What is Online Counseling? Is Online Counseling for me ? Can I afford it
? Below these and other questions will be answered and you will have a better
understanding of what Online Counseling is and is not.
What is Online Counseling?
The list of reasons that people contact a professional for help is as long and as varied as people themselves. It's human to have problems. It's human to want help. But for some people, maybe even most people, actually getting to a professional counselor's office is extremely complicated. Despite their pain, despite their sense that professional assistance might be helpful, they never quite make the shift from thinking about making an appointment with a counselor to actually doing it. No, it's not that they secretly enjoy their pain. The obstacles to locating a good counselor and getting to her or his office are many and very, very real. Busy schedules, difficulty with traveling to the therapist's office, fear of going out in public, privacy concerns, and 24 hour availability are only a few of the reasons given for using our Online Counseling service.
With e-mail, much of the benefit for you will derive from the writing itself. Therapists often encourage clients to keep journals or write to help clarify and express their thoughts. Your therapist will respond with a well thought out answer within 48 hours.
You may have a simple one-time question, or you may choose to use this as a way to establish a longer term relationship with a therapist.
Telephone and online chat offers additional options from which to choose. For those who have never tried chat, it's a very simple process. You create a secure chat account at safe mail at our appointed time you meet me in the safe-mail chat room. You type a message to me and I respond by typing back immediately, in real time. If you prefer to use a chat program you already use and are comfortable with that is fine also (However, be aware that our conversations in your chat program might not be secure). You'll need to supply your chat information to me in the pre-session form.
Choosing my phone option means that I will call you at a number you specify at your appointment time. You will talk with me for the amount of time you decided upon in advance. There is no additional cost to you for the phone call.
It may be a comfortable, convenient way for you to begin opening up to another person and trying out the idea of therapy. You may already be familiar with therapy and choose this option for the added convenience and privacy it offers. Many people prefer Online Counseling to prevent having a mental health record with insurance companies.
Consider all the women who are managing childcare and/or elder care. Whether you are one of the "sandwich women" who cares for an elder and small children, an active at-home Mom, or an employed Mom juggling job and kids, arranging life to go to a weekly appointment is a daunting task. Or how about the person who lives 70 miles from the nearest large town? Travel time plus the time for the appointment means that a weekly counseling session costs half a day. Then there are the people who work third shift and get what sleep they can during daytime hours. If the choice is counseling or sleep, sleep is the clear winner. Finally, it's a simple fact that most people don't have jobs that allow them to take off part of a day every week to go off to an appointment.
Cost:
Some people have health insurance that pays at least some of the cost for counseling - at least for a while. But insurance benefits soon run out and many people don't have any insurance at all. If there is no publicly supported clinic nearby or if a person doesn't qualify for a reduced fee on a sliding fee scale, the cost may put counseling out of reach.
Privacy:
Some people find it very difficult to share their most personal struggles with a professional, and then run into him or her in the local grocery store or at the middle school parent night. Although all licensed counselors are bound by codes of ethics regarding confidentiality and maintain clear boundaries between their private and professional lives, it can still get quite complicated. The smaller the community, the more difficult it can be. In addition, you never know who else you may run into in the counselor's parking lot or waiting room. It's true that the person you meet is as vulnerable to the loss of privacy as you are. But it may be that you would both prefer to keep the fact that you have private struggles, well, private.
The problem itself:
Some people suffer from problems that make it extremely difficult to go to counseling. Some people fear crowds. Others find it very difficult to talk to a stranger. Still others have fears about driving, about using public transportation, or about using an elevator to get to the counselor's office. People who are trying to manage chronic pain may find that the effort required to get to an office only makes things worse. And some people are so depressed, so anxious, or so upset, that they simply cannot function well enough to get up and go.
The good news is that online counseling offers a solution to all of these very real problems. Counseling no longer needs to be limited to in-office meetings during the business day. Counseling online can be at your convenience, in the privacy of your own home, at a lower per-session fee than you would pay for a traditional face-to-face visit to a local professional.
Online counseling is accessible any time and from anywhere you can access the Internet:
Those who live in remote areas, those who work on third shift, those who are caring for a family member who is homebound, those who are disabled, and/or those who are too embarrassed to be seen entering a counselor's office now have a convenient, non-threatening way to make a start in counseling. People who have difficulty getting to an office now can ask questions about their concerns, get some basic information about what is troubling them and/or engage in an ongoing counseling relationship with an online counselor.
