Couples Therapy in Burnaby and Vancouver, BC

I provide couple therapy, as well as individual and family therapy, in my offices in Vancouver, Burnaby and Seattle. In addition to being a licensed and registered psychologist I am also a registered marriage and family therapist (RMFT) and a Clinical Member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. My practice includes working with couples, individuals and families on relationship issues and I have a specialized focus on couples dealing with ADHD and Asperger's Disorder or autism spectrum disorder

My training includes an advanced certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy from the Albert Ellis Institute in New York, clinical training in couple and family therapy through Middletown Psychiatric Centre and it's community based mental health programs in New York (an APA approved clinical program), and more recently training in Gottman Family Therapy and CBT with the family.

For more information on the services I provide to couples and families please visit my web page at either www.relatedminds.com or http://www.relatedminds.com/couple-family-therapy/

About Couple Counselling and Marriage Therapy

I am often asked about the differences between a Psychologist and a Marriage and Family Therapist ( I am licensed | Registered in both fields). You can find this information on the web page of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapists here:

http://www.aamft.org/imis15/Content/About_AAMFT/Qualifications.aspx

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What are the qualifications to be a Marriage and Family Therapist?

Marriage and family therapy is a distinct professional discipline with graduate and post graduate programs. Three options are available for those interested in becoming a marriage and family therapist: master's degree (2-3 years), doctoral program (3-5 years), or post-graduate clinical training programs (3-4 years). Historically, marriage and family therapists have come from a wide variety of educational backgrounds including psychology, psychiatry, social work, nursing, pastoral counseling and education. 

The Federal government has designated marriage and family therapy as a core mental health profession along with psychiatry, psychology, social work and psychiatric nursing. Currently all 50 states support and regulate the profession by licensing marriage and family therapists with the remaining states in the process of obtaining licensure laws.

The regulatory requirements in most states are substantially equivalent to the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists Clinical Membership standards. After graduation from an accredited program, a period - usually two years - of post-degree supervised clinical experience is necessary before licensure or certification. When the supervision period is completed, the therapist can take a state licensing exam, or the national examination for marriage and family therapists conducted by the AAMFT Regulatory Boards. This exam is used as a licensure requirement in most states and provinces.

Who are Marriage and Family Therapists?

Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are mental health professionals trained in psychotherapy and family systems, and licensed to diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders within the context of marriage, couples and family systems.

Marriage and family therapists are a highly experienced group of practitioners, with an average of 13 years of clinical practice in the field of marriage and family therapy. They evaluate and treat mental and emotional disorders, other health and behavioral problems, and address a wide array of relationship issues within the context of the family system. 

Marriage and Family Therapists broaden the traditional emphasis on the individual to attend to the nature and role of individuals in primary relationship networks such as marriage and the family.  MFTs take a holistic perspective to health care; they are concerned with the overall, long-term well-being of individuals and their families. 

MFTs have graduate training (a Master's or Doctoral degree) in marriage and family therapy and at least two years of clinical experience. Marriage and family therapists are recognized as a "core" mental health profession, along with psychiatry, psychology, social work and psychiatric nursing. 

Since 1970 there has been a 50-fold increase in the number of marriage and family therapists. At any given time they are treating over 1.8 million people.

What is Marriage and Family Therapy? 
A family's patterns of behavior influences the individual and therefore may need to be a part of the treatment plan. In marriage and family therapy, the unit of treatment isn't just the person - even if only a single person is interviewed - it is the set of relationships in which the person is imbedded. 

Marriage and family therapy is:

• brief
• solution-focused
• specific, with attainable therapeutic goals
• designed with the "end in mind."

Marriage and family therapists treat a wide range of serious clinical problems including: depression, marital problems, anxiety, individual psychological problems, and child-parent problems. 

Research indicates that marriage and family therapy is as effective, and in some cases more effective than standard and/or individual treatments for many mental health problems such as: adult schizophrenia, affective (mood) disorders, adult alcoholism and drug abuse, children's conduct disorders, adolescent drug abuse, anorexia in young adult women, childhood autism, chronic physical illness in adults and children, and marital distress and conflict. 

