If you are currently dating or want to start dating, the process might seem stressful and overwhelming.
You might find yourself struggling with dating for several reasons. Even if you know how to navigate the world of online dating, there may be other problems that are interfering with your dating life. For example, if you struggle with low self-esteem, anxiety, or trusting others, this might significantly affect your dating success.
In this guide, we’ve explained how to find a dating therapist who can help you to overcome anxiety, improve your confidence, and help you achieve your goals in your love life.
Dating therapists near me
Below, we’ve looked at two online resources you can use to find a therapist who can help you overcome dating-related issues.
1. ReGain
ReGain is an online therapy service that specializes in relationship counseling. The platform has a huge number of qualified, licensed therapists who have experience in providing dating therapy.
ReGain makes it easy to find a qualified dating therapist. To begin with, you’ll be asked to answer some questions about the issues you’re dealing with, and what you’re looking for in a therapist. Then, ReGain will match you with a dating therapist who meets your needs, and who has experience helping others with similar issues. If you’re not satisfied with your therapist, you can ask to change to a different counselor at any time in the future.
Importantly, ReGain verifies the credentials of every provider on its site, so you can rest assured that you will be matched with a qualified counselor. Each relationship therapist on ReGain is a state-licensed counselor, typically a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT), meaning that they have the necessary qualifications and experience to help you deal with complex relationship issues.
ReGain provides you with the help you need, from any location of your choice. Live therapy can be accessed using your phone, tablet, or computer, at a time that works for you – including outside of work hours, if you’d prefer.
By default, you’ll have one live session each week over a video call, where you can work through any issues that you’re struggling with in your dating life. And in-between each session, you can message your counselor, allowing you to immediately raise any questions you might have during the week while they’re still fresh in your mind.
Importantly, ReGain strives to keep their services as cost-effective as possible. ReGain’s membership pricing is quite competitive when compared to average out-of-pocket costs for seeing a qualified dating counselor in person, at no more than $60 to $90 per week.
The exact cost you’ll pay will depend on several factors, such as therapist availability, your location, and whether or not you qualify for financial aid, which is available to veterans, students, and some other socioeconomic groups.
2. The Family & Marriage Counseling Directory
The Family & Marriage Counseling Directory is a free website that makes it very easy to find a skilled dating therapist near you.
To use this directory, simply input your city and state to begin your search, and a range of therapist profiles will be displayed. If you live in a major city, you’ll have a much larger number of relationship counselors to choose from.
Each profile on the directory includes details about the therapist, allowing you to compare their services. In addition to providing you with basic contact information, you can also see each therapist’s unique areas of specialization.
However, depending on where you live, it might be difficult to find a counselor who has specific experience in providing dating therapy. In this case, you might need to seek out a relationship counselor with a broader range of experience, and discuss your issues with them, to see if they might be able to help out.
Once you’ve found a few counselors who might be a good fit, you can visit their website or phone them to learn more about their services, and how much counseling sessions cost. Once you find the right counselor, you can proceed to book an introductory session. Unlike on ReGain, the Family & Marriage Counseling Directory isn’t able to match you with a therapist on your behalf.
If you’d prefer to meet with a dating therapist in person, this website is a great place to find a qualified counselor. It’s definitely worth at least checking to see if there are any good dating counselors available in your town or city, if you’re looking for in-person support.
What is dating therapy?
Dating therapy isn’t an officially-recognized type of psychotherapeutic treatment. Instead, the term refers to therapy provided to help you with issues in your dating life.
Typically, dating therapy is provided by relationship counselors, often licensed Marriage & Family Therapists. Some of these types of counselors may have specific experience in helping people with dating issues and other similar relationship problems.
In dating therapy, your counselor will first seek to understand the problems you’re experiencing when dating, or in relationships with other people. They will then prepare and work through a treatment plan, based on the challenges you’re experiencing, and your symptoms.
For example, if you’re experiencing dating anxiety, a counselor can help you to work through and overcome the negative thoughts that may be triggering anxiety symptoms.
How can dating therapy help you?
There are a number of ways in which dating therapy can help improve your mental health, and allow you to more easily achieve your dating goals.
- Dating therapy can help you identify and overcome personal challenges that are preventing you from finding a partner successfully.
