Online Therapy
You might be thinking about starting therapy, but feel uncertain about having your sessions online.
For therapy to be beneficial, it’s important that you feel comfortable with how you access your sessions. Online counselling can offer some clear advantages, but it can also come with a few challenges.
In this blog, I explore some of the potential benefits and drawbacks of online therapy to help you decide whether it could work well for you. You’ll also find a few reflective questions designed to help you reflect on what might suit you best and whether trying remote counselling feels like the right step.
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2. How Effective is Online Counselling?
Online and telephone therapy retain the same fundamental concepts that a face-to-face session does
Research consistently demonstrates that online therapy is as effective as in-person sessions. However, whilst there are advantages to accessing therapy remotely, it can also bring with it extra challenges.
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3. Who is Online Therapy Suitable For?
There are a variety of factors that can influence whether online therapy is something that would suit you:
- Your situation:
- Disability.
- Access to transport.
- Reasonable internet connection or mobile signal.
- Environment:
- You would need a space free of distractions.
- You would need to ensure you won’t be overheard or interrupted.
- Comfort levels with using technology:
- Able to use MS Teams and keep your software up to date to ensure your privacy during sessions. Although I will always try my best to help if you experience any IT difficulties.
- Personal preference:
- Do you feel comfortable speaking online?
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4. Advantages & Challenges of Online Therapy
This is a quick overview of the possible pros and cons of accessing sessions remotely. I've written another blog that goes into more detail and provides possible solutions to some of the challenges of online counselling.
4a. Advantages
There are various advantages to accessing counselling online. Some of these might include:
- No travel time.
- Not having to go out when the weather is bad.
- Being in the comfort of your own environment.
- Feeling able to talk more openly.
4b. Possible Challenges
If you visit a therapist in their office, the counsellor will ensure that the space they work from adequately protects your privacy, we would both be able to see each other's full body language, and there would be no potential technological issues.
When it comes to online and telephone therapy, there are some things the therapist cannot do, such as providing a quiet and private space at your end. If you have a busy house or young children, it may not be easy to find the privacy you need.
You may not feel comfortable speaking online as you would face-to-face with a counsellor.
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5. Questions to consider
If you’re unsure about accessing your therapy sessions remotely, you might find it useful to journal or reflect on the following questions:
- Do I feel confident and comfortable speaking over the internet? Some people can find communicating this way anxiety-provoking, whilst others feel more comfortable and can talk more freely.
- Do I have a stable enough internet connection or mobile phone signal? A very poor signal could be distracting for us both and make communication difficult.
- Do I have a private space where I won't be overheard? If you don’t have such a space, there may be ways of making your setting more private. For example, placing a radio outside of your door, or accessing your session from a parked vehicle.
- Do I have a space that is free from external interruptions? For example, ensuring others in your location don’t walk into your room during your session, or notifications on your device don't keep popping up or pinging.
- Am I confident in expressing my feelings verbally? Some of your body language will not be available to the therapist as it would be in a face-to-face session.
- Do I feel confident in being able to tell my therapist if I feel they have misheard or misunderstood what I’m saying? Research suggests that misunderstandings are more likely to occur than they would in face-to-face sessions. This is because there is a reduction in body language that may make it more challenging for both the client and the therapist to gauge each other's reactions as accurately.
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6. How to Choose an Online Therapist
You may be surprised to hear that anyone can call themselves an online counsellor, psychotherapist or therapist. None of these is a protected title and can lead to unethical practices. It can be confusing knowing what to look out for when choosing a counsellor. Here are things to consider if you are looking for an online therapist:
- Qualifications - Do they have a minimum of a Foundation Degree (Level 5) in this area?
- Is this qualification from a reputable organisation? One that is run by a University, a college or accredited by a therapy association.
- Is the therapist a member and/or accredited by a relevant association? A therapist doesn’t need to be a member of an Association. However, organisations usually have set criteria that counsellors need to meet to be a member. It is also an indication that the counsellor has made a commitment to following the ethical guidelines of that body. There are many counselling associations out there, but some are more recognised and trusted than others.
- Online therapy training - Does the therapist have experience and specific training in this area?
- Does the therapist offer you the type of online therapy you are looking for? There are different types of online therapy, such as:
- Email.
- Text messaging.
- Live Chat.
- Video conferencing, e.g. Zoom or Teams.
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7. Still Unsure About Online Counselling?
Sometimes we have to experience things before we can figure out whether something feels as if it is a good fit for us or not.
If that is the case, you might want to book an initial session (standard fee applies) to see how you find it. There is no obligation beyond this. The initial appointment is a chance to try things out, such as whether I’m the right therapist for you and how you feel about accessing therapy online.
