This blog post looks at 5 ways Online Counselling might be helpful for you.
Online Counselling has become more and more popular over the last number of years, There are many reasons for this, when we look around us we can see why. So many people have smartphones with unlimited access to the Internet and connectivity to others can be just a click away. We instant message our friends, family and work colleagues and keep in touch with loved ones overseas via Skype/Facetime/Facebook video/Snapchat and so on.
We have found it to be so beneficial to those who have an busy work schedule and family life or have a lot of other commitments. Although this may be something that needs to be looked at, Online counselling is a great place to start as it allows and enables someone with very limited time the space to access Counselling at a time and place that suits them. Another huge bonus is for those who are overseas or no longer live in Ireland but want to work with an Irish Counsellor or don't know where to find supports in their new place of residence. During my time working for Shannon College of Hotel Management we had a huge number of students overseas in various countries who could not physically attend an in person counselling session in Ireland with a counsellor, but definitely needed the support of the service. In this case, they were able to talk to a Counsellor online and reported that the supports they needed were so necessary in helping them through difficulties and they would would not have been able to receive these supports in a country where English is not the native language on top of their busy work schedules.
Top 5 reasons:
1. You have a very busy schedule along with time restraints, you cannot seem to find a time that works to get to see someone, which would include the drive to and from the appointment and including the appointment time as opposed to just the session time via Online.
2. Childcare issues, such as finding someone to babysit for that total amount of time to get to the session, have the session and then get home from the session. If you have a partner, they could watch the kids, you could just take the video call in another room in the house.
3 You do not drive and don't have access to public transport, this is pretty self-explanatory as you would need to rely on someone else to drive you to and from the appointments which may not be feasible.
3. Travel Costs or resources such as fuel to drive to a session or get public transport which might not service the area, spending up to 1hr driving to and 1hr driving from a session.
4. You live overseas, travel around for work/commitments a lot or live in a part of the country that a particular therapist does not see clients in. That particular therapist could work with you via online sessions, taking away the stress of having to try to find another therapist closer to you, leaving you with your chosen therapist. If overseas in a non-native English speaking country you may struggle to navigate the mental health system which can also be very costly e.g. a session can cost up to $150 in the US or you might just wish to speak with someone from home. If travelling around a lot for work or commitments, you may have a difficulty committing to weekly sessions at the same location. and this could be done via Skype/Online in accordance with your schedule.
5. Social anxiety. Some people find the concept of counselling and meeting someone face to face very daunting but are very capable of speaking to people online or via Skype, this then in return leaves them feeling far more comfortable working with someone without having the leave the comfort of their own home, while over time working towards getting the person comfortable and able to meet face to face and continuing the work in this way.
It also allows for greater flexibility as both Counsellor and client do not need to travel leading to a much greater choice and availability of appointments and a lot less inconvenience if rescheduling needs to occur.
If you have found this article interesting, check out my other posts on Mental Health related lifehacks.