E467 How to Pick the Right Therapist for You | With Dr. Thomas Janousek

We talk with Thomas Janousek, from the Nebraska Department of Mental Health, about picking a therapist that "fits you" or that you are comfortable with. Thomas also talks about the assessment of men's mental health and how it is such an important part of guiding men in the right direction. Our Guest: Dr. Thomas Janousek Thomas is the Deputy Director for Clinical Excellence at the Nebraska Department of Mental Health. Prior to that, he worked as a psychologist for 10 years, working mostly with assessment and also with individuals, couples and families. Show Notes "With a testing piece, with it being more objective, it really allows us to say, 'Hey what's real and what's just kind of the normal human experience?'" (3:47) "Therapy differs from assessment because in an assesement, I'm usually working with you for about five hours, I'm doing an interview to get your history and back story, and then I'm throwing out a number of tests to kind of tease out some of those things I'm finding in that history." (7:05) "A lot of people don't think that they can shop around [for a therapist] and they don't understand how important that relationship is. Like if you don't make a good connection with your therapist, you need to get a new therapist. And you can usually figure that out within one or two sessions." (11:03) "If you're having a hard time feeling that safety to articulate yourself, that can be a huge barrier. The other one I typically see is just the general stigma with mental health. And again, that's another barrier that applies to both men and women." (12:30) "And I think they don't even recognize it [depression] in themselves sometimes. They may be experiencing the loss of interest in things that they once loved to do, but they don't understand that that really is depression." (20:46) "The other thing, and I think it's probably more relevant now following the pandemic, is the effect that unemployment can have on a man and how that can be a chronic stressor." (25:15) Resources: Sign up for our newsletter and never miss a podcast! The Good Dads blog gooddads.com