Online Therapy
A safe place
Counselling is an opportunity to for you to talk about whatever is on your mind in a safe, confidential and non-judgemental setting. Online counselling or e-therapy means that you meet with your counsellor in a private chat-room, by secure email, or Skype.
To begin with, we can make time for you to decide if this online way-of-working is for you, as well as whether we, as individuals, can work together effectively.
If you have not experienced counselling before, what happens is that we start by looking at where you are right now, try to understand the problem and how you would like things to change. Then, working together collaboratively, come up with some plans to help improve the situation. Alongside the main work, there are often unexpected results, for example, increased self-confidence and improved general wellbeing.
Why choose online?
Many people first access online counselling in Higher Education. University counselling services report almost as many online users of their service, as face-to-face. Once accustomed to accessing support in this way, many prefer to continue, for a variety of reasons:
There is no need to leave your desk or travel to another location.
Some may have difficulty travelling, live in a remote location,
or they may be carers and need to be available at home 24/7.
Some people prefer the greater anonymity conferred by working online,
they may find face-to-face encounters challenging,
or feel they can express themselves better using the written word.
These days, so many of us are simply so used to being online, accessing services
or forming and maintaining relationships online, that it seems like an obvious choice.
Deeper, quicker, sooner.
There is no pressure on you to go any faster than feels right to you. Nevertheless online work offers an opportunity to go more deeply, more quickly, earlier on in therapy than in 'conventional' counselling. As your counsellor, it is my job to manage the process, just as it is my responsibility to advise you that this can happen.
On the one hand this is clearly a benefit, and at the same time, even if you have experienced counselling before, you may be surprised to find yourself experiencing deep emotions so soon into the therapy.
Heightened emotions.
There are a number of reasons to explain why this happens online. When we talk to someone in person, we see their facial expressions, their body language, and hear their tone of voice. Someone can say the exact same words in a number of different ways, and that usually affects how we respond. Online there is the absence of visual and auditory cues which can dramatically change the tone and nuance of what is being 'said'. All we have are the words on a computer screen, and how we hear those words in our head.
So, if you feel something very strongly whilst engaging in online therapy, please bring it into the exchange so that we can talk about it... it may be just a misunderstanding, and it may be indicative of something very valuable which we need to talk about.