Pemberley, it's really tough finding a good fit for a counselor, even when you have recommendations from people you trust - because kids can be so very different, as well as their individual needs. We had a tough time finding a good counselor for our ds - not that we couldn't find good counselors, but he just really didn't like the first two we went to. In each case, we knew other families who'd used the same counselors for their children and had really positive experiences, we met (parents) with the counselors for the first session and had a good chance to think through if this person would work out, and we honestly believed that each counselor we tried would be a good fit for our ds. The first two just didn't work out because ds never found a groove with them and he didn't like to go to his sessions. Finally on our third try we found a counselor ds actually gelled with - but with the others we just had to send ds and find out afterwards that it wasn't going to work.
Ironically, our youngest dd is going through extreme anxiety this year and as we've gone through trying to choose a counselor for her, we finally decided that the best fit for her is... the first counselor we tried with ds and who was just an absolute disaster for him - but dd and ds have two very different personalities, and we think dd will respond to her much better than ds did.
Anyway, I agree with DeeDee - make your best guess and interview.
polarbear
