Finding a therapist

[Smartsub]

I'm looking for someone who can support my son with the struggle he's had since a bereavement.

Does he need a counsellor, a psychotherapist, something else?

Also, how do you choose? Whilst scrolling through a local site, I came across a colleague of mine offering her services as a counsellor. Our work is completely unrelated, she may be well qualified/experienced, I don't know, but she's certainly not working as a therapist full time. She works FT for us.

Also her own mental health is very poor, she's had a lot of time off for this, including very recently. Does that make her better as a therapist (understands?) or is that a bit of a warning sign? I wouldn't choose her anyway, but it made me wonder who all these people are

Definitely find someone registered with BACP or UKCP.
Anyone can call themselves a therapist or counsellor.
There is also a specialised bereavement provider called CRUSE..

How old is your son? If he’s a child, you could contact Winston’s Wish. Cruse does wonderful work (mostly with adults) and is free but waiting lists are often very long (I used to volunteer for them) so if you can afford to go private I would.

Either a counsellor or psychotherapist would be suitable and I’d look for someone who specifically mentions bereavement in their profile. Definitely go for someone registered with the BACP or UKCP

Thank you. He's 19. We're on various lists for free help, but things are really getting desperate and my dad has offered to pay if we can find someone suitable more quickly.