STEP 3:

THE REFERRAL PROCESS

You can get referrals from a wide variety of sources: a friend in the profession, a personal friend who is seeing a therapist, therapists themselves, a medical doctor, a university counseling center, an institute, the yellow pages and the internet. You can also self refer, obtained information about a therapist from a book, workshop, lecture or by reputation.

Discuss the Referral in Depth

A trusted friend is considered the best source of referrals. However, since the referral process can feel impersonal, engage the referral source in a discussion about the referral. Ask the referral sources questions such as, how did they come to know this person, what do they know about them, how do they work or why did they make the recommendation? Have the referral source rank order the names they recommend and have them explain why. From this, generate a referral list.