Written by Dan L. Mitchell,
Clinical Supervisor at Therapy Online
What we do
We have created an online personal counselling experience that is modeled, as closely as possible, after in-person counselling. We adhere to the same professional ethics and standards of practice online as we would do if we were meeting you in an office. You can expect the same level of care that you would expect with a highly qualified and experienced in-person counsellor.
There are many online communication tools that can be used for online counselling, such as chat, videoconferencing, Skype, or blogs. Therapy Online, however, provides counselling through secure email only. By focusing our expertise, we are arguably the world leaders in the use of secure email to provide quality, effective counselling.
How does it work?
After you have securely registered and described your concerns online, your counsellor will communicate with you through our encrypted email system.
Registration and payment is fast and easy. But do take the time to describe your concerns so that your counsellor will know how to help you. You will receive a personal welcome from your counsellor within 24 business hours, and a full therapeutic reply within 72 hours. You will need to login to our secure online counselling system to receive your counsellor's messages.
What is a TherapEmail™ session?
If you go to a counsellor's office for counselling, you will usually spend about 50 minutes with your counsellor discussing your concerns, setting goals, and working through solutions. This is a counselling session. Similarly, your online counsellor will spend at least 50 minutes writing you an in depth and personal therapeutic reply. In a very real sense, you counsellor will provide you therapy through email, which is why we call one exchange of secure email messages between you and your counsellor a TherapEmail™ session.
PrivacEmail™
Our proprietary software, specifically designed for the sole purpose of online counselling, is called PrivacEmail™. Our Internet Security page provides details about PrivacEmail™ and how it protects your confidentiality.
Is it effective?
Early research seems to indicate that there is no difference in client satisfaction or outcomes when TherapEmail sessions are compared to in-person counselling sessions.
In this short article, one of our counsellors and her client both describe what online counselling is like for them.
Please note that when you download this article, a copy will be saved to your local computer - which means that if another person uses your computer, they may discover that you are interested in online counselling.
Here are a few comments from our clients:
"I really appreciate the help I had from [my counsellor], by helping me deal with my problems and facing my fears. …my family is not aware of this."
"This is the first time I have tried online counselling or any counsellor for that matter and I found it to be very helpful; I will definitely use it again if needed."
"I appreciate the professional help... [My counsellor] is an amazing counsellor. I felt very comfortable telling her my problems. Her wittiness and sense of humour was a big factor in opening up to a complete stranger. [She] offered great suggestions that I have implemented in my relationship with my husband and children and I am very grateful. Overall, I am very happy with the counselling provided to me."
"I found this process to be beneficial. [My counsellor] was insightful and helped me with various realizations."
"I really liked online counselling because I was able to re-read our TherapEmail sessions -- several times I found myself wondering, what was it that she said again? And by having it in written form, I was able to re-read the exact words she used, which is very helpful as nervousness or forgetfulness could interfere with the effectiveness of face to face counselling."