I remember the phrase of one teacher at our university: “The best psychologist is the one who got into psychology by accident.” Why is that? Because, to generalize, people who come to psychology are either those who want to work through their problems , or those who want to learn how to manipulate people. This does not mean that all psychologists are bad. In the process of learning and growing up, students really have many opportunities to change for the better, realize their needs, and hone their professional skills. Many people boldly change their profession after graduating from university, since psychology helps them better understand how to better realize themselves. Many people begin to enjoy the very process of helping other people. Those who wanted to help themselves first learn to help others and have every chance of becoming empathic psychotherapists. Those who wanted to manipulate could specialize in business training, where the ability to manipulate and counter manipulation is really important. But in reality this is rare. People graduate from universities and blindly go into the profession. Some burn out themselves, some cause others to burn out. Why? If you estimate, how many people in the crowd are ready to face their problems and start working on them? Maybe twenty percent. How many people are ready to honestly continue this work day after day, developing themselves, attending seminars, reading books? It’s good if it’s ten percent. Psychologists are people too. And among them this percentage, unfortunately, is not much higher. What should a client do to understand that his psychologist is one of the ten percent?1. Additional education. There are many long- and short-term training programs for psychologists and psychotherapists. The cost of these programs varies, so if desired, any specialist can find an affordable seminar for themselves. On average, a professionally active psychologist attends at least four educational events per year.2. Supervision. In order to prevent emotional burnout and improve competence, psychologists themselves need to undergo psychotherapy and supervision from senior colleagues.3. Books on the shelves. Whatever you say, e-books will never become “desktop books”. A good specialist reads a lot of professional literature and has on hand at least basic textbooks and monographs within his specialization. If the client pays attention to these three points when he first meets a psychologist, he will not only take care of himself, but will also create an additional incentive for his personal and professional growth of the psychological community.