Marriage and family therapists regularly practice short-term therapy; 12 sessions on average. Nearly 65.6% of the cases are completed within 20 sessions, 87.9% within 50 sessions. Marital/couples therapy (11.5 sessions) and family therapy (9 sessions) both require less time than the average individuated treatment (13 sessions). About half of the treatment provided by marriage and family therapists is one-on-one with the other half divided between marital/couple and family therapy, or a combination of treatments. 

Why use a Marriage and Family Therapist?

Research studies repeatedly demonstrate the effectiveness of marriage and family therapy in treating the full range of mental and emotional disorders and health problems. Adolescent drug abuse, depression, alcoholism, obesity and dementia in the elderly -- as well as marital distress and conflict -- are just some of the conditions Marriage and Family Therapists effectively treat.

Studies also show that clients are highly satisfied with services of Marriage and Family Therapists. Clients report marked improvement in work productivity, co-worker relationships, family relationships, partner relationships, emotional health, overall health, social life, and community involvement.

In a recent study, consumers report that marriage and family therapists are the mental health professionals they would most likely recommend to friends. Over 98 percent of clients of marriage and family therapists report therapy services as good or excellent.

After receiving treatment, almost 90% of clients report an improvement in their emotional health, and nearly two-thirds report an improvement in their overall physical health. A majority of clients report an improvement in their functioning at work, and over three-fourths of those receiving marital/couples or family therapy report an improvement in the couple relationship. When a child is the identified patient, parents report that their child's behavior improved in 73.7% of the cases, their ability to get along with other children significantly improved and there was improved performance in school. Marriage and family therapy's prominence in the mental health field has increased due to its brief, solution-focused treatment, its family-centered approach, and its demonstrated effectiveness. Marriage and family therapists are licensed in 46 states and are recognized by the federal government as members of a distinct mental health discipline.

Today more than 50,000 marriage and family therapists treat individuals, couples, and families nationwide. Membership in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) has grown from 237 members in 1960 to more than 23,000 in 1996. This growth is a result, in part, of renewed public awareness of the value of family life and concern about the increased stresses on families in a rapidly changing world. 

How can I find a Marriage and Family Therapist?

AAMFT Clinical Members meet stringent training and education requirements that qualify them for the independent practice of marriage and family therapy.  AAMFT requires Clinical Members to abide by the AAMFT Code of Ethics, the most stringent ethical code in the marriage and family therapy profession. This code delineates specific ethical behavior and guidelines for members to follow to ensure the ethical treatment of clients. Clinical Membership in the AAMFT signifies an MFT's dedication to his or her ongoing professional development. Each month, AAMFT Clinical Members receive important updates on current clinical and research developments in the field, as well as numerous opportunities throughout the year to attend professional development conferences.

Click here to find a Marriage and Family Therapist today!

I have been practicing in the field of Marriage and Family Therapy, providing couple, individual and family therapy for over 25 years. Visit my web site for information about my qualifications and services at: www.relatedminds.com​

What is Gottman Method Couples Therapy?

What is Gottman Method Couples Therapy?

Gottman Method Couples Therapy is a form of couple therapy, sometimes called relational therapy of marriage therapy (although you don’t need to be married) which combines more than three decades of Gottman research and clinical practice.

Through research-based interventions and exercises, Gottman Therapy helps couples break through barriers to achieve “greater understanding, connection and intimacy” in their relationships. 

