Remote Therapy

We opened our clinic during the pandemic, and as such, we only offered support via zoom or telephone. Even though face to face contact is allowed now, we have continued to offer zoom and telephone treatment only, as it has been so effective.

Our staff have been able to see more clients as there is less travel time, and we have taken on staff who live in various geographical locations. This means we can cherry pick the best therapists for the team, regardless of where they live. Our clients have also told us they love the flexibility around work, school and other commitments.

There is also loads of evidence emerging about how remote therapy is just as effective as face to face therapy. This is an up and coming area of therapy research. The benefits include: no travel time, flexibility around your commitments, a sense of anonymity…

Damn, I find this sad. I want to say that it would be my luck that when I finally have an opportunity to seriously consider therapy that there’s been a pandemic which has changed things like this. Of course there is much worse luck you can have though.

But anyway there are so many challenges to having effective therapy and to finding a suitable therapist, and for me this is another factor reducing opportunities. It’s kind of a gut-punch to read through the whole website, find a seemingly good therapist who specialises in OCD in my own town but then to read a small blurb at the last moment, saying that they only do remote sessions. At the very least it should be more obvious and upfront on these places’ websites in my opinion.

For me I cannot communicate properly through a screen. So much of therapy for me is to connect my story with another human being, and so much of my sense of communication is through all kinds of cues which aren’t obvious through a screen. The ability to move and shift around in your seat, cross your legs, fidget, without being tied to a microphone. To look around the room. Importantly: to be physically separated from your day-to-day surroundings.

A screen and internet connection are a big barrier. Like shouting through a pane of glass. It feels suffocating like the dreams where I am screaming in perpetuity and not being heard. Anonymity is the last thing I need.

There’s another added irony and specific relevant factor— a huge trigger for my issues in the first place was exactly that kind of feeling of isolation through working from home and from societal trends and habits in general. There is a simple association of stress with that kind of setup. Another barrier.

🌪