Have you thought about receiving therapy over the internet? If you travel a lot, work shifts or have complex care responsibilities at home, you could find that online therapy offers regular contact with your therapist and the work continues without interruption by factors outside your control. If you have an internet connection at home and somewhere private to work, you may want to consider it as an alternative to face to face therapy whatever your personal circumstances are.
In this article, I have let the words of some online clients speak for me. They were asked to compare online with face to face therapy after receiving some online therapy by text (email or live chat). These opinions were gathered in 2009 but are are still relevant today even though webcam therapy sessions are becoming increasingly popular because text contact is discreet, which is essential if you are not alone in the house when working with your therapist. There are other advantages, too, as you will see if you read on.
Comparing online with face to face therapy
- I much prefer online counselling, one of the things I found with face to face [counselling] was that I would go for a session & it felt like a can of worms had been opened up, I would have all these thoughts & feelings going round my head & I wouldn't know what to do with them. By the time I went for the next session the following week I had suppressed the thoughts & feelings and put the barriers back up, eventually it just got too draining emotionally & I gave up on it.
- I guess any therapist reading that quotation will be thinking ‘if only the client had stuck with face to face counselling a little longer she might have got the full benefit’. However, if the client walks away before the end of therapy taking those feelings with them, online therapy can provide an alternative route for them to access help.
- I live in a rural area so geographical distance is always a consideration. In practical terms a one hour f2f session takes two hours when journey time is included.
- You can do it when best suits you and from the comfort of your own home.
- Online counselling is something that fits much better into my daily life than face to face counselling. I do not need to find the time or the energy for a long session on a regular basis, the work can be done in short bursts and fit around my own routine.
- Another advantage that I find for online counselling is that a lot of ground can be covered in a short period of time because I don’t have to rely on my memory - I can write what I want to say over several days consideration.
- I choose when I write ... and it is often during unsociable hours - early morning and late at night.
- When working with a face to face counsellor I have to rely solely on what comes to mind in that instance and I may forget the most important details- only to remember them after the session.
With text therapy there is a written record which can be read again and again
- You are able to re-read responses and can think about what you want to say the next time.
- I got about half way and felt that I was not making any progress, and then could look back over the written records and realize that actually some of the issues that I initially really struggled with are no longer even part of my thought world.
Some online clients found that writing was easier than speaking
I think for me there was so much going on and so much that I had not dealt with that writing meant I could segment it into family, past relationships, childhood etc so that i could be part of the process of detangling what i was experiencing and looking at all the contributing factors. this made it less confusing and overwhelming.
- Some of my false beliefs (e.g. that everything was my fault) were much easier to confront, because the moment I wrote it I could look at it and realize immediately that actually, that is not true.
- Somehow seeing something written, and the process of writing, means that you get something out and it stays out permanently (almost in a literal way) and that once it is out it is no longer part of you.
Working online with a therapist is an equal relationship
- I think that "need to please" and say what you think someone else wants to hear is much less online.
- Online, I had to take responsibility and control and could work at my own pace.
- The comments back on what I had written were thoughtful, sensitive, thought provoking and challenging at the right times. It was also clear and that for me eliminated that uncertainty of wondering what the person is actually trying to say and the initial anxiety about the other persons possibly judging you.
Choosing the right online therapist for you
There are thousands and thousands of therapists with websites, many of them offer online therapy. If you are thinking of working online with a therapist I suggest you visit several online therapist websites before making your choice.
Here are some questions to think about at the same time as you search:
- Has this therapist done some special training to work online in addition to their therapist training?
- Can I check their credentials out somewhere (another website, another directory)?
- Do I understand this therapist’s website - is it simple and clear?
- Does this therapist mention my particular issue as an area of special interest?
- Who is the therapist accountable to if I want to make a complaint?
- Are they insured for complaints?
- Are they bound by a code of practice which includes working online?
- How do they work online and what do they charge?
If you live, or were born, in the UK, there is directory of online therapists at the Association for Counselling and Therapy Online (www.acto-uk.org). All therapists listed there have had their qualifications checked (by ACTO) and have received specialist training to work online in addition to their counselling/psychotherapy training.
Gill Jones, MA, MBACP, Snr. Accred. Counsellor, Director, Online Training for Counsellors Ltd.
Private practice email: gill@gjcounselling.co.uk
Book: “Online Counselling: A Handbook for Practitioners” Jones, G, Stokes A, (2009) Palgrave