This form of therapy is a structured, goal-oriented, scientifically-based. Intervention strategies are based upon empirical data from Dr. Gottman’s three decades of research with more than 3,000 couples. This research shows us what actually works to help couples achieve a long-term healthy relationship, and what doesn’t (which includes some things we have previously suggested). Gottman Method Couples Therapy was developed out of this research to help couples to do four things:

• Increase respect, affection, and closeness 
• Break through and resolve conflict when they feel stuck
• Generate greater understanding between partners 
• And keep conflict discussions calm 

After becoming a licensed and registered Marriage and Family Therapist I started training in the Gottman method.  Gottman based Couple’s Therapy is now my first recommendation whenever it is an appropriate method. There are times couples may need individual therapy to augment couple therapy, or may need to address specific behavioural or mental health needs. But Gottman Couple Therapy provides an excellent scaffold around which to build an individualized approach to therapy.

Gottman therapy – couple therapy, marriage therapy, family therapy, “plays well” with other techniques, but for the most part addresses most areas of concern a couple may have. Couples come to therapy and can additionally make use of Dr. Gottman’s books, manuals and training DVD’s. If you are considering seeing a marriage and family therapist I would suggest you visit Dr. Gottman’s website, or the Gottman Institute’s YouTube channel and start by looking at the video’s there. It’s a good place to make a start, and make a decision on what kind of therapy would be best for you.

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This post is not meant to provide medical or psychological diagnosis. If you are suffering from symptoms that cause you distress, see your medical doctor or psychologist for help.

More information can be found about my services, which include individual therapy, couples counselling, comprehensive assessments for the diagnosis of ADHD, Learning Disorders, Aspergers and Autism Spectrum Disorder at my web site: www.relatedminds.com

Others sites include:

 http://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/70682
 http://psychologists.bc.ca/users/jimroche
 http://psyris.com/drjimroche

 http://www.actcommunity.net/jim-roche.html

Offices are located in Burnaby (serving Coquitlam, New Westminster, Maple Ridge and Surrey) as well as in Vancouver. Call 778.998-7975 for more information.

About Dr. John Gottman and Gottman Couples Therapy

ABOUT GOTTMAN METHOD COUPLES THERAPY
I am often asked: "What is Gottman Method Couples Therapy?" I guess the best way to explain it is to refer directly to Dr. Gottman's webpage:

Gottman Method Couples Therapy:  Through research-based interventions and exercises, it helps couples break through barriers to achieve greater understanding, connection and intimacy in their relationships. Gottman Method Couples Therapy is a structured, goal-oriented, scientifically-based therapy. Intervention strategies are based upon empirical data from Dr. Gottman’s three decades of research with more than 3,000 couples. This research shows us what actually works to help couples achieve a long-term healthy relationship. Gottman Method Couples Therapy was developed out of this research to help couples:
-Increase respect, affection, and closeness
-Break through and resolve conflict when they feel stuck
-Generate greater understanding between partners
-Keep conflict discussions calm

Research shows that to make a relationship last, couples must become better friends, learn to manage conflict, and create ways to support each other's hopes for the future. Drs. John and Julie Gottman have shown how couples can accomplish this by paying attention to what they call the "Sound Relationship House," or the seven components of healthy coupleships.

The Gottman Theory For Making Relationships Work:

What does Dr. Gottman say about getting your marriage or relationship back on track?

1. Build Love Maps: How well do you know your partner’s inner psychological world, his or her history, worries, stresses, joys, and hopes? Find out!

2. Share Fondness and Admiration: The antidote for contempt, this level focuses on the amount of affection and respect within a relationship. (To strengthen fondness and admiration, express appreciation and respect.)

3."Turn Towards:" State your needs, be aware of bids for connection and turn towards them. The small moments of everyday life are actually the building blocks of relationship.

4. The Positive Perspective: The presence of a positive approach to problem-solving and the success of repair attempts.

5. Manage Conflict: We say “manage” conflict rather than “resolve” conflict, because relationship conflict is natural and has functional, positive aspects. Understand that there is a critical difference in handling perpetual problems and solvable problems.

6. Make Life Dreams Come True: Create an atmosphere that encourages each person to talk honestly about his or her hopes, values, convictions and aspirations.