- A therapist who specializes in dating issues can help you develop healthy ways of coping with a range of personal difficulties that might be limiting your success in dating.
- When you work with a qualified dating therapist, you can learn to more readily identify what you will need to do in order to create a healthy space in your life that can also include a significant other.
- You can learn helpful strategies designed to reduce the impact of anxiety, depression, and other mental health difficulties or symptoms you might be experiencing that are affecting your love life.
When should I get help?
You might like to seek help from a dating therapist if:
- You lack confidence in dating, and are seeking guidance to help you overcome self-doubt, and other negative thoughts you are experiencing.
- Your dating-related issues are causing you stress, anxiety, and/or depression.
- You notice that you are pushing others away, and/or your mental health is affecting your behavior towards potential long-term partners.
If you’re seeking a therapist to help with your relationships with others, it’s good to do so as soon as possible. This will ensure that you’re doing the most you can to form the healthy and positive relationships that you deserve in life.
By seeking dating therapy as early as possible, any existing problems or potential issues can be more readily identified and resolved before they grow in complexity. In turn, this can also reduce any potential impact that otherwise unmanaged problems could have on your relationships in the future.
Resolving issues related to dating using Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
The exact therapeutic approach that your therapist uses will depend on your most pressing concerns about dating, and the exact issues you’re facing. However, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is often considered one of the most beneficial therapeutic methods to help with these types of problems.
CBT is based on several key principles, which include the following:
- Once an individual develops patterns of behavior that are unhealthy or unhelpful to them, this can give rise to various psychological difficulties.
- Unhealthy patterns of thinking also contribute to mental health problems.
- Those who suffer from psychological issues have the ability to learn healthy ways of coping with such problems.
- Healthy, improved coping abilities can relieve mental health symptoms, helping people to become much more effective in their lives.
CBT has the advantage of being supported by scientific research, and has been shown to be more effective than other types of treatments for a range of different disorders.
Just as CBT can be very beneficial on an individual level, this type of therapy can also be helpful for anyone struggling with issues specific to dating and relationships. This is especially true if you are struggling with negative self-talk or negative thoughts, which are affecting your confidence and behavior in the context of dating others.
How to find a dating therapist near me
ReGain and the Family & Marriage Counseling Directory are great places to find experienced, qualified, relationship counselors, including some with specific experience in dating therapy. However, there are some significant differences between each of these online platforms.
With ReGain, you will be matched to a therapist based on your individual responses to an intake questionnaire. Since every counselor on ReGain has been vetted, you can be confident that the therapist you work with has the skills and knowledge necessary to help you to achieve your dating goals.
While ReGain requires its users to have a membership and pay a weekly membership fee, it also works to keep the cost of therapy both consistent and competitive. Because therapy is conducted online, using ReGain is often a lot cheaper than seeing a counselor in-person, especially given that relationship counseling, in-person or online, is very rarely covered by insurance providers.
On the other hand, the Family & Marriage Counseling directory can be a great way to find a qualified relationship therapist located near you, provided you live in a major city. It’s a bit more effort to connect with a counselor using this service, since you’ll need to contact each therapist to learn about their practice, but the directory allows you to view a lot of information about the counselor and their areas of expertise.
Conclusion
If you desire supportive, intimate relationships with others, and you’re struggling to overcome mental health issues that are affecting your dating success, seeing a dating therapist can be a good idea. Finding the right therapist who specializes in helping people with dating issues can help you to much more easily achieve your relationship goals.
Still not sure how best to find a relationship counselor who focuses on dating-related issues? Feel free to leave a comment below, and we’ll respond as soon as we can.
I am a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with over 10 years of experience. In addition to my private practice, I have also obtained valuable training and experience working in various institutional settings. I am also a writer, who enjoys writing about highly diverse topics that can help disseminate knowledge and accurate information about mental health matters across the globe. It is also my pleasure to offer my services as an educational speaker on mental health difficulties.
In the academic domain, I am a former professor and clinical supervisor for doctoral-level psychology students, in addition to contributing to many research studies. I have also authored and co-authored several scholarly articles that were published in well-known psychology journals, as well as textbooks for graduate students of psychology, and the law.
