How to Find the Right Therapist: A Guide to Beginning Therapy in California
Life can feel overwhelming, stressful, and downright chaotic. You might be managing stress, anxiety, or a difficult transition, trying to just keep it all together, but something feels ‘off’. Perhaps you've been thinking about starting therapy but aren't sure if it's the right next step or how to find someone who truly understands your needs.
If this sounds familiar, I’m so glad you’re here! Many people hesitate before reaching out for support, wondering if therapy will actually help, if they'll find the right therapist, or if they even ‘need’ therapy at all.
I started The Holistic Counseling Center, a boutique therapy center in California, to help people just like you get the support you need to heal past pain and create a life you actually enjoy. This article will help you navigate the process of finding the right therapist and introduce you to holistic therapy, a whole-person approach to treating a variety of mental health issues that integrates evidence-based psychotherapy with psychospiritual modalities to support deep healing and transformation.
How Do I Know If I'm Ready For Therapy?
There's a common misconception that therapy is only for people in crisis. In reality, therapy is for anyone who wants support for the challenges that come with being human.
You might benefit from therapy if:
You feel stuck in patterns that no longer serve you: whether it's chronic anxiety, people-pleasing behaviors, or a persistent inner critic that won't quiet down
You're navigating significant life transitions: career changes, becoming a parent, relationship shifts, or any big life event that feels both challenging and meaningful
You experience emotions that feel overwhelming or difficult to process: grief that lingers, anger that erupts unexpectedly, or emotional numbness that keeps you feeling disconnected and isolated
You notice yourself repeating relationship dynamics that leave you feeling unseen, unheard, or emotionally depleted
Your body is sending signals: chronic tension, digestive issues, disrupted sleep, or a general sense of being disconnected from yourself
You sense a disconnect between your daily life and your deeper values or purpose: a feeling that there must be more than just getting through each day
You're curious about your inner world and ready to develop a deeper relationship with your highest self
Seeking support isn't a sign of weakness, it's a radical act of self-love! Just as you care for your body with movement and good food, your mental and emotional wellbeing deserves the same attention and care.
Emotional Readiness
Before beginning therapy, it's helpful to reflect on your emotional readiness. Therapy asks you to go inward, possibly to places you've avoided for a long time. This can be both liberating and challenging.
Ask yourself: Am I willing to explore uncomfortable or painful parts of myself?
It's completely normal if the answer isn't a resounding ‘yes’ right now. Being emotionally ready for therapy doesn't mean having everything figured out or feeling totally confident, few people do at the beginning! What matters is having an openness to the process and a willingness to lean into discomfort when it arises, knowing that's often where growth happens.
Remember that therapy can stir up feelings you didn't even know were there, and it's important to understand this possibility. Your therapist is trained to guide and support you and will help with pacing and depth so you don’t get too overwhelmed too quickly.
Navigating Therapy Options: How to Find the Right Approach
When you begin exploring therapy, the variety of approaches and types of therapy might feel overwhelming. Each therapeutic model offers different perspectives and techniques, and understanding the basics can help you determine which might be the best fit for you depending on your symptoms, values, and personality.
Common Types of Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviors. It's structured, goal-oriented, and often works well for specific challenges like anxiety, depression, and phobias.
Psychodynamic Therapy explores how past experiences, especially from childhood, influence current behaviors and relationships. This approach helps uncover unconscious patterns that may be causing distress.
Humanistic + Existential Therapy emphasizes your inherent capacity for growth and self-actualization. Approaches like Person-Centered Therapy create a supportive environment where you can explore your authentic self.
Somatic Therapies work directly with the body's natural wisdom and the nervous system to release trauma and restore balance. These approaches recognize that our bodies hold emotional experiences and that healing occurs through mindful awareness of physical sensations.
Nervous System-Based Approaches like Polyvagal Theory work with your autonomic nervous system to address trauma responses, anxiety, and stress. By understanding your nervous system states, you can develop more resilience and regulation.
Transpersonal (Spiritual) Therapy acknowledges the spiritual dimension of human experience, working with existential questions, meaning, purpose, and connection to something greater than oneself.
Mindfulness-Based Therapies incorporate present-moment awareness practices to help manage stress, anxiety, and emotional regulation.
Brain-Based Approaches like EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and Brainspotting help process trauma and emotional distress by identifying specific eye positions that correlate with internal emotional experiences, allowing for deep neurobiological healing.
While each of these modalities offers valuable tools and perspectives, a structured, linear, medical model approach to mental health can feel limiting, and often just treats your symptoms and not the deeper root cause of your struggles.
