Why I Like Online Therapy
Why I like online therapy
Recently, when I wanted to start therapy again I found myself discouraged by two main things: cost and convenience.
Convenience: I had a therapist I loved and worked with for awhile. She really helped me work through some major issues. She was in another city (Oakland) that took a congested freeway (80) to reach. I remember spending upwards of an hour getting to sessions, cancelling when I was sick, and being terrified driving through heavy rainstorms to meet with her. While that worked for me at the time and I experienced a lot of growth (value) for my efforts, when I considered therapy again, I could not imagine driving that much or devoting that much time to a weekly session.
Cost: most therapists charge approximately $175 a session, which I can quickly calculate to $700 a month. That’s a car payment! Not that therapy isn’t important and therapists’ work valued. I have worked hard to gain my education and work hard to provide my clients with quality service. But how many people have that kind of time and money for therapy?
I chose BetterHelp. It’s a large online therapy platform, therapy is approximately $60 a week and I could choose phone or video sessions from the comfort of my home.
I was pleasantly surprised! I enjoyed my therapist and got a lot out of the experience. This led me to applying to BetterHelp and eventually working for them as a therapist. In addition to BetterHelp, their individual platform, I joined “Regain” their couples platform, “Pride” their LGBTQ platform, and “Teen” their teen platform.
I loved the clients I was connected with! Young couples, mothers, busy working individuals, and overall not only a nice cross-section of people but also I was able to work with many people who would not have otherwise accessed therapy mainly due to concerns like mine: cost and convenience.
After working with BetterHelp for a few months I decided to branch out and begin my own private practice. My thought was to start online and eventually rent an office space. But after doing this for some time, I have no intention of moving. I LOVE providing online therapy!
Why?
I passionately believe therapy should be accessible! That means online therapy’s cost and convenience make it easier for more people to try it. I have lower overhead by working from home and pass that on to my clients by offering lower fees.
There is a lot of talk about therapists and burn out, and I find working from home makes me so happy! Cutting out a commute I get to focus on things that matter to me like daily exercise, caring for my pets (my dog loves it that I work from home), eating healthy home-cooked meals, and my own personal growth and constant drive to learn and improve what I do. I find that working from home gives me a freedom and quality of life that I love!
While online therapy isn’t for everyone. I see it being good for a lot of people and I am happy to be able to use it and promote well-being for me and accessible therapy to others.
Still curious, here’s a list of pros and cons…
Pros:
Cost: online therapy is less expensive
Convenience: It’s easy to access – all you need is internet
Consistency: less cancelled session because of easy
Cons:
Connectivity: bad internet connection can affect session quality
Impersonal: not the same as in- person
Crisis: not appropriate for people in crisis or trauma