Two years ago most psychotherapists and counselors thought of online therapy as a poor child of in-person work, although there was a minority already successfully serving clients worldwide and in US rural and other areas. Once the pandemic hit, a huge shift happened in the psychotherapeutic community – the only way to safely serve the clients was online.
This article by the American Psychological Association describes this shift to online therapy – https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/01/trends-online-therapy
“Several studies have already proven telepsychology’s effectiveness. And research from Jeanine Turner, PhD, a professor of communication, culture, and technology at Georgetown University who has followed telehealth’s growth over the past two decades, has shown that both patients and providers who use telehealth generally view it favorably.”
“Batastini and her colleagues recently published a large meta-analytic study that compared clinical interventions and assessments delivered via videoconferencing with those delivered in-person. Overall, they found that in-person and virtual interventions produced similar outcomes. Likewise, assessments produced similar opinions across modalities, she says.”
“The result was not a surprise to Batastini and her team. She says their conclusions were in line with the existing literature on telepsychology, including a 2016 meta-analysis by the same team that focused on correctional and forensic telepsychology. (Batastini and her colleagues did uncover one interesting surprise in the new study: Women appear to have better outcomes following virtual interventions than in-person interventions, something that merits further research, she says.)”
Elaine Korngold, LPC in Oregon, was already working with some clients online before the pandemic. In March 2020, she moved all of her in-person clients online as well, to reduce the chances of spreading COVID-19 in the community. The main psychotherapeutic modalities that Elaine offers to clients, Brainspotting therapy and Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy have been extremely effective on-line. Using a secure and HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform enables Elaine to notice client’s minute eye movements and help them identify their Brainspots that correspond to the issues being discussed. Contact Elaine to learn more.