This is where holistic psychotherapy shines, and why I created The Holistic Counseling Center. Because you are not just a collection of symptoms to be ‘fixed,’ but a whole person with unique experiences, wisdom, and an inherent capacity for healing just waiting to be accessed and unlocked. Rather than limiting you to just one methodology, our holistic approach to mental health weaves together evidence-based psychotherapy with psychospiritual modalities to help you heal.
We've found that this integrative approach allows for deeper, more lasting transformation than any single modality can provide alone. It honors both your analytical mind and your intuitive knowing, your physical experiences and your spiritual questions. And most importantly, it creates a therapeutic experience that feels personalized to your unique healing journey, because no two paths to wholeness look exactly the same.
Ready to begin your healing journey? We offer in-person and online therapy. Book a free consultation call to learn more about how our therapists can help.
Understanding Holistic Therapy: A Whole-Person Approach to Healing
Holistic psychotherapy is an expanded version of traditional talk therapy. It moves beyond just 'talking about your feelings' or focusing solely on symptom management. It's a comprehensive, clinically-sound approach to mental health that addresses all aspects of being human, not just the mind!
Holistic therapy recognizes that you are a multidimensional being, and your mind, body, emotions, spirituality, relationships, identity, location and culture all influence and impact your mental health. When one aspect is out of balance, your whole system feels the effects.
Principles of Holistic Therapy
You are more than your symptoms. Your experiences, challenges, and strengths are all interconnected aspects of who you are, not separate pieces to be compartmentalized.
The mind and body are connected. Research shows that trauma, stress, and emotions aren't just mental experiences, they're stored physically in the body. True healing requires working with both nervous system regulation and thought patterns, as they constantly communicate and influence each other.
Integral healing is the key to lasting transformation. When we address only cognitive aspects of healing (thoughts, beliefs), change often remains surface-level. Deep, sustainable healing emerges when we integrate mind, body, emotions, and spirit—creating coherence across all aspects of your being.
Your inner wisdom is a powerful guide. While external support is valuable, you already have an inner knowing that, when accessed, can guide your healing journey. Holistic therapy helps you reconnect with this wisdom through mindful awareness of body sensations, emotions, and intuitive insights.
Healing isn’t linear. Healing isn't a straight line from ‘broken’ to ‘fixed.’ It's more like a spiral where you revisit similar themes, patterns, and parts of yourself at deeper levels throughout your life. Holistic therapy honors the natural rhythm of healing, providing tools and practices that support lifelong growth and evolution rather than quick fixes.
This multidimensional approach to therapy is why many clients experience breakthroughs when working with a holistic therapist after years of more conventional approaches focused primarily on mental understanding or changing thought patterns.
Core Modalities of Our Holistic Approach
At The Holistic Counseling Center, we combine evidence-based psychotherapy with psychospiritual modalities to create a deeply personalized healing experience. We offer in-person therapy in El Dorado Hills, Marin County and San Francisco, and online therapy in California. Our approach integrates:
Internal Family Systems (IFS) - Healing inner conflicts and emotional wounds by working with different parts of yourself
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) - Reshaping negative thought patterns and developing new coping skills
Somatic Therapy - Releasing trauma stored in the body through mind-body connection
Psychodynamic Therapy - Understanding how past experiences influence present patterns
Mindfulness Therapy - Cultivating awareness, presence, and emotional regulation
Meditation - An invitation to develop present moment awareness and access deeper states of consciousness
Breathwork - Using conscious breathing specifically for nervous system regulation and emotional release
Inner Child Healing - Reconnecting with and nurturing the wounded aspects of your younger self
Shadow Work - Bringing unconscious patterns into awareness and integrating disowned aspects of yourself
Transpersonal (Spiritual) Therapy - Exploring deeper meaning, purpose, and existential questions about the meaning of your life
Our clients often describe this integrative approach as ‘the missing piece’ they didn't know they needed, a way of addressing not just surface symptoms but the deeper roots of their mental health concerns.
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What to Consider When Looking for a Therapist
Finding the right therapist is one of the most important factors in having a positive, transformative therapy experience. Here are key considerations to help guide your search:
1. How You Feel With Your Therapist
The relationship between you and your therapist is truly one of the most powerful factors on your healing journey. Therapists call this the ‘therapeutic alliance,’ and research consistently shows it's one of the most significant predictors of positive outcomes in therapy.
When you first meet with a therapist, pay attention to how you feel in their presence. Yes, there might be some natural nervousness (talking about deep personal matters with someone new isn't always easy!), but beneath that initial discomfort, there should be a sense of relief, a feeling of ‘finally being able to exhale.’
Ask yourself:
Do I feel seen and understood by this person?
