A Comparison of
In-person Counselling
and Secure E-mail Counselling*
Written by Lawrence
J. Murphy,
Senior Counsellor of Therapy Online
*Secure E-mail Counselling is also known as TherapEmail™. I hope you will take the time to think about the differences.
In-person Counselling |
TherapEmailTM |
| You need to book appointments. You have to wait for your appointment time before you can start counselling.. | Since the secure e-mail we exchange IS the counselling, you can be in "a counselling session" any time day or night. |
| You need to travel to your counselling appointments. This costs you time, fuel, and possibly parking fees. | There is no travelling
involved. This can be really important if you:
|
| You need to set aside a fairly large amount of time in order to travel to your counselling appointment, have the session, and return home. | You can write to your online counsellor whenever you have a few minutes. |
| Sometimes people who are in in-person counselling feel things more deeply than they expect. Your emotions might surprise you, or occasionally become overwhelming while you are in session. Your counsellor is present to help you through this. | You can experience strong and unexpected emotions when you are writing or reading your TherapEmail too. However, your counsellor is not present to help you through this. You will need to prepare yourself in advance, in case you have an experience like this. Your counsellor's first message will provide you with a link to a tutorial to help you with this and a few other unique aspects of the online counselling experience. |
| People don't usually remember everything their counsellor says. Normally, we hear and remember only what seemed important at the time. | You have a record of every single word your counsellor says. You might find one part of a TherapEmail important one day, and notice something completely different on another day. As well, if you experience the problem again in the future, you can remind yourself of what your counsellor said, and how you solved the problem the first time. |
| If you experience the same problem later on, you may need to go back to your in-person counsellor for further encouragement. We have a tendency to downplay the progress we've made and the verbal encouragement our counsellor gives us. | You can re-read your TherapEmail. This can save you money and provide you positive encouragement and reminders of your progress, and re-affirm the guidance provided by your counsellor. |
| There is no doubt that your counsellor has given you the amount of time that the fees cover. It is not possible for your counsellor to stop the session early without you knowing it. | We guarantee that your counsellor spends at least 50 minutes on your TherapEmail message, based on the honour system. The message you receive proves that work has been done, but you have to trust that your counsellor accurately monitored the time he or she spent writing the message. |
| You can tell others what you learn in counselling. This can help add meaning to your suffering and recovery... It is hopeful to know that, when it's all over, you will be able to help others with similar problems. But will you remember all of the important details? | You can do the same thing with TherapEmail, except you can choose to share every word of your online counselling experience with others. It may be years after online counselling that you have a child or a friend who is going through a similar issue. Sharing parts of your TherapEmail could be far more powerful than talking about it. |
| Counsellors are trained to observe your non-verbal communication (for example, the expressions on your face, the way you are sitting) to get a deeper understanding of what you are saying. It is not unusual for counsellors to have moments of being able to understand clients more deeply than they even understand themselves. | We have developed numerous techniques to make up for the fact that we can't see you. We encourage you to learn how use some of these techniques yourself. (We will show you how when get started.) Many clients feel freer to deal with deep issues and not worry about superficial things, like what their counsellor thinks of their appearance. |
| Your privacy cannot be fully controlled. People can see you walking into a counselling office or sitting in a waiting room. Someone may recognize your vehicle. | There is no chance that you or your vehicle will be seen in, or anywhere near a counselling office. Therapy Online uses secure technology. You can receive counselling without anyone knowing. |
| Unfortunately, in the history of psychology, there have been several cases of counsellors sexually exploiting their clients in counselling. This gross misuse of the professional role is a very rare occurrence, but extremely damaging. | Any kind of abuse involving physical contact is impossible. |
I have just few more thoughts to share with you about the uniqueness of TherapEmail:
TherapEmail is not suitable for everyone who is seeking counselling. Issues such as severe depression or suicidality, violence, psychosis, and first disclosures of abuse are best handled by a team of in-person professionals including physicians and perhaps psychiatrists. Most of these issues require medical attention and supports that are local.
Writing about your concerns and solutions may help you think about them more deeply. Our clients learn to become more aware of the feelings they experience. And they learn to express themselves better in the real world.
If family members or friends are not speaking to one another, you may be interested in using TherapEmail to try to get them talking again. You can first send the secure e-mail to your online counsellor for coaching. You can then send the carefully crafted message to the other person.
Click here if you'd like more information about how our online counselling service works, as well as its effectiveness.
If you think you would be more comfortable with traditional in-person counselling, I would be glad to tell you how to find an in-person counsellor.
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