Choosing a therapist is a strange task. You're being asked to assess, from a photograph and three paragraphs, whether a stranger is safe enough to tell the thing you haven't told anyone.
Most guides answer this with a list of modalities. That's the least useful part. Here's what actually matters.
The research finding nobody puts on their website
Across decades of psychotherapy outcome research, the single strongest predictor of whether therapy helps isn't the modality. It's the relationship between you and the therapist: whether you feel understood, and whether you agree on what you're doing together.
That's not a reason to ignore training. It's a reason to stop treating the modality list as the decision, and to weight your own read of the person much more heavily than most people do.
Which means: the free consultation call is not a formality. It's the actual assessment.
Questions worth asking
"What happens if I get overwhelmed in a session?"
This is the most revealing question you can ask a trauma therapist. You want to hear something about slowing down, settling, and having a way back. If the answer is essentially "we push through," keep looking. Pushing through is how people get re-traumatised by treatment.
"Do I have to talk about what happened?"
There's no single right answer, but you should get a clear one. Some approaches need the narrative. Some don't. What matters is that you know which you're walking into, because being surprised by that requirement in session two is genuinely harmful.
"What's your training, specifically?"
"Trauma-informed" has become close to meaningless: it can mean a weekend workshop or years of accredited training. Ask what they completed, with whom, and over what period.
"Are you registered, and with whom?"
In Australia, the main bodies for counsellors and psychotherapists are PACFA and ACA. Psychologists register with AHPRA. Registration means a code of ethics, a complaints process, and required ongoing supervision.
This also determines your funding: Medicare rebates apply to registered psychologists and some other providers, not to counsellors. Private health extras and WorkCover often cover counselling. Ask directly rather than assuming.
"What would make you refer me elsewhere?"
A therapist who can answer this specifically is telling you they have a real sense of their own limits. That's a good sign.
Things that are reasonable to want
You're allowed to want a therapist who shares your language, or who has some understanding of your cultural context, or who is a particular gender. None of that is a shallow preference. It changes what you can say and how quickly.
You're allowed to change your mind after two sessions. Therapists know this happens. A good one will help you find someone else rather than treat it as a rejection.
You're allowed to ask what the fee is before booking, and to be told plainly.
The one that catches people out
Ask about the cancellation policy before your first session, and get it in writing. It's the single most common source of friction in private practice, and it's entirely avoidable by asking upfront.
If you're looking in Brisbane
I'm a PACFA Registered Clinical Counsellor practising in West End and Milton, working somatically with trauma, in English and Spanish.
If after reading this you think we might fit, the discovery call is free and there's nothing to prepare. And if you read it and thought of a question I haven't listed, ask me that one. The questions people arrive with usually tell me something useful.
