Alternatives to Therapy or Counselling

Photo by Camille Couvez - http://bit.ly/2yibbLI

Except in the case of court-mandated counselling or therapy, you almost always have a choice. It’s important to remember that once you’ve begun working with a counsellor or therapist, you should be there because you want to be there.

Almost always, you have a choice: there are alternatives to seeking counselling or therapy. You might speak with your family physician or speak with a friend or family member, seek assistance with your nutrition or your exercise regimen, participate in a self-help group, undertake simple changes to your daily routine designed to reduce stress or increase relaxation, seek spiritual or pastoral support — or you might even do nothing at all.

This directory exists to help you become informed about your options, not to direct you along any particular course of action. Whatever you choose to do, the main point is that it remains your choice — and research on counselling and therapy effectiveness suggests that if you do decide to try working with a counsellor or therapist, you’re likely to get a great deal more out of it if you really do want to be there than if you’re simply doing it because that’s what you think you’re supposed to do.

The NHS UK site offers another good starting place for assessing your options, and if you do decide you would like to try counselling, but you’d rather not do it in person, our sister site has information on online counselling or therapy services.

This article was originally published by on and last reviewed or updated by Site Editor on .

National and international legal precedents maintain that the facts collected within a directory are not copyrightable but that the organisation and layout specific to a particular directory may be, provided that they are of sufficient originality. RightTherapist.com asserts that the facts within this directory have been selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of authorship and is therefore Copyright © 2024, with all applicable rights reserved. This assertion applies neither to any individual component within the directory the copyright for which is held by a third party, nor to any item of information for which copyright cannot be claimed, such as telephone numbers and addresses, practitioner specialisations, or other factual data. Included maps are powered by OpenStreetMap and Mapbox.

All information here is provided in good faith, but this site is not warranted to be free of error. All use of this site is subject to our Terms of Use. Contact Us.