Lawrence Murphy

Executive Director and CEO

Lawrence Murphy is the founder of Worldwide Therapy Online, the world’s first online clinical practice, established in 1994. In collaboration with the National Board for Certified Counselors, he and his colleagues authored the first ethical code for online counselling. Through Therapy Online’s Research Institute, Lawrence and his colleagues publish regularly in the academic literature, including their seminal 1998 work When Writing Helps to Heal: Email as Therapy, which has been cited more than 400 times in the academic literature. His most recent publication, in collaoration with his Ghanian Colleague Dr. Tutu-Danquah, is a chapter in the Routledge Handbook of African Social Work Education. He is presently working on a self-help book based on Narrative Therapy techniques.

Through Therapy Online’s Training Centre, Mr. Murphy and his colleagues have trained thousands of clinicians worldwide. And, during the pandemic, Lawrence delivered 144 half-day trainings to a total of more than 15,000 mental health professionals across Canada. He is a sought-after consultant, having worked with agencies and organisations including Health Canada, Singapore’s Institute of Mental Health and Anishinawbe Health Toronto. Lawrence has spoken as a presenter and invited keynote speaker at conferences throughout Canada and around the world.

Lawrence received his MA in Counselling Psychology from the University of British Columbia in 1995. He teaches in the Department of Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University. He is a full professional member of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association.

"Since 1994 I have been working to try to bring ethical professional online counselling to the world. I was trained in a research-practitioner model and so always have one foot in the academic world. Check out Therapy Online's Research Institute to see our latest publications and research projects. I do love teaching and so along with being Dean of Training here at Therapy Online I am a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University".