Online counseling breaks out of the rigidity of the weekly "50-minute hour":
While traditional counseling occurs once a week for about an hour, online counselors are experimenting with designing the frequency and the length of each contact according to an individual's needs. Perhaps two half-hour sessions a week will be more effective for some people. Perhaps a secure half-hour chat each week and unlimited e-mail in between provides the intensity of service appropriate for issues presented by still other people. No one yet knows what would be most effective. But if you find it difficult to imagine working on painful issues for 50 minutes at a time, online counseling allows the professional and client to experiment with new forms of interaction.
Online counseling lets you stay in touch:
Contacting me can be more immediate, more affordable and more frequent than I, or you, could schedule (and maybe even tolerate) face-to-face. You might use e-mail to "journal" your experiences for you counselor. Brief daily contacts are possible when needed. You can even pour your heart out at 2:00 a.m. This is quite different from having to wait until the weekly therapy hour to share all that has happened since your last session.
Online counseling gives people more time to formulate their thoughts and feelings:
The spoken word is certainly more spontaneous than the written word, but the written word can be more precise. One advantage of an e-mail based counseling relationship is that it lets both the counselor and the client take the time needed to find the words that best express the shades of meaning each is attempting to convey. (Another form of online counseling like a secure chat session is more immediate and more similar to an in-office interaction)
Online counseling is very, very private:
No one sees you go into an office. You needn't worry about running into someone you know in the waiting room. If you choose a professional whose office is many miles away, you probably will never bump into him or her at the local shopping mall.
Online counseling provides support to those who are isolated and alone:
If one of your problems is that you have cut yourself off from friends, family, and even acquaintances, an online counselor can be a first step in the process of re-connecting with the world.
Online counseling is usually less expensive than face-to-face counseling:
The online counselor doesn't necessarily have to carry the overhead of a bricks-and-mortar office. Additionally, because it is possible to set up sessions that are shorter than the traditional 50-minute hour, the cost per session is often less.
Note: If you are experiencing serious suicidal thoughts , please stop now and phone 911. At "Life Issues Counseling" our Service's are not intended for individuals who are actively contemplating suicide or are suffering from a severe mental or emotional disorder. If this describes you, please contact your local crisis hotline and/or find a local mental health professional. This service is also not intended for use by minors (under 18 years old).
Online counseling does have some limitations. Only you can decide whether they outweigh the plusses, or if they are more serious than the equally real limitations of more traditional counseling.
Online counselors get to know you only through your written words:
Traditionally, the experienced professional uses all kinds of cues (like how you are dressed, your tone of voice, when you look down, when you start to fidget, etc.) to understand the meaning of what you are saying. The online counselor has to "listen" to your written words to hear what you are saying and to appreciate just how you may be saying it. This limitation will fade as you get more practiced in using your keyboard. It may soon disappear altogether as more and more people add audio/visual capacity to their computers.
Some who claim to offer online counseling have little or no mental health training:
If you go through a reputable Web site that checks the credentials of its provider members, like cyberchoices.org, you can be assured that you are working with a professional licensed in one of the mental health disciplines. Otherwise you might be fooled. Some people who claim to offer counseling have little or no mental health training. Take the time to review the credentials and biographical statement of any professional with whom you are planning to work (whether online or in an office) to ensure that you understand and are satisfied with the information provided. If you require additional information, by all means, ask for it.
Online counselors are limited in their ability to take care of you in an emergency:
Because they may be working with someone who is hundreds of miles away, online counselors do not always have a comfortable working relationship with the crisis team or hospitals serving your area. They may not be familiar with local resources that might be helpful supports for you. They usually can't visit you. And they can't convene your family for a family consultation as easily as they might if they lived in your community. This means that you will need to take responsibility to research what resources for support and crisis are available to you locally.
Online counseling sessions may not be secure:
Standard e-mail, as used by most people, is insecure and vulnerable to unauthorized viewing by other family members, by unethical systems administrators, or by hackers. Safe mail is the site I use and is totally secure and encrypted for your safety.
Online counselors may not be as legally accountable (at least right now) as a counselor you would see in an office:
If something goes wrong, it's virtually impossible to sue an online counselor, especially if that individual has defined his or her services as "advice" or "coaching," not "therapy." If you are concerned about this issue but still want to work with an online counselor, it's best to choose someone who is practicing face-to-face in the state where you live and where the legal system may have developed some protections for you. These regulations will, of course, vary from state to state.
The best test of online counseling is "giving it a try." Do a little exploring to see if it can work for you. But don't give up if your first effort doesn't feel comfortable. Just as with face-to-face counseling, it may take a few initial "meetings" to evaluate which counselor is right for you. The best predictor for a successful counseling relationship is if, after a few encounters, you feel that this professional understands you, cares about you, and guides you in a way that you experience as helpful in meeting your goals.