Can I imagine myself gradually opening up and being vulnerable with them?
Do they respond with genuine empathy and without judgment?
Does conversation feel natural, even with difficult topics?
Do I feel a sense of hope after speaking with them?
Trust your intuition here. If something feels ‘off’ or you just aren’t feeling connected, it's completely okay to look for someone else.
At The Holistic Counseling Center we offer a personalized matching process to help you find a great therapist that you’ll resonate with and feel at ease with (more on our ‘therapist matchmaking’ process below!). If for some reason it’s not a great fit, you can always call us back and get matched with another therapist for no additional cost.
“We don’t have to do all of it alone. We were never meant to.”
2. Your Therapists’ Expertise and Approach
While connection is crucial, expertise wish your specific mental health issues matter too. Consider:
Does the therapist specialize in the mental health challenges I'm facing like anxiety, depression, self-esteem, postpartum stress, complex trauma or spiritual concerns?
Is their approach and modalities used align with my values and resonate with me?
Do they integrate both evidence-based practices and holistic methods or do they use a structured protocol based type of therapy?
At The Holistic Counseling Center, our therapists are trained in multiple modalities, allowing your therapist to tailor treatment to your unique needs rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach. We offer in-person psychotherapy in San Anselmo (Marin County), El Dorado Hills and San Francisco, and online counseling in California.
3. The Time Commitment
Therapy isn't a quick fix. Rewiring your nervous system, changing unconscious patterns that have taken years to form, and unearthing past pain stored in your body takes time to unravel. Most people start with weekly sessions in order to make progress and feel a positive momentum in their life, and depending on your goals and the complexity of what you're working with, meaningful change may take months or longer. I hope you approach starting therapy with self-compassion, dedication, some hope and persistence as you learn how to care for yourself and change your life.
Ask yourself: Am I ready to commit to regular therapy sessions to invest in my wellbeing?
You'll need to carve out time not just for the sessions themselves, but also for the mental and emotional work that continues between sessions. Growth doesn't just happen during that 50-minute therapy hour, often, the most significant insights and changes emerge as you integrate what you're learning into your daily life.
Remember that the time you invest in therapy is time invested in you. It's about creating space to prioritize your personal growth and create structures for building a life with more ease, more space and more fulfillment.
4. Location: In-Person Therapy Vs Online Therapy
At The Holistic Counseling Center, we've created multiple options to make therapy as accessible as possible:
In-person sessions are available at our offices in:
El Dorado Hills
San Francisco
Marin County (San Anselmo)
Virtual therapy is available to anyone residing in California. Our secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform makes it easy to connect with your therapist from the comfort of your own space.
When considering whether therapy will work for your schedule, reflect on:
What days/times might work best for regular sessions
Whether you prefer in-person connection or virtual sessions
What environment helps you feel most comfortable for therapeutic work
5. Fees + Financial Commitment
Let's keep it real, therapy is a big financial investment in yourself! At The Holistic Counseling Center, we believe quality therapy should be accessible, and we strive to provide options that support you.
Our fees page provides transparent information about our rates. Many of our clients use out-of-network insurance benefits to help cover the cost of therapy. We also provide superbills that you can submit to your insurance company for reimbursement, and our insurance reimbursement calculator can help you understand your potential coverage.
Ask yourself: What is my weekly therapy budget? How much am I willing and able to invest in my healing journey right now?
Therapy is an investment in yourself and your personal growth that can positively impact every aspect of your life, your confidence, relationships, career trajectory and overall quality of life. When considering the cost, it can be helpful to reflect on the short-term investment that can pay-off in the form of living life with more ease, authenticity and joy.
And a gentle reminder: Healing is possible, change is possible. Taking time to find the right therapist is worth the effort.
What Are All Those Letters After a Therapist’s Name?
Have you ever looked at a therapist’s bio and wondered about all the random letters after their name? Here’s a quick breakdown on what education and licensure qualifications are required to practice psychotherapy so you can make sure to find a qualified therapist to work with.
Therapy (also called counseling or psychotherapy) is provided by a qualified mental health professional with an advanced degree, specific training and licensure in the state they work in. Licensure requirements vary by state, but to become a therapist in California, a therapist has to have a master's degree (MA, MS, or MEd) in psychology, counseling, or social work, or a doctoral degree (PhD or PsyD).
Common license types include:
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT)
Associate Marriage and Family Therapists (AMFT)
Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW)
Associate Clinical Social Workers (ACSW)
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (LPCC)
Associate Professional Clinical Counselors (APCC)
Licensed Psychologists (PhD or PsyD)
It's important to know that an associate therapist (AMFT, ACSW, APCC) is a professional who has completed their education and is currently working toward full licensure under supervision. Becoming a licensed therapist in California takes 5-9 years, so associate clinicians already have their master's degree and 1-5 years of experience providing quality therapy under professional guidance.
