In many ways, hiring a therapist is like hiring any other professional. You're (probably) going to be paying a significant amount of money to this person and trusting them with some pretty important things, so you want to make sure that you're making a good decision. Just like a bad plumber, electrician, or petsitter, a bad therapist could waste your time and money and leave you worse off than you were before. (But at least a bad therapist won't cause the pipes in your house to burst. I mean, probably.)