In deciding to support and nurture your mental well-being, you are opting to go on a therapeutic journey. The process involves a talk-based therapy that is intended to help you improve and maintain your mental health and well-being. The process unfolds when the Therapist and client enter into a therapeutic relationship where both work together to bring about positive change in the client’s thinking, feeling, behaviour and social functioning.
Individuals usually seek psychotherapy when they have thoughts, feelings, moods and behaviours that are adversely affecting their day-to-day lives, relationships and the ability to enjoy life. Trust is a very important part of the engagement, and this means being comfortable with the therapist more than the modalities of treatment.
Psychotherapy can be provided by a variety of mental health practitioners such as Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Clinical Social Workers and marriage and family Therapists.
At For Health’s Sake we currently have a team of mental health practitioners- Registered Psychotherapists and Registered Social Workers. To help guide you in deciding which type of Therapist would benefit you, we wanted to highlight the similarities and differences between the two practitioner styles and focus.
Registered Social Workers (MSW, RSW):
Registered Social Workers who specialise in clinical counselling are trained to conduct assessments of an individual’s functioning; including their biological, psychological, social, emotional and cultural needs. Such therapists focus on a holistic approach, considering the entirety of a person’s identity, offering a perspective that connects outside factors to the root causes of their presenting challenges. This focus helps clients to build strategies to manage their mental health by becoming aware of the interconnection between body, mind and spirit. Therapy can come in a group setting, individual setting or with couples and families.
Additional certifications in evidence-based therapeutic treatments such as, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Dialectal Behavioural Therapy (DBT), Integrative or Holistic Therapy, (IHT) Solution focused therapy (SFT), Mindfulness Based Therapy, (MBT) and Interpersonal therapy (IPT), in addition to their 2 year Master’s Degree in Social Work (MSW ) which involves supervised client hours.
Registered Psychotherapists (RP or RP(Q)):
These practitioners specialize in providing counselling on interpersonal, social, and psychological obstacles which have come as a result of mental health challenges. Each Psychotherapist will have their own approach and areas of specialization as a result of their individual experience and training.
Like Social Workers, Psychotherapists use a variety of evidence-based treatment modalities, such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT), , Mindfulness, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Motivational Interviewing and Solution Focused Brief Therapy.
Since there are many similarities between Registered Psychotherapists and Clinical Social Workers, we recommend reading the Therapists biographies as well as booking in a free phone consultation call. This allows a proper alignment with your needs and the therapist’s style. Additionally, if you have health insurance we suggest checking to see whether your plan covers Social Workers or Psychotherapists.
Social Work and Psychotherapy are regulated professions, which means they require a certain level of education and training in order for an individual to be allowed to use the title.
If someone is registered in a college you should be able to look them up in the college’s directory and see if there are any limits placed on their registration. If you would like to do further research, here is a list of the online registers for the regulated professions, Social Work and Psychotherapy.
Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers:
https://www.ocswssw.org/members/online-register/
College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario:
https://www.terida.com/idms/directory/directory.seam
Book in a free consulation call: https://for-healths-sake.janeapp.com/#/psychotherapy
By: Sybil Allen, Chantée Dardaine, Normand Daemon and Chloë Tudor