How To Find A Childhood Trauma Therapist - 5 Questions to Ask

In this video, I cover some ideas on finding a childhood trauma therapist and what to watch out for and interview them on.

Websites I mentioned:

Find therapists training with me in your area:

Psychology Today:

Good Therapy:

In this video we cover: how to find a therapist, therapy, childhood trauma, psychology today, good therapy, toxic family systems, boundaries, truth, childhood trauma, inner child, inner child work, c-ptsd, ptsd, toxic parents, narcissistic abuse, healing, abusive parents, emotional abuse, childhood ptsd, repressed memories, hsp, attachment, hypervigilance, narcissistic parents, emotionally abusive parents, child abuse, narcissistic father, childhood emotional neglect, abuse, narcissistic mother, alcoholism, scapegoat, genogram, siblings, dissociation, trauma

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:42 Assumptions About Therapists That Don't Work
5:17 Connect With Me
7:14 How to Find a Childhood Trauma Specialist - Four Ideas
8:57 Things to Consider About Therapist Online Profiles and Sites
15:23 Interview Them
19:45 Final Thoughts
20:06 Outro

Learn more about Patrick Teahan,
Childhood Trauma Resources and Offerings

MUSIC IS BY - Chris Haugen - Ibiza Dream

Editing service

⚠️ Disclaimer

My videos are for educational purposes only. Information provided on this channel is not intended to be a substitute for in person professional medical advice. It is not intended to replace the services of a therapist, physician, or other qualified professional, nor does it constitute a therapist-client or physician or quasi-physician relationship.

If you are, or someone you know, is in immediate danger, please call a local emergency telephone number or go immediately to the nearest emergency room.

If you are having emotional distress, please utilize 911 or the National Suicide Hotline
1-800-273-8255

[Liliarthan]

I used to think the “tell me about your childhood” line is a movie trope, but now I see red flags if therapists _don’t_ relate the issues back to childhood experiences or trauma. I can’t believe the number of therapists I’ve had (95% were duds) gone through before finally realising that I need to look for someone who specialises in childhood trauma and attachment issues. Personally I find the CBT, ACT, DBT, mindfulness are only as good as bandaids on gangrene if the source of all of those unhelpful belief systems etc aren’t identified and addressed. No, we can’t go back and change anything, but if we don’t acknowledge and work through it, our inner child will be stuck in the time and reality warp and won’t ever let us fully move on with our lives.

[filipabarros]

1 - how do you work with childhood trauma specifically ?
2 - how do u help clients navigate abusive family members?
3 - do you offer brief check ins?
4 - how much do you challenge clients vs waiting for clients to come to conclusions?
5 - how much do u work with childhood development and family systems?

[k.c.forden]

First therapist dressed like Erin Brockovich, suggested I stop doing housework and caring (after I explained that I came from a hoarding situation and large messes are triggering), and she wound up crying as I recounted my childhood trauma which was totally off putting. Next one was an improvement, and more effective mainly because of the EMDR. But I still felt like I was rambling for most of the time and self-processing without much guidance. Oh, and she fell asleep during a session. 😕 The struggle is real, but don’t give up hope!

[nenabomb]

I’ve watched so many therapist YouTube videos on childhood trauma and this guy here is one of the most accurate, in-depth videos I’ve seen. I WISH there were more therapists with this level of insight

[cassiablack]

You know, I had already been planning on trying to become a therapist “someday”. This channel not only helped me get farther along on my own therapeutic journey (after a long time plateauing with unsatisfactory therapists), it’s also inspired me to finally take the plunge and settle on a focus in childhood trauma. This is what I want to do, and I just got accepted to grad school! See you in 3 years as a colleague!

[Jen-znnf]

I'm glad you brought up the problem of therapists who have an impossibly long list of issues they work with or types of therapy they do. Related is finding one who is a supposed specialist in your issue or with a particular type of therapy you want but has no business claiming it on their profile. For example, listing DBT as a type of therapy they do, but they actually only do "DBT-informed" treatment because they attended a webinar one time.

I'm sure those therapists will be the right fit for some folks, but what's so frustrating for those of us with complex cases and comorbid diagnoses is that it causes us to waste time with clinicians who, if they were more truthful about their limitations, we'd have never scheduled an appointment with in the first place. It's also a lot of wasted money for those of us with financial struggles, having to do an intake appointment and then a few more sessions to assess the fit, when, again, we could have skipped all that if they'd been more forthright on their Psychology Today profile.

After so many failed therapy relationships, I ended up doing what was suggested and going with a psychologist out of pocket (with some out of network reimbursement from insurance) because I'm fortunate enough to afford it. I hate that there's an obvious class divide in access, but I'd be lying if I said my new therapist wasn't a tier above any I saw in my insurance network.

[aaloha]

Thank you Patrick 🙏🏼 I’ve seen so many therapists in my life, but none of them talked about how present unhealthy strategies relate to childhood trauma survival mechanisms. I had to figure it out along the way and it took me decades of my life. Thank you for teaching me to understand these survival mechanisms!

[Rae_]

Patrick, in addition to the therapists you have trained, I think a great service to the public would be to have a “friends” list of therapists on your website (aka those you’ve trained plus others you’ve gotten to know professionally). I’m an artist, and most of my colleagues and I have a page on our websites called “friends, ” where we list the websites of artists who work with similar social practice ethics (we’re social practice artists, so ethics happen to be relevant). Anyway, I don’t think it would have to be as significant or heavy as “recommended therapists, ” but just having a list of colleagues you happen to know approach trauma treatment the way you (and Amanda) do, with the clear caveat that relationships are always individual and about finding a good fit, would be amazing.

