You’re reading this because you’ve heard of online counseling and its benefits—or you're looking forward to finding out more about them! So, let's get straight to it. Here are the big benefits that clients find in online counseling: 1. Convenience You’re a busy person and you have no idea how counseling sessions will fit into your already packed schedule. Online counseling is a convenient solution for you. You are able to get on the phone or video chat with a counselor at a time that works for your schedule. Talk about convenience! 2. Comfort You work hard so that you can enjoy a certain comfort level and you like being comfortable. You expect nothing less than that same level of comfort in your counseling sessions. Staying at home in a familiar environment is a certain way to keep your comfort level stable. With online counseling you are able to do just that. 3. Openness Maybe you’re a naturally shy person and you just don’t do well with face-to-face meetings. As a … [Read more...]
The Online Counseling Myth: What Online Counseling WON’T Do for Your Therapy Practice
Being a spokesperson for the online therapy field, I have, every week for the past several years, received calls from counselors who have recently listed their name and practice information on an online counseling website (such as eCounseling.com), or who are having someone build them an online counseling website of their own. I usually meet these calls with a certain level of excitement: “Great! Super! Excellent! Congratulations! Welcome to the club!” I will say. But I have recently grown to be a bit hesitant with my cheers, “wait a second” I might say, “What are you expecting to happen when you start your online therapy practice?” Too often, the counselor’s response sounds something like this. “Well, I’m getting fewer new clients at my face-to-face practice, so I was thinking that, with online counseling, I would have a much larger pool of potential clients.” Then the counselor will ask me, “How long do you think it will take for me to have a full caseload?” “Well, that’s the … [Read more...]
Social Media and Therapy Clients
It finally happened... I have profiles on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, Reddit, Technorati, Ning, Squidoo, XING, Answers.Yahoo, GodTube, MySpace, Yedda, Furl, Blogger, StumbleUpon, del.icio.us, Yelp, and Google Talk, to name a few. Most of these I hardly use. Some of them I've been on once to create the account and only remember it when I receive newsletters in my email inbox, which I then unceremoniously delete. My students and colleagues have been finding me online for a few years now, so I'm used to getting the occasional "friend request" from someone I teach or work with. However, last week I received a Facebook friend request from Cecil, a 20-something British-American therapy client*. I immediately considered declining the request, but stopped short. "I am trying to establish trust and rapport with Cecil," I thought. "If I decline his request to join such a non-exclusive network, could it harm our therapeutic rapport?" Truly, I would accept a friend … [Read more...]
Online Counseling and Telephone Counseling (eCounseling) with Clients in Crisis
Crisis situations are a common concern for eCounselors – and rightly so. To be ethical, counselors of all philosophies and practice settings need to handle these situations carefully. If you haven’t been concerned, consider that failures to make efforts to prevent client suicide account for 42% of the dollars paid in malpractice settlements.1 Thankfully, one can make prevention efforts and handle crisis situations successfully with online counseling (and telephone counseling). Emphasis on Crisis In contrast to in-person clients who visit a counseling center (which is a safe and neutral environment separate from their life-issues), online counseling clients receive help from within the settings where their problems take place. Hence, when a client says, “I hate my apartment, it reminds me of my ex-husband,” she is saying this from inside that apartment. This can increase the intensity of the counseling process. In addition to the uncontrolled setting, online and telephone counseling … [Read more...]
How to Become an “Online Famous” Therapist
At a recent marketing convention, a keynote speaker addressed the audience. He said, “Everyone I meet wants to have the #1 website on Google, have the biggest and most responsive email list, and have the most followers on Twitter. Today, I have a surprise for you...” The speaker looked out over the crowd—there were 1000 people in attendance. “I have placed a bright green card under one of your chairs. If you have that card, you will receive all those things today. Take a look, and whoever has the card, come up on stage and tell everyone why you deserve to have all these things.” The speaker then waited a moment as the crowd started to shuffle and reach under their chairs. Then he said, “Ok I lied. There’s no card, but you should have seen your faces! First TERRIFIED it was going to be you, and then smug, as if you were thinking to yourself ‘I can’t wait to hear what that poor sucker with the card is going to say.’” The persons in the audience were nervous about the reward because, … [Read more...]