As our digital world continues to expand, so does the number of people utilizing technological platforms.
The pandemic caused a lot of mental health professionals to shift their practices to virtual means via text, video, or phone call.
With this shift to online counselling comes a lot of questions.
Some of you may be hesitant to book counselling or coaching sessions online because you may wonder if it is effective, and what it has to offer.
But whether the therapy service is taking place online or in-person, the mental health professional is trained to provide therapeutic services to support you in setting goals, developing coping strategies, and working through your challenges.
In this guide, we’ll explore what online counselling is, what the benefits and drawbacks of this type of counselling are, and effectiveness.
Read on to discover more and see if online counselling is right for you.
What is Virtual Therapy?
To understand virtual therapy more in depth, you’ll first need to understand what therapy itself is.
Therapy is the process where an individual seeking mental health support and a mental health professional meet regularly to work on shared therapeutic goals.
In the process of therapy, there is a therapeutic alliance formed, which involves a professional relationship between a trained counsellor and a client, aimed at addressing the personal, social, or psychological goals of the client.
The mental health professional uses various therapeutic techniques to help you uncover your strengths so that you can use them to work towards your goals.
You’ll also work to address your challenges and discover coping mechanisms to face them head on.
Online therapy, also known as virtual therapy or teletherapy, simply put, involves the client receiving this therapeutic support online using phone, text, or video platforms.
This is different from traditional counselling or in-person counselling where you have to travel to the therapy space.
In virtual therapy, the mental health professionals meet you where you are.
Neither of you have to travel further than from your bed to your office space, as long as you have an internet connection to connect virtually.
How Does the Cost of Online Therapy Compare to In-Person?
The cost of online therapy is typically comparable to in-person therapy.
After all, you are receiving the same type of support for the same interval of time.
But there are some key advantages that online therapy may offer when compared to in-person sessions:
Online sessions may offer the possibility of shorter session times or monthly packages, which can reduce the cost.
Traveling to in-person sessions comes at a cost. Whether you have to pay for transit or gas for your car, there is a commuting cost associated with it. You can save money with online sessions by avoiding the commute and saving on gas and commuting costs.
How often should I attend online therapy?
The frequency of online therapy sessions will vary from person to person. The therapist will take into account an individual's goals, needs, and the specific issues that need to be addressed.
Regardless of whether therapy is attended online or in person, here is how the therapy process usually occurs:
During the initial phase of therapy, clients typically attend therapy once a week or biweekly. This is so that a strong therapeutic alliance could be formed and that client is consistently working towards their goals with frequent support.
Based on your goals and needs, you could continue to attend therapy on a weekly or biweekly basis for a long-term period if needed, or you can choose to taper off the sessions.
The decision on how often to attend online therapy should be a collaborative one between you and your therapist, ensuring that adjustments are made as needed.
What Are the Benefits of Online Therapy?
Whether it be virtual or in-person counselling services, the best fit for you is the one you feel comfortable with.
There are several reasons why virtual therapy may provide clients the comfort they need. Here are some key advantages that can enhance your therapeutic experience.
Flexibility: online counselling allows clients to attend therapy sessions at a time that works best for them. This allows you to schedule sessions around your busy life. This is in contrast to in-person therapy where commuting time may make fitting sessions into your daily life difficult.
Accessibility: There are many reasons why in-person therapy may not be as accessible as we’d like. Perhaps the therapy space is not wheelchair accessible or it has stairs that are difficult for those with chronic pain to navigate. You may also live in a rural area, and the commute to therapy can be enough to make you not want to show up in the first place. Virtual therapy reduces these concerns by allowing you to attend the sessions in the comfort of your own home. There is no need to commute outside of your neighborhood or travel to a space that is not accessible to you if you are disabled.
Increased Comfort: You may feel at ease having your therapy sessions in a familiar environment. In this case, you can even bring your dog into the therapy sessions if that calms your nerves. When you feel calm, you may be more likely to have an open and honest conversation with your therapist, which could lead to an increase in therapeutic benefit. This may be a bit more difficult when attending in-person sessions due to policies around bringing pets.
Wider Selection of Therapists: if you attend in-person sessions, you’d typically be restricted to therapists that are close to your geographical region or within a reasonable commuting distance. This creates a limit on the number of professionals available to you. But virtual therapy enables you to connect to therapists that are outside of your local area. This will allow for a wider range of therapeutic modalities, expertise, and specializations that you could choose from.