[Adam-frfl]

I'm a licensed counselor in Arkansas. I serve approximately ages 8-22 (just based on the clinic). I'm surprised at the number of clinicians who do not inquire about developmental histories. That's something I'm doing from the start. I also agree about challenging clients. I do have some suggestions to add. I would encourage searching any state-specific directory for trauma-trained clinicians (if it has one). In Arkansas, ours is called ARBEST (Arkansas Building Effective Services for Trauma). It lists the clinicians by county, city, and their evidence-based treatments. For example, I'm also trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT). All clinicians in the directory completed additional learning + months of group consultations on this topic and specific cases (it's paid by the state tobacco tax). Beyond that, you can also search directories of specific interventions. For example, therapists trained in Brainspotting are listed on the Brainspotting directory if they choose. To be honest (and maybe because my training is in family therapy), I would reach out to a family therapist and ask for local recommendations. Ideally, they're already working with family systems and consider developmental trauma as a part of their assessment. They'll know others doing the same.

[BeatriceF]

I really appreciate all the information you make available for us. I've been contemplating going to therapy again for 2 years and the lack of simplicity in finding someone has been a huge barrier. This will really help.

[spacecavy]

Maybe this was a fluke, but I had surprising success with searching Psychology Today for EMDR + my parents biggest issues (substance abuse and borderline personality). My logic was that a therapist who worked with these issues would "get" what it had been like for me. The first person I tried was an awful fit, but the second one was just right.

[freedombug]

Thank you, Patrick, for giving some additional key questions to ask a therapist to make it a little more likely to find the right one. Based on your earlier advice, I found a therapist that was specifically trauma informed and could do EMDR. I saw this therapist for a while, but she never talked about family systems. We talked about my childhood mainly when I brought it up. She just listened to me talk about whatever was on my mind and we hardly ever did EMDR, and when we did, it didn't feel like it was doing anything. A lot of us who grew up in dysfunctional families already have a lot of insight and self-awareness, so it's not going to be enough for the therapist to just enlighten us as to what the problem is. We know. I usually tend to have more insight into it than the therapists do. What I don't know is how to heal. I've seen many therapists but I've never been shown how to or guided or pushed to heal.

[samanthaelizabeth]

I really appreciate your work. Your channel is one of a few that assisted me to be able to remove my most challenging label that was placed on me for 31yrs. 31 yrs I allowed to be branded into my soul that I was unfixable.. And now I see I was never broken to begin with. 💚🌿

[johnankrah]

Patrick! Don't ever change. You are a real one. This information is worth thousands of pounds and you are giving it away for free. Sending you so much love!

[ColorMeConfused]

I've tried a few and gave up. Virtual one was condescending and acted like I was wasting her time. Two of them that I saw in-office (different time periods) would let me yak for an hour and then in the last 5 mins. ask me what did *I* want to work on. If I knew that, Genius, I wouldn't be here. One of those therapists I wasted 2 years on. I don't recall ever using the term "narcissist" but he said that I had to leave my family in order to heal. At the time, I was Trauma Bonded and loyal to my parents. When I refused, he didn't want to see me anymore.

The very first therapist I tried laughed at my Mom's abuse as I tried to describe it. She thought my mom was funny. I didn't. She also sat in a giant rocker with her feet tucked under her. Reminded me of Lily Tomlin's character Edith Ann. Immediately turned off.

I no longer want to waste my time.

[k.g.m.]

I wish I had found someone like Patrick for therapy, years ago...I think he would have beem a perfect therapist for me.

[AnUnusualVisitor]

This video is IMMENSELY helpful. I can't thank you enough. I swear, I kept stopping every few seconds to take notes. I'm going to send these notes to someone whose helping me search for a therapist, and I think it'll help narrow things down a lot.

I remember with my last therapist, I told her I was watching your videos, and she got kind of weird about it! Saying that she needed to know any of my outside therapeutic influences. It was an early red flag that things weren't going to work out.

Again, I can't thank you enough for outlining this. When you're disheartened by the search and intimidated by bureaucracy, it's outstanding having such a guide on what to look for.

[Clovergirl]

Your channel has been so helpful for me. I've been kind of trying to process some trauma on my own in the meantime while looking for a new therapist and your videos have helped me realize just how much of my current struggles relate back to childhood trauma. Thank you for talking about this particular issue, it will greatly help me narrow down my search for that needle in a haystack trauma therapist :)

[susankuhlman]

Thank you for this summary. I am 74 years old and can not wait for a therapist to wait until I work it out! I realized that with my previous therapist who had a degree in substance abuse and one in "trauma" but actually had no experience in therapeutic process. So she just sat there and waited for me to talk. I told her I was a happy go lucky four year old and she said that why did I become an alcoholic? I played dumb. I asked her why did she think I did. She should have asked: what happened to you? I now know questions to ask about how they will direct the therapy process. Thank you so much.

[tetrahexaeder]

That is really important! All therapists I've been too have never adressed the root causes of my problems/the trauma.

It was just changing behaviour in the here and now - which is super important, I don't doubt that! Absolutely not - but I always had the urge to talk about all that past stuff and have it recollected in some way because just changing behaviour and thinking patterns alone hasn't had the deep internal change I was hoping to get from therapy. Mostly because the real issue was never adressed and my symptoms were just seen as a form of depression or a personality disorder... which is not very helpful in my opinion.