Several years ago...I thought seeing clients over the internet was an impersonal and overall ridiculous idea where computer technology had no place. THEN...I started receiving many requests for this service, particularly from many of the military couples I have regularly seen where one would get TDY'd or deployed abroad and therapy would just get stopped there. Also, many of my clients had become familiar with telemedicine and were also hoping for opportunities for sessions when they were out of town, sick, or otherwise unable to come into the office.
For quite a while, these requests had been answered in the form of phone sessions, which have been used for decades but are not a replacement for "the real thing" (and not HIPPA-compliant). I was quite pleasantly surprised when I began using an internet video platform for such sessions and found that while, perhaps, clunky and odd during the first 5 minutes of the initial online session, the experience eventually was stripped of the medium through which thoughts and feelings were expressed and substantially resembled the aura of an in-person session.
Nationally and internationally, during the pandemic, teletherapy became front and center. I'm so glad that I already had the training and experience to provide this service years before so many of my colleagues, who had struggled to catch up in 2020 out of necessity, were able to effectively do their good work through this medium.
I still prefer to have the initial session in the office, as well as every follow up session. But when this can't happen or is decidedly inconvenient, teletherapy is fantastic.
So, basically, I offer teletherapy. Everything remains constant as far as informed consent, confidentiality (I use a secure, HIPPA-compliant platform), cost and treatment planning.