We live in a fast-paced world that doesn’t always offer time for taking care of ourselves the way that we should. Traveling to the therapist’s office, having the session, then traveling back to work or home can take up a good portion of the day depending on your location. However, with the advances in telehealth, sacrificing self-care may not be necessary.

Online therapy, or teletherapy as it is referred to, can be as effective as a face to face therapy session for many clients. I utilize a system called theraLink that ensures secure and HIPAA compliant video communication between therapist and client. This allows me to currently serve clients in both Oklahoma and Texas, and particularly clients that live in rural areas that don’t have easy access to mental health care. While it does take a little time to get the feel of video therapy, once you do it’s “virtually” the same as being in the office.

There are some limitations to online therapy. One of those is that the session is subject to the functionality of the technology. Sometimes bandwidth or interference keeps the session from moving smoothly, but we’ll develop backup plans for when that happens. Another issue is that of privacy. While I can control the privacy of the session in my office, I cannot control it if your child walks in the room while you’re doing teletherapy. We’ll work together to make a plan for confidentiality that will guard against this kind of thing happening. Finally, there are some issues that simply aren’t suited for online therapy. If you choose to utilize this avenue, we’ll discuss whether online therapy is a fit for your particular needs.

If you have other questions about online therapy, please feel free to ask.