7. Create Shared Meaning: Understand important visions, narratives, myths, and metaphors about your relationship.

For more information about Dr. Gottman's approach to therapy you can visit his website at Http://www.gottman.com or visit my website at http://www.relatedminds.com or http://www.relatedmindsbc.com/couples-therapy

(For a direct link to the Gottman web page, click here.) You can also find information on The Gottman Institute at the Gottman YouTube webpage, found here: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGottmanInstitute

Books, DVD programs and CDs are available from the Gottman website, many on Amazon.ca and you can obtain several in my office. Visit the Gottman site, watch Dr. Gottman on YouTube to get an idea about what he is saying and if your interested in seeing me individually, as a couple or just as a consultant while you work your way through a video based Gottman program, give me a call.

Bringing Up Emotionally Intelligent Children

What are the five elements of emotion coaching according to John Gottman?

1. Be aware of a child's emotions
2. Recognize emotional expression as an opportunity for intimacy and teaching
3. Listen empathetically and validate a child's feelings
4. Label emotions in words a child can understand
5. Help a child come up with an appropriate way to solve a problem or deal with an upsetting issue or situation

It's really that simple! And, yes, it's that hard too. But Gottman has a great idea going (and a great book and video to go with it) that your job as a mom or dad is to simple be a coach to your child. In Dr. Gottman's research he has found that children of "emotion-coaching" parents had more general abilities in the area of their own emotions than children who were not coached by their parents. In other words, these "coached" children grew up to become what Dan Goleman has referred to as "emotionally intelligent" people. What are characteristics of these children?

Dr. Gottman's research demonstrated that emotion-coached children: Are able to regulate their emotional states; Are better at soothing themselves when they are upset; Could calm down their hearts faster after something upsetting happens; Have fewer infectious illnesses; Are better at focusing attention; Relate better to other people, even in tough situations like getting teased in middle school; Are better at understanding people; Have better friendships with other children; Are better in school situations that require academic performance.

Those are the beefits of coaching your child appropriately, and another nice thing is that while doing this your monitoring your own behaviour! Caching involves modelling! I highly recommend Dr. Gottman's book (you can find it on my web page for resources by following www.relatedminds.com). And if your too busy ....get the video. As a matter of fact, donate one to your local library! Here is a sample: Click-http://youtu.be/eVDMATVzhTk You can also go to Dr. Gottman's web page for more of his ideas...based in science and research.

for more information on my services as a marriage and family therapist or registered psychologist you can visit my web page: www.relatedminds.com or my Psychology Today website or at the AAMFT website.

Your view of personal goals can affect your relationships

Your view of personal goals can affect your relationships
The authors of this short but interesting paper show how what you think about your goals -- whether it's to improve yourself or to do better than others -- can affect whether you reach those goals. these different kinds of goals can also have distinct effects on your relationships with people, including those you work with, live with and love.

The study looks at two different kinds of goals, "mastery" and "performance" goals. This, in itself, is a good thing to think about and how your goals as a couple or family fit one of these two categories. People with "mastery goals" want to improve themselves. For instance, they may want to get better grades, make more sales, or a skater who wants to land that triple toe loop. They want to master their subject.

People with "performance goals" are try to outperform others -- they try to get a better grade than a someone else, or be Sale person of the Year. They want to do better than others.

P. Marijn Poortvliet, of Tilburg University in the Netherlands, and Céline Darnon, of France's Clermont University, are interested in the social context of these goals -- what they do to your relationships. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with these goals. Both kinds of goals can be useful in different contexts. But when and where you have one of these goals can have a deep effect on your relationships.

Poortvliet's work focuses on information exchange -- whether people are open and honest when they are working together. "People with performance goals are more deceitful" and less likely to share information with coworkers, both in the laboratory and in real-world offices he has studied, Poortvliet says. "The reason is fairly obvious -- when you want to outperform others, it doesn't make sense to be honest about information." You don't say, "My intention is to win, to beat you, and this is how I'm going to do it." Nor are you likely to develop a way of expressing yourself that supports openness and sharing, if winning, besting, is your goal.