Understanding these credentials is just one piece of the puzzle when finding the right therapist; how you feel with your therapist is often what makes the biggest difference on your healing journey.
What to Expect When Starting Therapy
Starting therapy can feel intimidating, but understanding what to expect can help you settle in a bit quicker. Here's what you can anticipate when working with a holistic therapist:
1. Your First Session + Building the Therapeutic Relationship
Your first few sessions are primarily about getting to know each other, learning more about what brings you to therapy and starting to make a plan for what tools and practices would be helpful for your healing journey. Your therapist will:
Help you feel welcome, at ease and normalize the ‘first session jitters’
Learn more about your past, your current challenges, and hopes for your future
Discuss the process of therapy, how it all works and answer any questions you might have
Begin to co-create a plan for helping you feel better
Offer you some practices or tools you can start using right away to feel better
2. Developing Awareness and Resources
Before diving into deeper work, your therapist will help you develop internal resources, skills for managing emotions, grounding yourself when overwhelmed, and maintaining connection to your body and the present moment. This foundation creates safety for the more challenging aspects of therapy.
In holistic therapy, we recognize that healing happens within a window of tolerance, not so comfortable that there's no growth, but not so overwhelming that you become dysregulated. Building resources helps you stay within this optimal zone.
Some of these resources might include:
Mindfulness practices to help you stay present with difficult emotions
Somatic techniques for regulating your nervous system
Self-compassion practices to counter harsh self-judgment
Boundary-setting skills for healthier relationships
Visualization and imagery to access inner wisdom and your spiritual values
3. Exploring Patterns and Root Causes
With a solid foundation in place, you'll begin to explore the patterns and underlying causes of your challenges. This might involve examining:
Family dynamics and early relationships that shaped your understanding of yourself and others
Beliefs about yourself and the world that no longer serve you
Traumatic experiences that continue to impact your nervous system and emotional landscape
Parts of yourself that have been disconnected, suppressed, or forgotten
Cultural and systemic factors that influence your experience
This exploration happens at a pace that feels manageable for you, always with an emphasis on integration and embodiment rather than just intellectual understanding.
4. Integration and Transformation
As awareness grows, new possibilities emerge. You might notice:
More capacity to be present with difficult emotions without becoming overwhelmed
Greater self-compassion and reduced self-criticism
Improved ability to set healthy boundaries in relationships
A deeper sense of connection to yourself, others, and what matters most to you
More authentic expression of your needs, values, and truth
A sense of coming home to yourself
Integration is not a linear process, it’s more like a spiral staircase. You'll revisit themes at deeper levels as you grow, gradually incorporating new ways of being into your daily life.
5. Ongoing Growth and Completion
As you integrate the insights and changes from therapy, you may find yourself naturally ready to complete the formal therapeutic relationship. Some people choose to continue with less frequent ‘maintenance’ sessions, while others feel ready to continue their growth independently.
Completing therapy doesn't mean you'll never face challenges again, it just means you have developed the internal resources to navigate life's inevitable difficulties with greater wisdom, self-compassion, and resilience.
Expect Progress, Not Perfection
It's important to remember that therapy isn't about ‘fixing’ yourself, because you are not broken. What's broken is hustle culture, a society that views mental health as separate from our spiritual life, and an obsession with independence over interdependence.
The truth is, there has never been anyone in existence that is exactly like you, with your unique combination of strengths, challenges, insights, purpose and potential. Therapy is about discovering and honoring that uniqueness, not conforming to an external standard of ‘normal.’
“The greatest healing would be to wake up from what we are not.”
Progress in therapy rarely follows a logical or straight path. Some days you'll feel remarkable shifts, while other times it might seem like you're taking a few steps backward. This non-linear journey is completely normal and actually a sign that you're doing the deep work.
Ask yourself: Am I willing to embrace slow, steady progress and be patient with myself along the way?
Growth takes time, and small shifts often lead to the most sustainable changes. Be gentle with yourself through this process, celebrating small victories and trusting that healing is happening, even when it's difficult to see in the moment.
What Happens in a Holistic Therapy Session?
Holistic therapy is an expanded version of psychotherapy, so yes there will be talking, insight making and plenty of ‘aha’ moments, but there is also a lot of space for practices that go beyond just mental understanding and offer deep healing. Some things you might experience during your holistic therapy sessions include:
Psychospiritual practices like breathwork, guided meditations, or somatic awareness
Nervous system regulation tools to help you recalibrate your body and process past pain
Energy work to support your body's natural healing capacity
Sound healing to shift energetic patterns and help you relax
Self-Care practice to integrate insights between sessions
Resources to support our learning and personal growth
Is Holistic Therapy Right for You?
