Counselling Sessions

Seeing your counsellor face to face is entirely up to you and does have its advantages and disadvantages, as does having your sessions online or by telephone. Its all about your personal preference. Online has become more popular during the last few years due to the Covid-19 lockdown and mitigating restrictions. I am willing to provide either option for you. Please do not feel that either option will effect your counselling experience. Creative  methodology has developed exponentially and become adaptable for online work. 

Please see my thoughts on working online below:

Advantages

·  Working online can save travel time and money, especially when fuel and parking costs are rising

·  It’s easier to fit sessions into busy lives

·  Some people feel safer having their sessions in the privacy of their own homes. This can aid in the building of trust between the counsellor and the client.

·  The client may feel more at ease and will be more open to talk about difficult situations

·  When working online, it is easier to change times of the session if your circumstances were to change. --This has a knock on effect with cost of therapy and the potential for paying for missed sessions etc

·  Clients have described feeling less threatened and there being less of a power differential between the counsellor and the client. 

·  There is more choice for the client. Thus, the client has the ability to look on the internet for counsellors further away from them, thus distance isn't a barrier to gaining a counsellor you feel comfortable with,

·  You can log on anywhere! as long as it is safe and you are in a confidential setting and no one can overhear what you are saying. 

Disadvantages

·  Working online can be difficult when you live in a busy household. Especially when there are children needing your attention and other people that may disturb you

·  Sometimes it may be hard to find a space that you won’t be overheard in. Its important that there aren’t people in the vicinity that can over hear what you say. This may effect your communication, how truthful you are and how open you can be. This is especially important if you are in a coercive or abusive situation. You may find it hard to be yourself and notice that another individual tries to prompt you concerning what to do. NOTE: if you are in an abusive relationship, working online will not be an issue as together we can establish a plan whereby we can have a safe word or sentence that will alert me to the situation and I will be aware that the session isn’t confidential.

·  Working online brings concerns regarding your counsellors training and qualifications. Its important that he/she is qualified to see clients in this modality and is registered with the appropriate governing body. 

·  Its sometimes difficult to see some bodily cues as you do not see the whole person, whereas when you are in the room the counsellor can get a true sense of all feelings, however, as the therapeutic relationship develops this becomes less of an issue,

·  Sometimes the walk to and from the session can be a good buffer from returning to your everyday life, which you don’t get when working online. You get to take some time to digest what has happened in the therapeutic hour before diving back into life.