Reasons to Offer and Participate in Virtual Mental Health Services

Being quarantined means being open to alternative forms of everything you normally do outside of your home. Trips to the gym are now Youtube workouts, brunch with friends is now group texts with an exponential amount of emojis, and trips to your therapist’s office is now teletherapy from the comfort of your couch. For therapists and those participating in mental health services, this can be an unwanted, but necessary shift. Participating in telehealth therapy services is a great way to connect however, and access mental health services for both the professional and the client.

Reasons Why Teletherapy is a Positive Alternative

1. Ease of Access: Utilizing telehealth therapy services means you can access therapy appointments from virtually anywhere. For mental health professionals licensed in California, that means being able to provide mental health services to any resident in California from Sacramento down to San Diego. It also means clients don’t have to travel too and from an appointment or find parking or hit traffic or miss their appointment all together.
2. Best Fit with Therapist: Over the years, I have had many clients move to find better opportunities for their life, but a sense of continuity was felt when they knew they could continue seeing me from their new location within the state. Teletherapy also allows you a wider selection of therapists/clients to work with as you are not confined to those located within a 30 mile radius. Having options means being able to find the therapist that can best understand your story and guide you to the change you want to see in your life.
3. Feeling Comfortable: Being able to talk to your therapist/client from the space that is most comfortable for you can make a huge difference. Having control over your space can be a invaluable part of being able to open up in your therapeutic process. I have personally noticed that from my first sessions with a client to my closing session with a client, there is definitely a difference in how they and I dress (yoga pants make a regular appearance) due to finally feeling more comfortable in that therapeutic relationship. Utilizing teletherapy means having some of that comfort on the front end of your journey and meeting your goals on your terms.

The Downside of Teletherapy

As with anything there are pros and cons to telehealth therapy, and highlighting one side with out the other would be unfair to you. Fortunately, the major cons of teletherapy have less to do with the therapeutic process and more to do with technology’s short comings. At the end of the day, teletherapy is a fancy term for Facetime with your therapist. Although, teletherapy should be used on a HIPAA compliant platform (such as doxy.me, Simple Practice, Vsee, etc.), if you’ve ever used a video conferencing application you know that poor connections, cyber security, and “hello. hellloo?” moments can all be a damper on a good conversation. Making sure you are in a safe space with a good connection is an easy fix to this problem however.

For therapists, our number one priority is always your safety, so it is smart to go over the nearest emergency room, emergency contacts, crisis line numbers, and any other safety precautions that can be made prior to starting your mental health journey.

With all this in mind, feel free to reach out for a 15 minute phone consultation, so you can see if teletherapy will be a helpful tool on your therapeutic journey!