Holistic therapy can be transformative for many people, but like any approach, it resonates more strongly with some individuals than others. Understanding whether this approach aligns with your needs and preferences can help you make an informed decision about your healing journey.
Holistic therapy might be especially beneficial if you:
Sense that there are deeper patterns beyond just your thoughts that might be influencing your current mental health struggles
Are interested in exploring the connection between your physical sensations, emotions, thoughts, and spiritual journey
Feel drawn to addressing not just your symptoms but the root causes of your struggles
Resonate with both scientific understanding and spirituality and appreciate an approach that honors both
Value a personalized approach rather than a standardized treatment protocol
Many people who aren't sure if holistic therapy is right for them discover that this integrative approach offers multiple avenues to healing, even if they initially connect with just one aspect of the work.
Holistic therapy might not be the best fit if:
You're looking for a quick fix focused solely on symptom reduction. Holistic therapy addresses underlying causes, which typically requires more time and engagement than approaches focused only on managing symptoms.
You prefer a strictly medical model approach to mental health that focuses primarily on diagnosis and medication management. While we believe in the value of appropriate medication when needed, our approach goes beyond symptom classification to address the whole person and multiple ways to heal.
You're not ready to explore your deeper emotions, unconscious patterns, or self-responsibility. Holistic therapy involves a willingness to look inward and engage with both the comfortable and uncomfortable aspects of your experience.
That said, many people who initially feel hesitant about the depth that holistic therapy offers discover that the process unfolds naturally and at a comfortable pace, with appropriate support at each step. Our therapists meet you where you are, honoring your unique healing journey without pushing you before you're ready.
How to Get Started With Holistic Psychotherapy
If you're feeling called to explore holistic psychotherapy, we'd love to support you!
At The Holistic Counseling Center, we understand that finding the right therapist can feel overwhelming. That's why we've created a personalized matching process to make it easy to take the next step:
Book a free consultation call so we can learn more about your journey, your challenges, your goals and your preferences
Get matched with a great therapist based on your symptoms, personality, finances and preference for in-person therapy versus online therapy
Begin your healing journey and be supported every step on the way. If at any point your therapist doesn’t feel like the best fit, we'll help you find a better match within our team or provide trusted referrals.
Our process takes the guesswork out of finding a therapist, increasing your chances of finding a great fit the first time, instead of endlessly scrolling google, psychology today profiles or TikTok.
We specialize in supporting individuals just like you struggling with:
Depression and mood challenges
Self-sabotaging behaviors
Relationship difficulties
Life transitions
Spiritual growth and exploration
Identity and purpose questions
Our practitioners are licensed and associate therapists who integrate evidence-based clinical psychology with transformative psychospiritual approaches. We pride ourselves on being a team that is trauma-informed, actively LGBTQIA+ affirming, and deeply committed to equity, accessibility, and liberation for people of all identities, backgrounds, and lived experiences.
Our clinicians bring advanced training in a variety of modalities including Internal Family Systems (IFS), Somatic Therapy (including Somatic Experiencing and Hakomi), Polyvagal Theory, and mind-body practices including yoga, breathwork, mindfulness and meditation.
If you're feeling called to begin or deepen your healing journey with professional support, we'd love to help! We offer in-person therapy in San Anselmo, El Dorado Hills, San Francisco and online therapy in California. Schedule a free consultation call to learn more about how we can support you.
And a gentle reminder: Healing isn't about ‘fixing’ yourself, it's about coming home to yourself. Be patient but diligent as you begin this journey. With support, self-compassion, and courage, transformation is not just possible, it's inevitable.
Rooting for you!
-Kim
References
Dana, D. (2023). Polyvagal Practices: Anchoring the Self in Safety. W. W. Norton & Company.
Siegel, D. J. (2010). Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation. Bantam.
Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking.
Schwartz, R. C., & Sweezy, M. (2019). Internal Family Systems Therapy. Guilford Publications.
About The Author
Kim Burris, LMFT is a licensed holistic psychotherapist, founder of The Holistic Counseling Center, and author of ‘The First 90 Days After Birth.’
She honors the mind, body, spirit connection and offers evidence-based psychotherapy with a heart centered approach that helps people find relief from anxiety and self-sabotage so they can live life with more joy, freedom and ease.
Kim and her team currently offer holistic counseling to individuals in Marin County, San Francisco, El Dorado Hills and online in California. Click HERE to book a no-cost consultation call.