People who are trying to improve themselves are to the contrary quite open. Poortvliet says. "If the ultimate goal is to improve yourself, one way to do it is to be very cooperative with other people." This cooperativeness can help improve the work environment, even though the people with these goals aren't necessarily thinking about social relations. What they do realize is that they will more likely reach this goal by cooperating, rather than competing. "They're not really altruists, per se. They see the social exchange as a means toward the ends of self improvement." Other research has found that people with these self-improvement goals are more open to hearing different perspectives, while people with a performance goal "would rather just say, 'I'm just right and you are wrong.'"

Poortvliet says it's not always bad to be competitive, "For example, if you want to be the Olympic champion, of course it's nice to have mastery goals and you should probably have mastery goals, but you definitely need performance goals because you want to be the winner and not the runner-up." We all do, some time, need to win. What game would you play where you always lose? How would you feel? Winning is sometimes OK. But how goals affect the social environment and your interactions with others is an important thing to think about. "If you really want to establish constructive and long-lasting working relationships, then you should really balance the different levels of goals," Poortvliet says -- thinking not only about each person's achievement, but also about the team as a whole. The two critical parts to this are: Awareness, and balance. Being aware of what kind of goal you have, and having a balanced set of goals. Appropriate goals, and behaviours, at appropriate times. You can see how this would affect a relationship, how the wrong goals, or a poor balance of goals, would drive a couple apart.

Being aware, and self monitoring, is a good way to keep these goals balance. In the workplace a manager can use different techniques to make sure the workplace has a balance, and therefore is welcoming to cooperation, and encouraging of a little competition. That might make a good goal for a marriage or relationship too.

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Dr. jim Roche is a Registered Psychologist and Registered Marriage and Family Therapist. He is a Clinical Member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and has served as a board member of the British Columbia Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. He has over twenty years clinical experience providing couple, marriage and family therapy. His offices are located in Burnaby, near Lougheed Mall, and Downtown Vancouver. His Burnaby office is convenient to Coquitlam. Port Moody, New Westminster and Maple Ridge. His practice focuses on therapeutic interventions based upon Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and the work of Dr. John Gottman.

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about finding a family or couples counsellor.

Dr. Jim Roche
778.9987975
www.drjimroche.com

www.relatedminds.com

Dr. Jim Roche at AAMFT: Click here.

9304A Salish Court
Burnaby, British Columbia
778.998-7975

About Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

Often clients come in or call and ask some basic questions about CBT. For instance, ""What is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy?" They've heard about it, or their medical doctor recommended it. So I've posted an introductory video on CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy). You might want to look up more about CBT and to help you I would suggest googling CBT, Albert Ellis, Aaron Beck (this video is by his daughter Dr. Judith Beck) or going to wikipedia. These are really good places to start. If you come into the office I'll be suggesting some books, and most likely providing an introductory handout for you. If your concern is about CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) and anxiety a really good place to start would be the web site for AnxietyBC. You can reach that by clicking here. They also have an excellent selection of information for children and adolescents with anxiety, and most of the techniques are similar to what we use with depression.

I hope this introductory information is helpful to those who have questions about Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). One final note: Often practitioners claim to "do CBT." They say they have training or a "background" in CBT. Don't be afraid to ask them more about their background, education and experience. Someone providing cognitive behaviour therapy should have several courses and, more importantly, supervised experience doing CBT. They should have had six months or a year of weekly supervised experience. That means someone well trained in CBT watched them doing it, listened to recordings of sessions, and reviewed cases weekly. This is a little different than having attended a 3 day workshop in what is a rather complicated technique. Don't be afraid to ask!

This blog is not offered as medical advice or as a means of diagnosing or treating depression, anxiety, relationship problems or any other disorder. Don't go on line and take any mental health "test." Diagnosis is complex, and it involves not just looking for a list of symptoms, but also ruling out other disorders that might look just like what you suspect. So avoid these on-line "tests" which are nothing more than a collection of symptoms. You need to see a licensed or registered professional for that. Medical doctors can diagnose, but a diagnosis is complex and often they will make a referral to a Registered Psychologist. You can obtain a referral from the British Columbia Psychological Association for a psychologist near you. See a registered professional, either a Registered Psychologist or Registered Marriage and Family Therapist.

