Judging the competency of a doctor is always difficult. You're never going to be sure. First thing I'd say is "trust your gut." If you feel anything is off, listen to that feeling. Go in with an open mind. But make sure they answer your questions. Some of us are a bit shy or non-confrontational. If you aren't getting things answered to your satisfaction, push for answers. Ask for testimonials. Previous or current clients that would be willing to contact you and share their experience. I wouldn't necessarily avoid young people or those that only work with children. But it is nice to have someone more seasoned. But sometimes you're only seeing one face of the team. I had a very good experience with my doctor. He had a partner who he had worked with for years, as well as a young woman who led some of my therapy sessions. u/ShutupPussy and I might differ in some of our thoughts. The red flags they mentioned... Breathing was one component of the program which allowed me to achieve fluency. Now, if a therapist was relying only on breathing to help you with your stutter, that would be a red flag for me. But I learned about airflow and how fluency relies on air movement as one small part of my fluency. For me, fluency wasn't individual techniques. It was a process of learning to speak fluently. There were many components. One red flag *for me* would be if they expected you to apply any techniques in the real world early on. e.g. Let's work on 'schmoodling' today. OK, I want you to schmoodle at least three time in public over the next week. 'Schmoodling' is just a nonsense word I made up for illustration. There's not going to be a single technique that gets you fluent.