What is Online Counselling?
Just like traditional counselling methods, on-line counselling offers you a chance to express and explore any difficulties you may be facing in a safe and supportive way, without being judged. It's a time for you and only you, over as long or short a period as you need. It can take place by email or instant chat.
It doesn't tell you what to do, but is there with you, to help find a way forward.
Chat or Email?
Secure
Instant Chat Counselling - using: SKYPE
On-line Chat is different from email as it happens in real time and feels more like a conversation. It's also different from face-to-face as it takes longer to read, think, process and type, than to think, process and talk!! You don’t need to be an expert typist to have a chat session - if you are used to texting and/or computers you will be fine.
I use Skype for chat sessions as it is easy to navigate and already encrypted. If you don't already have a Skype account, to open one is free and very easy.
You simply download the programme and fill in the required fields to create an account/Skype user name.
Email counselling – using Hushmail
Email is time delayed rather than instant. This gives you plenty of time to consider what you want to say and re-read what you have written before you send your email off to me. It means plenty of time for you to think about things when you get my reply.
Hushmail is a secure encrypted web-based email service. The emails that you and I send are encrypted en-route and only readable by us when we sign into our respective accounts, thus ensuring that our therapeutic exchanges are kept confidential. To sign up for a free account or find out more.. click here.
I will always reply to your emails within four working days but you can take as long as you like with your response to me.
Professional Standards
The British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), is working to ensure that online therapy is provided only by experienced, qualified therapists and counsellors who are additionally and specifically trained in the field.
Training and membership is similarly monitored by the Association for Counselling and Therapy Online (ACTO).
I am a member of both these and therefore my training and experience meet their requirements.
Online Security Measures
The nature of computers is such that you must take security measures wherever possible in order to ensure security and confidentiality.
Encryption
Using encryption is one of the best ways of ensuring that information you send and receive is kept confidential.
Firewall Protection
Firewalls and anti-virus protection can be installed to ensure that neither your software nor hardware is accessible to third parties or viruses.
Password Protection
Particularly in the case of shared computers, be it at work or home, you can place a password to ensure that other people don't have access to your documents or other information stored on your hard-drive.
By law your employer has the right to view all information on your computer or that goes via the workplace server. For this reason you may prefer to conduct our counselling sessions from a more private environment.
Records of therapeutic exchanges are legally owned by the therapist. Posting direct information or verbatim transcripts of exchanges with the therapist is a breach of law. Neither extracts nor whole copies of our exchanges should be circulated to any professional or social forums, or third parties. I take care to keep our information protected and request that you do the same in return.