Variety of Formats: in-person therapy usually involves conversations that occur verbally. Virtual therapy, on the other hand, involves a variety of communication formats, including video calls, phone sessions, text-based therapy, or emailing. This allows you to choose a format that is most comfortable to you based on your access needs.
Affordability: some mental health professionals provide lower-cost options for virtual therapy because they are able to avoid the office fees they would incur if they provided in-person sessions. You can also save money by not having to commute and pay for transportation.
Privacy: when commuting to in-person services, you may be worried about who will see you go into a therapy office. Or you may have social anxiety, and in-person sessions may be difficult for you. You may have anxiety about too many people knowing you are attending therapy. Virtual therapy allows you to stay in the comfort of your own home, so that fewer people know about you attending therapy.
Overall, virtual therapy is a convenient option of therapy that can provide a flexible, accessible, and effective alternative to traditional in-person therapy.
Can I do online therapy on a phone or tablet?
Yes, as mentioned above, online therapy can be provided in a variety of online methods, including phone and tablet.
As long as you have a reliable internet connection, you can use the device you are most comfortable with.
Is my privacy protected, and will everything be confidential in online therapy?
Blue Sky Learning places the utmost importance on keeping your information private and secure.
Mental health professionals are required to use platforms that are compliant with PHIPA, PIPEDA, and other laws governing the confidentiality of medical records.
All communications between you and your mental health provider are secured with end-to-end encryption software.
This means that your information is confidential and secure in the same way it would be if you were doing therapy in person.
In the same way that in-person therapy only has a few exceptions to confidentiality, online therapy is the same. Your therapist will only break confidentiality if you are an imminent danger to yourself or others, a child is being abused, or they are subpoenaed by the courts.
What Are the Downfalls of Virtual Therapy?
Despite there being several key benefits to online therapy, everything has its downfalls.
Online therapy is not an exception. Here are some of the downsides to online therapy:
Body language: in an in-person setting, it is easier to observe an individual's mannerisms and body language and understand what is going on. Virtual therapy makes it more difficult for the professional to pick up on body language and gestures to understand the client's needs. In a sense, the mental health professional relies on the client's verbal communication, which could be difficult for clients who struggle with verbal communication.
Internet connection issues: as you are likely aware if you have worked from home or done virtual schooling, there will always be internet issues at some point. If this occurs, it is a good idea for the mental health professional and you to have a backup plan for continuing the therapy session. This could involve changing over to a phone or text session.
Noise: If you live at home with others, connecting for a therapy appointment while they are home may pose a noise challenge. Thankfully, there are ways around this problem, such as installing noise-cancelling products in your space.
What if there are technological difficulties during online therapy sessions?
Another potential downside to online therapy could involve how tech-savvy you are. After all, you are going to need a computer or another technological device for your therapy session.
Despite this, this downfall is fairly easy to fix.
Computer therapy sessions don’t require that high level of technological skills here, but if you are unable to figure out how to use a computer, you could switch to a phone call instead.
Most people know how to use this device.
Are online therapy sessions covered by insurance?
Yes, but this depends on who you are seeing, in the same way in-person therapy does.
You’ll have to check in with the insurance provider to see which type of professionals they cover under their insurance policies.
Some providers will cover registered therapists, registered social workers, or psychologists, and others will only cover one of these.
If your insurance covers a specific mental health professional, the mental health professional in turn will have to be willing to accept the insurance provider.
How Should I Prepare for an Online Therapy Session?
Online therapy requires the same preparation as any other therapy session. This involves preparing questions to ask your therapist and making sure you get a good night's rest.
But before beginning online therapy, though, you’ll also want to make sure you have a reliable internet connection and/or phone and access to a private and comfortable space.
The mental health professional will also share with you instructions on how to join their virtual sessions if they take place via a video platform.
If they are taking place via text or phone, you’ll want to make sure you’ve shared your phone number with your counsellor.
What Types of Therapy Can Be Done Online?
There are a wide variety of therapy modalities that can be provided effectively online. Here are some of the therapy types that may fit your mental health needs or preferences:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on using an approach that takes into account that thoughts, feelings, and behaviours are interconnected. It is a structured approach where a client is encouraged to identify and change negative thought patterns and, in turn, negative behaviours.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was originally developed to treat borderline personality disorder, but it could be used to treat a variety of conditions now. DBT is used to support you in managing your behaviours by using techniques that work to manage your emotions and improve your mindfulness skills and interpersonal relationships.
