Tutorial 1:
How to Express Yourself Using TherapEmail^TM

This page was written by Dan L. Mitchell,
Senior Counsellor at Therapy Online

I am excited about your willingness to learn how to get the most out of your online counselling experience! On the other hand, I don't want you to feel any pressure at all about how you write to us. You can just go ahead and write TherapEmail to your counsellor in any way you want. But, I am confident that you will find this information helpful. So let's get started...

There are three pages of tutorials to consider. It shouldn't take long. Feel free to return to the tutorials as you see the need.

Tips for text-only communication

You can't see me and I can't see you. So how are we going to connect with each other at a deeply personal level?

Grab an extra chair

The first thing I and our other counsellors do is to put a chair beside us. As a matter of fact, the chair that is right beside me at this very moment is for you. In my mind's eye, I seem to be able to "see" you better when I give you a chair. You are more real to me. I see more of you and less of the text on the screen. When you write to your counsellor, you might want to try this by giving him or her a chair beside you.

Talk about your feelings

For me, this means looking inside myself as I am doing with you right now (using the chair), and giving a name to my feelings. I tell you about them as they happen, while I write. For example, right now, I'm feeling focussed and hopeful that I'm explaining this in a way that makes sense.

Use brackets

Sometimes I want to tell you how I'm feeling right in the middle of a sentence. So... [wondering how to demonstrate this], I use brackets - just like that. Here is an example of what someone might write to their counsellor:

I have reread your last TherapEmail several times and although I appreciate your words [can't believe you have such faith in me] I don't think I'm ever going to have a worthwhile relationship [very very sad]. Richard called again to say I'm an idiot [angry with myself]. He's so mean. But, hmm, now that I think about what you said again, I think I'm actually more angry with him than with myself. [Weird. I feel pretty good just now].

Use other keyboard tricks

If I want you to know that I'm pausing to think about something more deeply, I might use a few extra dots.....

... and possibly even hit Enter a few times to create some blank space.

If I mean something to be a bit funny, I might use a smiley :-) or if something is sad, I might use a sad face :-(

(You need to tilt your head to the left to see the smiley and the sad face.)

If I'm really thrilled I might even SHOUT by using all capital letters.

You can use any of these tips and tricks to the extent that they are helpful.

Please continue with Tutorial 2: Be Responsible for Your Privacy