House of Cards by Robyn Dawes argues that there's no evidence that licensed therapists are better at performing therapy than minimally trained laypeople. The evidence therein raises the possibility that one can derive the benefits of seeing a therapist from talking to a friend.

There seems to be evidence that the empathy of the therapist is very important. http://www.nrepp.samhsa.gov/Norcross.aspx#chapter6 (link for the summary of evidence and not for their description of what empathy is) You don't learn to be empathic by sitting 5 years in university psychology lectures but that doesn't mean that there aren't people who are very good at being empathic to which you can go.

It also really import when choosing a therapist that don't just go because they have a credential but because you feel like you have a good connection with them.