Hello cb12, and pleased to "meet" you
Originally Posted by
cb12 
... Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. I live in Los Angeles county, if that helps...
What I find works the best is to think of it as the same as finding a good plumber. Ask people who have one. Specifically, meetings of Al-Anon and ACoA have been a great source of referals for me. As a general rule, about half the peeps in an al-anon meeting are seeing a therapist, and the other half _are_ a therapist
As far as specialty, the best would be a therapist who has a background in "Dysfunctional families", or in "Family Therapy". In California there is a specific license called MFCC ( Marriage, Family, Child Counseling ) and another very similar one called LMFT ( Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist). Either one of those would be a perfect fit.
Most therapists will give you the first visit free, just to see if you "click" together. My suggestion is to check out several, at least 3 or 4, so you can get an idea for what it's all about and get a "feel" for them as people before you make any decisions.
Mike