My web page lists a number of resources you can make use of yourself in dealing with individual, couple or family issues. Please visit it at www.relatedminds.com, one of my other sites at either Psychology Today, AAMFT, PSYRIS or my professional site.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) assessment and treatment services are offered for individuals, couples, families, children and adolescents in the Burnaby, Vancouver, Coquitlam, Port Moody, New Westminster and Maple Ridge areas of the lower mainland. This includes neuro-developmental assessments, psycho-education and cognitive behaviour therapy. I also provide diagnostic assessments for autism and Asperger's Disorder in my Burnaby office.

Dr. Jim Roche
Registered Psychologist, British Columbia 01610
778.998-7975
www.relatedminds.com (couple/family therapy)

Does Couple Counselling Work?

Does couple counselling work? That's a hard question to answer because success can mean something very different to one couple than another. What I do know is that if your marriage is having problems, you shouldn't wait too long to seek professional help. Sometimes success is a couple staying together. Sometimes it means breaking up. Sometimes it means breaking up and acting in a decent enough way to each other that the divorce doesn't have detrimental effects on your children. And sometimes it means breaking up and NOT making the same mistakes over and over again in your future relationships. But for most couples who show up at my office door for couple therapy or marriage counselling, their goal is to stay together. So what are your chances of staying together?

Some people think the answer is found in these questions:
Did you marry at an early age?
Did you not graduate from high school?
Are you in a low-income bracket?
Are you in an inter-faith marriage?
Did your parents divorce?
Do you criticize one another?
Is there a lot of defensiveness in your marriage?
Do you tend to withdraw from one another?
Do you feel contempt for one another?

If you answered "yes" to most of these questions, then you are statistically a higher risk for divorce than couples who have realistic expectations of one another and their marriage, communicate well, use conflict resolution skills, and are compatible with one another. But remember, that means you are statistically more at risk, not that your marriage or relationship is doomed. There are things that you can do, and two of the most effective areas you can do work on are criticism and contempt. John Gottman things these are the nuclear weapons of marriage problems, and he has the data and science to prove it.

The Effectiveness of Marriage Counselling
The science of marriage counselling is being studied in great detail these days, especially by science practitioners like John Gottman. Although some research studies have shown that marriage counselling is not as effective as people think, that women seem to get more from it than men, and that it might not have a lasting effect on the couple's marriage, we think that receiving professional help before problems reach critical stage is beneficial to a marriage. A study by AAMFT shows that families do want therapy and place a high value on the experience.

What Type of Couple Gets the Most From Marriage Counselling? Heres the list:
Young couples.
Non-sexist couples.
Couples who are still in love.
Couples who are open to therapy and change.

What Type of Couple Receives the Least from Marriage Counselling?
Couples who wait too long before seeking help.
Marriages with one or the other spouse set on getting a divorce.
Married individuals who are closed to any suggestions that may save the marriage.

Solutions Learned From Happy Couples
John Gottman's research looks at happy couples for solutions. He has discovered that even though all couples experience conflict in their marriages, happy couples apparently know how to handle their disagreements because of a foundation of affection and friendship.
Unhappy couples do not have this skill. Gottman suggests that the goal of couple therapy needs to change. Rather than trying to change marriages, he thinks counsellors should teach communication skills to couples. And this is best done by practice, practice and more practice. There are several books, DVD's and complete packaged programs available from the Gottman Institute. These can help, but most couples need personal guidance. My web page contains a number of these resources and your welcome to click here to check these resources out.

My practice, with offices close to Burnaby/Coquitlam/New Westminster and Vancouver can offer you this help. Click here for more information.

