Counseling in the Cloud
With online counseling, my clients (and I) can be almost anywhere within the state. This lets me offer a more flexible schedule, be more responsive in between sessions, and reduce costs for my clients.
why online counseling?
Clients often ask me why I became interested in online counseling. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t always part of my plan! I was used to providing therapy only in an office setting with armchairs, bookshelves, waiting rooms, and all the trappings we therapists (and our clients) are so accustomed to. This was familiar to me, and (like most humans) I was pretty stuck on that one perception of what therapy could be.
Cue plot twist! While working at a highly demanding job, I started having worsening health problems. After being diagnosed with a lifelong condition, I found out I needed to have several surgeries. I wouldn’t be able to take that much time off from my job, so I made my health a priority and quit.
Having promised myself some actual time off to recover, of course I quickly became bored. More importantly, I deeply missed working with clients, and couldn’t stand the idea of giving it up for an extended period. So I applied for a position with an online counseling platform, and within weeks I was seeing my first clients by text, phone, and video (having disguised my large post-surgical body cast with a carefully draped pashmina). I could barely move, but I could still help people!
Feeling truly disabled for the first time in my life helped me to consider the barriers many people face in getting help. I realized that if I had needed counseling at the time, there was no way I would have been able to make it to a traditional counseling office without significant help, and many of my clients have far fewer resources than I did at that time. I wondered just how many people out there were in need of counseling but simply unable to access it. Whether due to health issues, lack of childcare, transportation issues, unpredictable work hours, or financial barriers, I found many such clients online who were thrilled to finally find an option that fit into their lives.
There were so many benefits for both my clients and myself, that I started to really love working online. While brick-and-mortar therapy offices are limited in their reach because of geographic location, I was able to work with clients located ANYWHERE in the states in which I was licensed. Clients didn’t choose me simply because I was located near them; they chose me because they actually found what they were looking for! Because of this broad reach, clients who wanted to work with me didn’t have to travel long distances, and I received an influx of clients who were a great fit for my practice. Since I wasn’t spending all my time advertising or recruiting, I was able to focus all my energy on my clients and my professional development.
As I gained more experience with online work, I also started to take full advantage the various formats available. In addition to live video sessions, I met many clients online who preferred to communicate primarily through text. By using text, clients were able to break out of the confines of the weekly therapy hour. Instead of waiting 1-6 days to talk to me about something that happened, my clients were logging on right then and there to update me and ask for support. This style of support seemed to be a better fit for many of my younger clients who wanted to integrate mental wellness into their daily lives rather than relegating it to just one hour a week. Instead of coming in one hour every week (whether you need it or not!) my clients were showing up when they needed support, and living their lives when they didn’t. This flexibility was invaluable to so many clients that I promised myself I would find a way to integrate it into my long-term practice.
After healing from the surgeries and completing physical therapy to regain my mobility, I realized I could (usually) pass as able-bodied again. If I wanted to, I could have applied for a traditional 9-5 job and given up online counseling. But nothing could have been further from my mind! I was grateful that life had forced me to slow down and prioritize, and I was ready to pursue what was really important to me. I moved to Austin, TX to escape the bitter Chicago winters and I committed to forming my own practice to keep providing flexible online counseling for the modern client. NPC was born, and the rest is history.