I actually prefer online therapy- for a variety of reasons, and had moved my practice entirely on line before this pandemic.

There are gains and there are losses - I appreciate the gains:

First: for myself and my experience as a therapist: It has allowed me to see people all over the world, to support people who would have had no access to therapy services otherwise due to location or to cultural models of mental health.

Ive learned far far more about the world and the limits of my profession.

But as service provision itself:

Ive found that the distance, the frame of the screen, the ability for clients to be in their own spaces- sometimes offers clients the ability to express things that they would have edited out face to face.

It also changes the depth of the transferential illusions around dependency- (which some models see as a mechanism of cure - and other models see as regressive and problematic) - which, for me, as a therapist with a life-limiting illness in remission- feels necessary and ethical.

Many more people (before this lockdown) found it logistically impossible to find a therapist they can afford, within their commuting circle - that they also “fit” with and feel understood by. Even in large cities with many therapists Online services expands access

Without having to pay exorbitant rents for therapy offices, I have MUCH less overhead, and be more flexible about my fees.

There are challenges- but for me, it feels like the screen becomes a frame that acknowledges the limitations of the therapeutic relationship. For those that work. THROUGH transfernce, this may feel like a loss - although these transferences remain in subtler form I believe-

But for those who see transferences as necessary and unavoidable resistances to the work, who see the work as resolving and gathering up our projections- online therapy can support that.

Its harder to imagine that a person on the other side of a computer screen is your rescuer - and depending on the model you practice or the kind of therapy you want- that is either a gain or a loss.

So: it is definitely a different beast. And for those who are getting used to it, you will feel some losses- but Ive found after working online for about 1/3 or 1/2 of my practice for the past 7 years or so -

that online can go very deep, profound relationships can be established, we can stay connected to each other more easily through crisis and illness, convenience isn’t inherently a bad thing at all, and it frees up some aspects of connection that are surprising and generative.

And we are still all just human beings in authentic relationship, trying to hear and understand and accept and respond to each other with open hearts in a less than ideal world.

That is always the case.

In response to some enquiries: I am not taking new clients other than via groups, workshops or professional mentorship consults.

The point wasn’t promotion but to let clients and professionals who are experiencing change and loss from remote work that there can be gains too.

It can feel strange at first but in the end I beleive the power of relationship can reach through.