Preparing For Your Online Session

 

Welcome to my online sessions. If you’ve worked with me in a face to face situation before or are new to working with me, taking time to check through the information below will help you to make the most of your session time with me.

 

 

Registration:

For safety reasons, please make sure I have all your contact details as well as the address you will be at DURING the call as this may be different to your home address.

 

If you change any of your details please let me know so all information is up to date and accurate.

 

 

Technical Readiness:

The day before please check that you have received a ZOOM LINK from me for the call and that this corresponds to the day and time you expected.

 

Technical problems may be part of the process. To minimise such issues please check that your WiFi connection is good, that your device is charged and that you also have a phone and charger for your device and phone.

 

If things go wrong or you can’t connect, check your email or texts. Be prepared for switching to another method of call and consider what is acceptable to you. I can offer Facetime and Whats App calls and I can Skype if necessary.

 

 

Physical and Psychological Readiness:

A difference with online sessions is that I cannot set up your room to indicate support and privacy for you. This is your responsibility. My check list would be to know that the session is private and not overheard, that you have a comfortable seat and that  drink of water or tea and tissues are available.

 

Please do not attend sessions under the influence of alcohol or drugs and consider your body position so that you feel grounded and available, for example having your feet on the ground can help manage emotions and lying down may cause spontaneous regression which is unhelpful, most especially at a distance from your therapist.

 

 

 

First Session

 

I will be asking more questions during a first session. The most important thing is to find out what YOU want from our work together. This is an opportunity for you to see if this feels like a good fit with my approach.

 

I will take a history and also ask about other factors such as sleep and medication and other support you have.

 

We will work together to see how your history, your situation and your desired outcome can best be worked with and we will agree a suitable number of sessions and frequency. Weekly sessions are usually best for psychotherapy.

 

 

 

 

My Experience

 

I have been a psychotherapist for 30 years and you can see my qualifications and experience on my website.

 

In terms of online work I have tutored on several counselling courses for UDOL (University of Derby Online), I have run online coaching groups and negotiated and used online video calls for my face to face clients, when they were unable to attend in person, over several years. The transition to 100% remote working, due to the Coronavirus situation, is a change in my practice and I have attended webinars, workshops, training and supervision to ensure that my practice is informed and professional. Please do feedback on this adjustment to a new way of working so that we can all learn.