Psychodynamic Therapy helps a client to explore how past experiences and unconscious processes shape their current behaviours.
Coaching and Life Skills Training: Online sessions offer the flexibility to conduct coaching sessions where you can work on developing life skills.
Overall, online therapy is just as effective as in-person therapy with a variety of therapy modalities.
In addition to the above therapeutic techniques, online therapy could also involve:
Acceptance and commitment therapy
Attachment-based therapy
Compassion-focused therapy
Emotion-focused therapy
Internal family systems
Mindfulness-based counselling
Solution-focused brief counselling
Somatic counselling
Existential therapy
Gestalt therapy
Narrative therapy
Art therapy
Positive psychology
Marital counselling
Person-centered therapy
Strength-based therapy
What Can Online Therapy Help With?
Each of these therapy modalities could work to treat and provide support for a variety of challenges and issues.
Some of the common areas that mental health professionals at Blue Sky Learning provide support for include:
Anger management
Anxiety
Depression
Chronic pain
Trauma and PTSD/CPTSD
Relationship issues (i.e., divorce)
Parenting
Pregnancy, prenatal, and postpartum
Sleep or insomnia
Addiction or substance use disorders
Grief
Fertility issues
Self-harm
Family conflict
Body positivityDevelopmental disorders
Chronic illness
Personality disorders
Dissociative disorders
Schizophrenia
Impulse control disorder
Life transitions
Bipolar disorder
Peer relationships
Self-esteem
Spirituality
Stress
Women’s issues
Is Online Therapy as Effective as In-Person Therapy?
Over the past decade, there has been a sharp increase in the number of individuals seeking mental health services.
Many people wrongfully assumed before the pandemic that online therapy is not as effective as in-person therapy. Therapists often assumed that in-person therapy was more effective.
Perhaps it could be due to the fact that in-person therapy has been around for far longer and is an often touted method for therapy.
This attitude seems to have shifted since the pandemic forced people into virtual formats of communication. Therapists had no choice but to see people virtually, whether they preferred this or not.
What if I also told you that there is research to show that online therapy could be just as effective as in-person therapy? Not only this, but there is also some research that shows that online therapy may even be more effective.
A 2018 study published in the Journal of Psychological Disorders found that online therapy in the format of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an effective and acceptable form of healthcare.
Moreover, a 2017 study for veterans suffering from PTSD showed that being able to access therapy from the comfort of your own home increased the uptake of the therapy sessions rated as beneficial.
Therefore, the next time you are wondering whether you should attend that online therapy session, go for it!
Not only can these sessions be effective and beneficial to your well-being, they also have the added benefits of being flexible, accessible, and comfortable, and they can provide you with a wider selection of therapists to choose from.
What Options are available if online 1:1 therapy isn’t for me?
If online therapy isn’t for you, Blue Sky Learning has a couple options that may fit your needs.
One of Blue Sky Learning’s therapists, Rebecca, provides in-person counselling if you are located in or near Elora, Ontario.
In addition, they have some in-person and virtual group events that you could attend. One of the in-person events is hosted in partnership with Hard Feelings Toronto. The other is hosted in partnership with Ask Therapy Hub.
Is Online Therapy Right for You?
Determining if online therapy is right for you involves weighing your personal preferences, circumstances, and needs.
This could include asking yourself the following questions:
Do I feel comfortable discussing my personal issues in a virtual setting?
Am I comfortable with virtual technology systems?
Do I need flexible scheduling options? Online therapy could offer more flexibility with scheduling.
Do I prefer online or in-person interactions?
Do I have a private space to do therapy sessions in?
If you are unsure whether online therapy would be a good match for you after going through these questions, I’d encourage you to book a free consultation to determine how you feel with online interactions.
During this consultation, you can also get to know your therapist more and ask any questions you have about online therapy.
How Do I Book an Online Therapy Session?
Blue Sky Learning provides free 20-minute consultations to find out whether you and the therapist are a match to work together.
If you are a neurodivergent individual seeking a neurodivergent affirming therapist, you can book a free 20-minute consultation with one of the Blue Sky Learning team members by emailing hello@blueskylearning.ca, calling 1-437-291-8807, or go through the link below.
Appointments are booked online through the Jane App. When you book an appointment, you will be sent further instructions from the therapist to prepare for your initial consultation.
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