Monique ThompsonLicensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor & Infidelity Recovery Specialist

What do I, and some other therapists, look for in clients?

30 Apr 2024 · 3 min

Watch on YouTube

2:36

In this video, Dr. Monique Thompson explains the key factors she and other therapists consider when taking on new clients. She emphasizes the importance of a client’s genuine desire to engage in therapy, their commitment to the process, and clear awareness of why they are seeking help—whether to address serious problems or to improve their lives. Dr. Thompson distinguishes authentic self‑growth motivation from merely “checking the box” of being in therapy, noting that the former leads to deeper progress. She highlights her appreciation for the art and science of therapy, enjoying complex, unanswerable questions and the willingness of clients to be examined, scrutinized, and confronted. Dr. Thompson mentions her specialties—infidelity and adult survivors of sexual trauma—stating that while these areas are challenging, people can heal with effort and sometimes experience miracles. She also stresses that therapy does not follow a fixed roadmap; instead, it involves navigating human complexity together. The video serves as guidance for prospective clients about the attitudes, readiness, and openness therapists value.

Chapters

Hi, this is Dr. Thompson, and I want to explain a couple things about what therapists are looking for when you schedule with us. Um, whenever I get a new client, I'm concerned about several things, but actually the most important thing is, did you want to come to therapy? Is this something that you're looking to do? You're willing to commit to it? And why are you wanting to come? Are you wanting to come because things are bad? Are you wanting to come to make things better? Not necessarily one reason matters over the other, but are you aware of why you're coming? For me, it's been a long time. I've been in the field for a long, long, long time. And whenever I have an interaction with someone who is invested in their own self-growth, their own self-improvement, and they're wanting to get things better, we get so much further along than when someone is coming here just to kind of, you know, Check the box and say that they're in therapy. I don't know how that became a popular thing to say, oh, I have a therapist, I'm in therapy. But I'm one of them therapists that is really not concerned with the popularity contest of therapy. I am truly in this for the art of it. I'm one of them artists that's sensitive about her stuff. So I want us to come together so we can explore, so we can look at complexities. So we can look at unanswerable questions and figure out what to do about those unanswerable questions. I enjoy that. I enjoy complex situations. This is why some of my specialties are like some of my— considered the worst in the field, right? Infidelity and adult survivors of sexual trauma. Number one, people get better. It's a lot of effort involved, but— and miracles involved, but people get better. Number two, I have no idea. Yeah. Which way we're gonna go. And I like to partner with people who are fine with us not having maps, gold ways, or Google Maps to make our way through therapy. Human beings are complex. I enjoy the complexity. I, um, I enjoy the science and the art of the human being. And I enjoy people who are unafraid of being looked at, scrutinized, confronted, and working hard to get to the next place. So that's it. Those are my tips on what we're looking for when you join with us, or at least what I'm looking for when you decide to work with me. There you have it.