Let your fingers do the talking - Online Counselling

[Helen Glatt]

As we become more and more comfortable with textual communication, it’s no surprise that people are beginning to seek help with their fingers. Online counselling is becoming an attractive alternative for people looking for professional counselling without having to leave their keyboards. Of course, there are pitfalls, but with a little guidance, it’s not difficult to find a professional and affordable online counsellor and to reap the benefits that online counselling can offer.

There’s been a tradition of using the written word for therapeutic gain for centuries. People have always used writing to express their innermost feelings and thoughts – in journals, letters, poems and even messages in a bottle. Therapists sometimes suggest their clients write letters that they then destroy rather than sending them, as an exercise in ordering their thoughts, sorting out their feelings and reaching closure. In online therapy, of course, someone else (the therapist) gets to witness the contents in much the same way that words are shared in a counselling room. The main difference seems to be that people are less inhibited online than off, they feel freer to focus on their deepest concerns and as a result, the therapy can begin to take effect much more quickly. Of course not everyone likes to write things down. It all depends on what you’re comfortable with, but for some of us, writing really can heal.

Online counsellors (or therapists) have discovered that a strong therapeutic relationship can develop without face to face contact, just as many of us have discovered that we can form real friendships with people online, without ever having met in person. It all depends on how you define ‘real’. There’ll always be an ongoing debate about what constitutes a ‘real relationship’ but for many, it has less to do with ‘real’ and more to do with ‘actual’. It is more than possible to actually experience someone without them being physically there. In fact, how many of us have felt lonely, even when in the physical company of others?

Professional counsellors are intensively trained to listen, attend and be ‘present’ by using a wide range of micro skills which when combined with a respectful, authentic and non-judgemental attitude, enable clients to feel safe to explore the issues that trouble them. The highly influential Carl Rogers, the inventor of ‘Client-centred therapy’ defined these ingredients as the ‘core conditions’ and it is these that he discovered enable people to become unstuck, begin to change and grow towards their full potential. Online counsellors are trained and able to deliver these conditions in textual form – over the internet. The cost reduction is obvious – no room to rent, no overheads to pay and this is reflected (or should be) in the big difference in sessional fees. Some therapists offer their service in the form of email exchanges, others use instant messenger, with or without webcam with strategies in place to protect confidentiality, like encryption and password protection for attachments, along with emergency numbers for use in case of technological breakdowns.

Of course, online therapy isn’t suitable for everyone or every kind of problem, but a good online counsellor will provide information on their website detailing who is and who isn’t likely to benefit from their services, along with information for those in immediate or urgent crisis.

There are several organisations who guide and inform the work of online therapists and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy have published their own set of guidelines for online practice. If you’re considering engaging with therapy online, it’s important to ensure that you find a legitimate practitioner.
Helen Glatt (Dip.Couns.) www.offload-onlinecounselling.co.uk


For information and details of other online therapists see:
http://www.ismho.org/
http://www.onlinecounsellors.co.uk/
http://www.acto-uk.org/