Online counselling has been viewed with scepticism by the mental health profession, but many clients have found online counselling to be effective and helpful.
There are advantages to online counselling –
- The client can access the service at any time. Some counselling services will offer an online 24 hour service (but not all).
- Again, there are no geographical limits, which is useful for people living in remote locations or those who find it hard to travel.
- The client will receive the same ethical and confidential standards that they would with face to face counselling.
- If using email counselling services, most will give a time in which they will respond eg. 24 hours, so the client knows what to expect.
- Online counselling can be more flexible as the client does not have to commit to set times. But some online services may insist on prior appointments.
- Receiving an email or message can give the client time to reflect on the counsellor’s answer.
- It also enables the person to frame their response and think about questions they wish to ask.
- Writing down problems can also be therapeutic. It can help the person to think what they really want to say and how they phrase it without fearing judgement from the counsellor.This is thought to be an important part of the online counselling process.
- Online counselling is also anonymous. The person may reveal things about themselves online that they may not wish to say in person, due to embarrassment, shame and so on.
If you would like to improve your online and telephone counselling skills as a counsellor or anyone working with people under stress and in distress, why not have a look at our 20 hour short course in Telephone and Online Counselling.