can be used in an unhealthy way. The therapist you choose is a very important factor in whether a therapy intended to work collaboratively and to empower actually does so. Also, the following list is a work in progress; there are therapies not yet listed here. As we become familiar with other approaches we will add them to this list. Click here to suggest a model of therapy that is not on our list.

7. We are in the process of creating a forum where professionals can debate the pros and cons of therapy models. When the forum goes live I hope you will share your concerns with us, if not before.

I look forward to responses from others, any thoughts, feelings, concerns?

Noah :)

Hi Folks,  Although GoodTherapy.org does not require therapists to be licensed in order to join our site and list their practice, we do require people to certify that:  1) they are Mental Health Professionals (Counselor, Psychotherapist, Social Worker, Marriage & Family Therapist, Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Physician, Nurse Practitioner, or other related professional); and 2) that they have graduate level academic training in psychotherapy and mental health counseling and a degree from an accredited institution.

Due to the large number of members from outside the US and Canada, there are degrees and diplomas I’ve never heard of.  So, I’m asking for your help.  If you’re familiar with the license types in the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and other locations outside the US and Canada, I’d really appreciate your input.  Could you please tell me which degrees/diplomas are standard for graduate level mental health professionals.  If I had the time ,I’d do the research myself, but being that I have access to a wealth of resources: you and your fellow GoodTherapy members, It’s easier to ask for help.  Thanks so much for taking the time to help.  Noah :)

Hi Friends,  I’m writing to clear up some confusion about Good Therapy’s position on the different models of therapy list.  Originally our intention was to limit the list to only models we could endorse as nonpathologizing, empowering, and collaborative.  This is truly a difficult task, one that requires the research funding of a large university, not the salary of a private practice therapist.  And becasue it’s not the theory that makes a model healthy and effective, but rather the therapist, we see little point in focusing our attention on evaluating models.  Sure, it makes sense for models to be evaluated, but we’re not the ones to do that.   It’s clear from my recent post on psychoanalysis that my own bias would get in the way anyhow :)   With all that said, we do reserve the right to exclude a model if it clearly conflicts with the element of good therapy, as we’ve defined them….   So, in an effort to be clear about our policy and position on the models of therapy list, I’m repeating here what we state on models of therapy page:

“The following is a list of therapies which can, if used accordingly, adhere to the spirit, philosophy, and principles of what we at GoodTherapy.org believe to be “good therapy.”  Some have been around for many years, others are relatively new.  Some have been grounded in research, others in theory, and some rely on anecdotal evidence.  Some are popularly accepted, others are cutting edge, and some controversial.  GoodTherapy.org is not in a position to endorse or disapprove any therapy models.  Our intention is to promote the use and awareness of the universal elements of good therapy which can be found across therapies.  However, we do reserve the right to exclude models which clearly conflict with the elements of good therapy.    We encourage you to explore, research, and discover for yourself which therapies may be a fit for you.  We’ve included links to other sites with information on these models so you can have any easy starting point.  We wish you the best on your journey :)

 For those searching for help, please know that even a healthy model of therapy can be used in an unhealthy way.  The therapist you choose is a very important factor in whether a therapy intended to work collaboratively and to empower actually does so.  Also, the following list is a work in progress; there are therapies not yet listed here.  As we become familiar with other approaches we will add them to this list.  Click here to suggest a model of therapy that is not on our list. ”  

We’re writing with some important announcements:

1, GoodTherapy.org is pleased to announce that in our first 2 weeks we have over 100 therapists advertising their practice!  Thanks for helping make GoodTherapy an instant success.  We’re excited about influencing the mental health community in a positive way and for all the people searching for help who will find your listing.   The world can sometimes feel in chaos and it’s a treat to know that many people, like you, are making the world a better place through you’re work.  It’s been nice to read your profiles and see your faces.  What a wonderful collection of people from around the world.  I wish I could meet each of you personally.

2, We’ve updated the Elements of Good Therapy document today with two important elements: “Depth” and “Sometime We Can’t Help.”   We hope that you will take a few minutes to view the elements, they’re also found here on our blog.  If the new elements don’t accord with the spirit and philosophy of your work and you would no longer like to be listed in our directory click here to let us know.  Of course, we hope that’s not the case, but we’d never expect anyone to stick with a group they don’t agree with.  I don’t think we’ll have too many more updates to the Elements of Good Therapy document, at least not for a while.

3, We’ve added about a dozen new concerns to the list of searchable concerns.  Please feel free to log back into your listing and add the concerns you address to your profile.   If and when there are more concerns added we’ll let you know.

4, We’ll be adding a handful of therapy models to our list within the next week.  Thanks to all of you who have introduced us to other ways of helping or reminded us of ways we overlooked.  It provokes awe when I see all the creative and powerful ways of helping that exist.

5,  The Good Therapy Blog is live and ready for your feedback.  Feel free to read our posts and make comments if you wish.  For those of you with your own website, feel free to leave a link to your site on our blog when you comment.  Back-links will help your site rise in the search engine rankings and be found by potential clients.

6, Lastly, we ask that you please help us grow by letting your friends and colleagues know about us.

Thanks so much,

Noah Rubinstein, LMFT and The GoodTherapy.org Team  :)