5 Steps To Background Check a Therapist (Plus Red Flags to Look For)

Verifying a therapist’s license is like running a background check on them. It doesn’t prove a therapist is good as much as it shows they’re not bad—or at least that they haven’t been caught being bad.

Therapists are legally required to be licensed by a state board to practice therapy. This means there’s a government agency that keeps tabs on your therapist—and the records that agency keeps are public documents you can retrieve with an online search.

There are a few exceptions to the licensure requirement. Associate therapists who are working towards licensure are allowed to practice under the supervision of another licensed therapist, and sometimes there are exceptions to licensure for therapists who practice in certain facilities or industries that are regulated in other ways.

However, for the most part, to legally provide therapy, a therapist has to have a license. A licensing board grants a license to a therapist after they meet specific degree, experience, and testing requirements. To maintain a license in good standing, a therapist must abide by the ethical, professional, and legal standards outlined in professional regulations.

The purpose of licensure is to protect consumers from unethical or incompetent therapists. Consumers can file a complaint with a licensing board if they know or suspect a therapist has violated professional standards.

Things that can cause a therapist to lose a license or be disciplined by a licensure board include having a sexual relationship with a client or violating confidentiality requirements. Violations that can result in a therapist being fined or censured but still able to practice include not maintaining sufficient clinical records or making minor, accidental confidentiality violations, like leaving a record out on their desk where a member of the maintenance staff saw it.

Like any other professional, therapists have to market themselves. They have to make information about themselves visible so potential new clients can find them. This means that most either have a profile on a site like ours or Psychology Today or have their own website that you can find with a Google search.

You can learn a lot about a therapist if you read their profile. Once you’ve checked their license and know they’re abiding by basic ethical and legal standards, you can get a sense of who they are and how they practice by taking this next step.

This last one can tell you a lot about a therapist. There’s a difference between reading a book on a therapy method and putting in the effort to train and become certified in it.

If a therapist practices a method that offers certification but doesn’t mention whether they’re certified, ask them. Being certified in a specialized method isn’t a guarantee that a therapist is good, but it’s a good sign. It shows they’re willing to put in the effort to get it right and that they hold themselves to high professional standards.

If you want to take your research even further, research the method a therapist is certified in and see if it’s widely accepted as an effective and safe therapy method.

If a therapist has a website, you can find out even more about them by looking beyond their bio. Many therapists keep blogs. By reading a blog entry or two, you can get a better sense of your therapist’s voice and the topics they’re passionate about.

Do they seem to know what they’re talking about? Are they likable? Do they seem familiar with the issues you face? It’s even easier to develop an intuitive hunch about them if they have any videos on their site that you can watch to see what they look and sound like.

We all know online reviews can be biased. Some review sites favor or highlight negative reviews, while other sites do the opposite.

But while they can be misleading, reviews can be helpful, too. The key to making the most of them is to read between the lines of individual reviews and consider the bigger picture.

Our go-to advice when reading online reviews is to look for a pattern. Don’t just look at whether the reviews are good or bad—note the specific comments people make. Is the praise or criticism consistent? Does it seem authentic?

Sometimes, “good” or “bad” is a matter of personal preference, not an absolute. For example, some people don’t like a therapist who’s too quiet, while others prefer a therapist who is. Some people like a therapist who’s blunt and to the point, while others prefer a therapist with a softer tone.

Good therapists help you see when you’re doing something negative or harmful, but they don’t do it in a way that makes you feel judged or ashamed. They make you feel more hopeful, not less. On the other hand, a bad therapist pushes a specific agenda, seems to have an axe to grind, and can wound you with their cutting and condescending remarks.

Good therapists may choose to disclose limited personal information but generally focus on you and don’t talk much about themselves. It’s the sign of a bad therapist to cross boundaries and overshare or make the therapy session as much about their issues as yours. And only unethical therapists pursue sexual or other dual relationships with clients.

Before you start your research, there’s something important to note about online therapist reviews. Remember the licensing boards and laws we talked about earlier? Well, in many states, it’s a licensure violation for a therapist to solicit good reviews. If you see a lot of good reviews that seem like they were solicited, it can be a sign that an unethical therapist asked clients to post them.

This certainly isn’t always the case, which is why it’s important to get a sense of the details, authenticity, and larger patterns of the reviews. But this means it’s also important not to judge a therapist for having few or no online reviews.

Once you’ve done as much research as you can online, it’s time to reach out. The only way to get the full picture of whether a therapist is a good fit is to meet with them.

A good therapist who is looking to take on new clients should be willing to talk to you to help you decide if they’re the right therapist for you. An initial consult can be anything from a 20-minute phone call to an hour-long interview session.

Whether a therapist charges a fee for this depends on the type of consult and the therapist. It’s not a bad sign if a therapist charges a fee for a consult, but it’s totally fine if that’s a deal-breaker for you.

An interview is as much about getting an intuitive feel for a therapist as it is learning specific things about them. Pay attention to how comfortable you feel talking to them, whether their personal style, methods, and personality are a match for you, and how much effort they put into listening to you and giving honest feedback.

Also, consider what’s important for you to have in common with your therapist. You may prefer a therapist who has the same religious views, gender, sexual orientation, race, or ethnic identity. If you have differences in one or more of these areas, it’s important to see if a therapist has done the work to become culturally competent so that you don’t end up having cringe-worthy racist or homophobic interactions with them.

The important thing is to determine whether a therapist from a different background has done the work to learn about clients like you and the issues you face. A therapist doesn’t necessarily have to have been through the same things as you, but they do need to have some understanding of the cultural and social issues that affect you, to care about them, and to take them seriously. If your therapist fumbles or says something ignorant or offensive about these topics, it’s a sign that they’re not qualified to work for and with you as a client.

Even after doing the best research, it’s impossible to know exactly what it’s like to be in session with a therapist until you’ve actually done it. So, the final step in vetting your therapist is to do a few trial sessions.

While you’re in session, you’ll be looking for the same kinds of things you did in your initial research, but in the nitty-gritty of actual therapy. You can test whether a therapist’s description of themselves matches your experience in the therapy room. You can see if your therapist is empathetic and a good listener. You can see whether the method they use clicks with you.

If you feel good about your therapist after your first few sessions, congratulations! You’re on the amazing road to wholeness that therapy offers. If not, politely let them know you won’t be continuing with them. What you’ve learned should help you in your next round of research.