Teletherapy today: 3 benefits of online therapy
Happy teletherapy Tuesday, folks!
Nowadays, everything is done over the internet-- I mean, I just ordered my groceries online with InstaCart and they were delivered to my doorstep. Life changed.
Lucky for all of us, mental health has jumped on the do-everything-through-the-internet-trend. Online therapy, also known is teletherapy, is exactly that—therapy conducted via an online video chat. It’s starting to break into the clinical scene as more and more professionals and clients realize the benefits of online therapy. There are even companies, like TalkSpace (you know, that Michael Phelps commercial…) and BetterHelp, that solely operate in the teletherapy sphere. Fair warning, though: it is an acquired taste.
When I first toyed with the idea of incorporating online sessions into my practice, I was apprehensive. For me, an important part to treating my clients is feeling the vibe in the room and seeing their body language. That’s pretty difficult to do when I can only see head and shoulders on a screen. Also, since confidentiality is literally EVERYTHING as a therapist, I was nervous to incorporate the internet into my work because there are people in this world that can hack anything, and that just screams lawsuits, lawsuits, and more lawsuits. Oh and also, I want an office. For some reason, the notion of doing online therapy to me meant that I would just be sitting at home talking to clients through a computer, missing that human interaction that made me want to be a therapist in the first place. I was wrong.
Online therapy is awesome. Here’s why:
Convenience
As a client, the BIGGEST pro to teletherapy is convenience.
There is no travel time so you don’t need to take much more than 50-minutes out of your day. You don’t have to deal with traffic, parking, or traffic (did I say that already?) either.
You can be anywhere. You can literally do therapy from your own couch! Heck, you can even be in your pj’s and fuzzy slippers, cuddling with your dog while you talk to your therapist. No need to cancel your weekly sessions because you’re out of town or mildly sick either-- you can just pop onto WiFi wherever you are, runny nose and all, and get your scheduled therapy in! With all the teletherapy apps popping up, too, you can opt for therapy on your own time. Therapy whenever you need from wherever you are…that’s hard to beat.
For therapists, the convenience factor means less cancellations and late arrivals. It also means that YOU can be anywhere without having to cancel on clients. I’m not saying you should be working all day everyday, but the option to still see clients even when life happens, aka you need to dash out of town last minute for a family emergency or you’re feeling a little congested and you don’t want to risk exposing your clients, you still keep your clients scheduled and you still get paid (yes I said it—money matters).
Accessibility
Instead of going to therapy, therapy can now go to you, making it super accessible.
No barriers. If you have physical limitations, teletherapy makes mental health treatment available to you without the hassle of travel. Having a chronic illness, I can’t even count the number of therapy appointments I’ve cancelled because I was in pain or feeling ill (shout out to my therapist for being so freaking stellar!). With video sessions, I could just sit in bed and get treatment on the toughest of days. Also, while therapist saturation is usually greater in big cities, online therapy makes treatment accessible for people who live in remote areas where therapist numbers and scope might be limited.
From my therapist perspective, I see that online therapy can be a gift. Once of my areas of focus is the chronically ill population; I’ve had clients dealing with cancer cancel sessions because a round of chemo left them feeling horrible or they felt too weak to even get out of bed. Even though they’re body wouldn’t allow them to get to therapy, they still wanted the benefit of our time together. With online therapy, our treatment sessions become WAY easier to “attend” without zapping their physical energy. I’ve also worked with caregivers to people with cancer and neurocognitive disorders like Dementia and Alzheimer’s who’ve found it overwhelming and/or distressing to leave their loved one alone. Well, with online therapy, that worry gets eliminated and caregivers get the much-needed opportunity for their own self care. I’ve even had young women get to the office and not be able to get out of the car due to anxiety. Walking into a therapist’s office is a big step (pun intended J) that can totally lead to increased distress, so getting rid of that makes the idea of therapy more doable and less intimidating.
Choice
And then there’s choice. Online therapy eliminates the location factor, giving you an even bigger therapist pool to choose from. Can’t find what you’re looking for in your neighborhood? No problem, just search your entire time-zone! The option of video counseling is also just that, an option. What I’ve loved so much about online therapy is that I can still go to my therapist’s office for sessions if I want.
For me, this choice lends itself to a greater professional satisfaction as I know that more people who need my services now have the ability to work with me. I whole-heartedly believe that making a choice is empowering. If a client has more opportunity to make choices, like deciding to do an online session vs. an in-person one day, I respect that. Any experience of empowerment is useful in the therapy setting, and the blossoming field of teletherapy gives clients one more avenue to find their power.
So, lesson from this blog? You don’t need to step foot into a grocery store with InstaCart! Just kidding, that’s not the lesson although it is a game changer. The real lesson is this: look into online therapy. Try it out. It’s easy, private, and it opens up lots of avenues for clients and therapists alike. Teletherapy might be exactly what you needed to get started with treatment!
Try it out and let me know what you think of it!
~Maya