Finally, if you need a family therapist or couple therapist elsewhere in the province I suggest you look at the web site for the British Columbia Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy or the BC Psychology Association. If you go to the AAMFT or BCAMFT sites you will find licensed or registered family therapists who are also registered psychologists, this may help in finding someone who your insurance plan might cover. But most of all, see someone who is a registered marriage and family therapist. Others may claim they do family or couples therapy (such as RCC / Registered Clinical Counsellors or Registered Social Workers), but RMFTs, Registered Marriage and Family Therapists have specialized training working with couples, including on average two years of supervised clinical practice. Others may have taken a course in family therapy, but are not specialists.

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions about finding a family or couples counsellor.

Dr. Jim Roche
778.9987975
www.drjimroche.com

How to Choose a Marriage and Family Counsellor or Therapist

How to choose a Marriage and Family Therapist

You will find a list of Registered Marriage and Family Therapists (RMFT’s) in British Columbia by clicking this link AAMFT.

All REGISTERED Marriage and Family Therapist are all clinical members of the British Columbia Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (BCAMFT) and the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT). This includes a graduate degree focused on family therapy and two years of close clinical supervision by an approved and specially trained supervisor.

When you have identified one or more RMFT from the list who are accessible to you, call and interview them briefly over the phone. Some questions you may want to consider are:

What is your educational and training background?

All registered marriage and family therapists therapists on this list are qualified and experienced, but you may like to find out where they went to school, their specialty, or how long they have been doing this work.

Do you have experience treating the kind of problem I have?

Remember, not all therapists can treat all problems. Sometimes a therapist specializes in certain areas. If the therapist’s area of expertise is not the one you are looking for, ask for a referral to a therapist who can best help you. You will need to briefly indicate the problems you are experiencing (eg. marital difficulties, stress, anxiety at work etc). You should expect the therapist to ask you a bit about your problems to se if THEY are a good fit.

How much do you charge and what is your method of payment?

Fees typically range in B.C. $100.00 to $125.00 for those with an MA. Those with doctorate degrees (PhD’s) typically charge $160.00 to $175.00 per hour.

Would you be covered under my employment insurance policy or any other plan?

Some employers, typically the larger ones, have extended health benefits that cover some counselling. Read the fine print carefully. Sometimes MFTs are covered, sometimes they are not. A number of larger companies have employee assistance plans (EAP’s) that do cover MFTs. Again, check a carefully with your employer’s human resources or personnel department. Although the therapist may not know the answer off hand (as there are many policies and they keep changing) he/she should be able to guide you to find out the information you seek. As well, some employers or insurance companies will add a particular therapist or professional therapy designation to their list of those who are covered if employees make the request.

A number of MFT here in British Columbia are also Registered Psychologist (in addition to their MFT training). Their services are almost always covered by extended health care plans.

Also, remember that you may see a number of individuals advertising, especially on the web, who say they are marriage and family therapist or practice marriage counselling. Many of these are RCCs (Registered Clinical Counsellors) or CCC (Canadian Clinical Counsellors). Unless they are members of the British Columbia Association of Marriage and Family Therapist they are not registered family therapists. Often they will have had a course of two in family therapy, and maybe have practiced family therapy for a while. However, this is very different from a clinical member of AAMFT and BCAMFT who have completed specialized graduate programs in the field and have had a minimum of 1,200 hours of supervised clinical experience under the supervision of an approved and specially trained supervisor. (Some RCCs may have as little as 100 hours of supervised training, CCCs even less.) Ask, "Are you a clinical member of the British Columbia Association of Marriage and Family Therapists?" If couple or family issues are your problem, go to an expert.

Where are the sessions held and what is the length of time of a session?

After you have had a brief conversation based on the above questions you should have a “feel” for this therapist. If you feel fairly positive, proceed with booking an appointment. If you don’t feel comfortable for any reason, interview some one else.

Finally, the usual length of session is 50 to 60 minutes. Sometimes you can arrange a longer
session.

For more information on specialized Family and Couple Therapy in British Columbia you can click here and go to BCAMFT website.

For information about my website go to www.relatedminds.com