Today is the first day of my blogging life. I want this blog to raise awareness of and an interest in the potential of online therapy and I am going to share my thoughts about that with you. I am going to tell you what I think, feel and believe about a number of other things too. I hope that it will all weave together and be an honest and interesting read.
As the title of this site is 'An Online Therapist's Thoughts' then that is where I will start. I have been practicing as an online therapist for three years now and to be honest I was as wary and skeptical as many seem to be. As a humanistic, face to face practitioner with twelve years being fully occupied in my work as a therapist and trainer in varying contexts I was always the first to say you can't replicate the client/therapist relationship through the internet. The truth was that I hadn't even considered it. There is a knee jerk reaction to the idea of cyber support and it usually goes ' How can you be truly present?' "How can you offer empathy?' words such as cold, remote, and detached are used. And I was saying them. I felt strongly about presence and shared space, I still do, but I wasn't prepared to consider methods of offering my services unless I was in the same room. Circumstances lead me to a place where I needed to review how I was going to continue my work and follow my dream to live in France, a country where I did not sufficiently speak the language in order for therapy to work effectively. So I reluctantly looked into the idea of setting up an online practice. I enrolled for training with Kate Anthony at Online Counsellors UK and soon felt I had entered a world which was 'going on' whether I liked it or not, people were using computers to communicate, to socialise, to express thoughts and opnions and to find themselves. I soon found out that feelings and emotions were being shared, through the computer and that it was not only possible to have a strong online relationship with someone but that I was learning ways of hearing my clients which I had not considered before in face to face work. For example the client is writing to you from their own space, both physically and emotionally which can give an immediacy and a sense of the lived problem. The client can also have a greater sense of freedom in expressing themselves and talking through issues which might be shame inducing or difficult to share. I was learning new skills in the ways of responding effectively, offering the same core conditions and support that I had been able to do before. It seemed that there was a place for therapy in the world of technology and a place for technology in the world of therapy. I was becoming a part of a new movement and I was heartened to see it was being thoroughly and ethically put together by experienced professionals.
And so here I am, now increasingly spending my time in France, and I can continue to work in my chosen profession, I am still a humanistic therapist and I am learning all the time. I don't feel I have found something better than face to face work but I do feel I have found a way of working which is relevant and beneficial to many people who for all sorts of reasons cannot access those appointments.
I hope that people, both professionals who could encourage and refer, and clients who may just find a safe place to begin to face change, will put their own fears and skepticism aside and embrace online therapy for how it can enhance and expand existing therapeutic support.
