How I found Melbourne Counseling with TherapyTribe

I was looking for Melbourne counseling to help me cope with chronic depression a year ago. I had just moved into the country straight from Philadelphia, and the change apparently wasn’t suiting me well. I had had a history with the condition during my teens, and had been under the care of two different Philadelphia therapists twice before. Now it was returning back with full force.

Being new in Australia back then, I didn’t even know how to find a decent Australian beer let alone Melbourne counseling that would fulfill my specific needs. Asking my new colleagues about therapy before I even settled into the new office was out of question for obvious reasons. I hadn’t made any friends and I couldn’t just go up and ask strangers. I’d started losing hope when I remembered TherapyTribe out of the blue; I remembered a colleague from my old workplace use it to find Philadelphia therapists. I didn’t have high hopes of finding Melbourne counseling along with the Philadelphia therapists listed on the website, but decided to give it a try anyways. And thank God I did! I found listings for Melbourne! What followed afterwards was a simple affair of finding a therapist and getting in touch with him.

A year on, I’m still thankful to TherapyTribe. It helped me get through rough times. They are simply the best!

Mental Health Therapist: Find One to Suit Your Need

Finding the right kind of Mental Health Therapist or counselor can be quite harrowing sometimes. To make it worse, you can get confused with all the similar sounding specializations or even their general names. For instance, if you suffer from depression, should you go to a mental health counselor or a psychiatrist? To make your life easier, here are some of the common types of Mental Health Therapists, with a brief description about their specializations and training.

1. Mental Health Counselor

Generally with a master’s degree in counseling or counseling psychology, the Mental Health Counselor conducts assessments and provides psychotherapy to his patients. Most of them have attended several hours of training experience for counseling on mental health related issues. They need to procure a license from the state before starting work as an independent Mental Health Counselor.

2. Family and Marriage Therapist

This is one of the most commonly used terms in the context of counseling. With a Master's degree (M.A) or Doctoral degree (Ph.D) in marital and family therapy, Family and Marriage Therapists need to complete at least two years of clinical training under the supervision of an experienced therapist. These counselors specialize in providing assessment and psychotherapy for psychological issues existing within marital and familial relationships.

3. Social Worker

There are many social workers who are willing to help depressed people with their counseling, but not all of them are trained for the purpose. Anyone with a Bachelor's degree (a degree from a 4-year university or college, B.A., B.S., or B.S.W); or a master's degree (M.A., M.S., M.S.W, or M.S.S.W); or a doctoral degree D.S.W or Ph.D.) is allowed to work as a social worker. Therefore, it is suggested that one should consult the services of a licensed social worker who has the letters L.C.S.W. or L.I.C.S.W in his qualifications. They provide a variety of services including:

• Assessment

• Psychotherapy

• Case management

Note: There is a restriction on their practice - they cannot prescribe medication.

4. Psychotherapist

Any person offering psychotherapy may be called a Psychotherapist. There is no compulsion for a psychotherapist to have obtained a formal degree in a related discipline or have completed a fixed number of months for training. One should be careful before consulting such a therapist.

5. Psychologist

Anyone with a doctoral degree (Ph.D. or Psy.D.) in psychology can be practicing psychologist. Training is not mandatory for all of them. However, clinical and counseling psychologists do obtain special training in mental health treatment.

6. School Psychologists

School Psychologists are required to have a Master's degree in the field. Besides this, obtaining a license (issued by the state) is a must for them. A professional School Psychologist can provide the following aspect of behave issues and mental health treatment:

• Consultation with parents

• Consultation with teachers

• Consultation with school system

• Providing psychological counseling

• Developing school-wide programs

• Assessing academic skills

After knowing a little about what different therapists do, it would be easier to find the services of an appropriate counselor.