FAQs about counseling, coaching, psychotherapy, and finding therapy in Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara is a wonderful place to live for many reasons. Among them is Santa Barbara’s abundance of therapists, counselors, psychologists, and coaches. With so many options, it can easily become overwhelming to make a decision about which provider to select when looking for support. If you’re looking for therapy or therapeutic support and struggling to decide if therapy, counseling, or coaching in Santa Barbara is right for you, you’re not alone! There are many options to consider, and once you do decide on the type of practitioner, finding and selecting a specific provider poses another potentially daunting task. There is also cost, location, personality fit, and the logistics of fitting therapy, counseling, or coaching into your schedule to consider.
What is therapy?
Therapy is a supportive relationship between two people, the therapist and you, the customer. Therapy is often long-term, lasting a few months to a few years, and provides an opportunity to explore thoughts, feelings, beliefs, history, and desires for the future with someone who is trained in human psychology and a variety of approaches and methods to help you, the customer, reach your goals. A therapist is trained to treat a variety of mental health issues and is often concerned with the root issue, and the big picture of a person’s life and functioning, including family of origin issues.
What is counseling?
Counseling is similar to therapy, but is often shorter term, focusing on resolving a primary current issue. Counselors tend to focus on a particular area of life, like career counseling, marriage counseling, or addiction counseling. What about coaching? Coaching is a distinctly different field from both counseling and therapy. There is no required education to become a coach, and there is no regulating board. While therapists can offer coaching, coaches are not legally allowed to provide counseling or therapy.
What about LPCCs, LCSWs, LMFTs, Psychologists, etc.? Which is best for me?
Important distinctions between these licenses impact what each provider can and can’t offer in their work with you. Fortunately, these distinctions are the responsibility of the practitioner to manage and likely wouldn’t be experienced as significantly different from the client side of things. An LPCC is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in California, an LCSW is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and an LMFT is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. These three licenses require a master’s degree and similar amounts of time to gain clinical practice to become licensed. A psychologist has a master’s and a doctorate and has completed additional training to receive this license. Psychologists may charge more, but some don’t.
Ultimately, finding the right fit, someone who can truly help is most important. Therapy is more than just venting; it’s about finding someone who understands you and can help you reach your goals and feel differently in and about your life. I hope this article has helped you in your search for the right therapist in Santa Barbara, CA, so you can feel your best and live the life you want to live. You are worth it! My specialties include pregnancy and postpartum mental health, parenting young children, anxiety, recovery from early childhood trauma, and marriage and relationship counseling. Learn more about my specialties here.