The internet has made access to counselling easier than traditional face-to face services [1]. Online counselling and telephone counselling can be accessed by people in rural or remote areas. For some clients’ it offers greater choice in terms of when and where counselling takes place.
Some clients may otherwise have to drive long distances or take significant time out of a busy schedule to attend. It offers clients relatively quick and easy access to treatment that might not have been readily available to them.
Online counselling refers to counselling conducted via the internet. Online counselling using video conferencing allows us to see each other as we speak. We use Zoom as it provides greater security. You may like to download Zoom prior to your session in preparation, however no prior download is necessary, and you may connect directly from the link provided in your invitation emails. We will not record nor take photos of the sessions and ask that clients also refrain from taking photos or recording a session.
Online Counselling – Highlights
- It is environmentally friendly, saving travel costs and time.
- It offers convenience to undertake the process in a space where you feel comfortable.
- Some clients may feel more comfortable undergoing therapy in an online setting, especially those who are more intimately familiar with such methods of communication.
- Some clients prefer to use online counselling services, because they do not want to be seen by people attending face to face therapy near they from where they live or work.
- It provides accessibility to clients who may be disabled or housebound.
- Sessions from only £30 (discount available for clients on income support).
Telephone Counselling – Highlights
- It may overcome the potential barriers that visual impressions may create, for example the assumptions or prejudices that may unconsciously occur when clients and counsellors see each face to face.
- It can encourage real focus on each other’s voice tones and words, overcoming blocks to listening.
- The anonymity of telephone counselling can be liberating, allowing for more honest and open dialogue.
- The entire process of counselling in this medium is generally accelerated so that fewer sessions are indicated for the client to gain insight, awareness, understanding and/or empowerment [2].
- Sessions from only £30 (discount available for clients on income support).
Limitations Of Online Counselling
Whilst online counselling can be useful for a variety of situations, it may not be for clients who require close and direct treatment or in-person interventions. This includes serious addiction, severe or complex symptoms of a mental health condition. For ethical reasons AIM Counselling would not undertake online therapy unless appropriate safety measures were integrated into the counselling such as other local forms of support.
Carlie and Gina have both undertaken the Open University and BACP counselling online: coronavirus primer [3]. This was Jointly developed by the OU and the BACP as a response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to offer counsellors the skills to working online at a time when face-to-face therapy was neither possible nor safe.
- Technological, legal, ethical and practical considerations.
- General considerations for online counselling.
- Counselling using videoconferencing platforms.
- Audio-only and phone-based counselling.
- Text-based counselling.
- Mental health apps and computer programs.
Available Therapies
Here are just some of the therapies I can offer you:
- Creative therapy
- Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
- Existential therapy
- Gestalt therapy
- Humanistic therapies
- Integrative
- Person-centred therapy
- Psychoanalytical and psychodynamic therapy
- Solution focused brief therapy
- Transactional analysis
- Walk and talk therapy
What to know more?
Did you know I also offer face-to-face counselling.
[1] Baumel A., 2015. Online emotional support delivered by trained volunteers: users’ satisfaction and their perception of the service compared to psychotherapy. J Ment Health. 2015;24(5):313-320. doi:10.3109/09638237.2015.1079308
[2] Feltham, C., Hanley, T. and Winter, L., 2017. The SAGE handbook of counselling and psychotherapy. 4th ed. London: Sage Publications.
[3] https://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/course/view.php?id=5039
Cherry, K., 2020. The Pros and Cons of Online Therapy. [online] Verywell Mind. Available at: <https://www.verywellmind.com/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-online-therapy