Professional Online Counseling and Therapy

All of us need help every now and again to find new ways through life’s challenges, navigating changes, and improving relationships. Nowadays, help is only a click away. Setbacks in life bear opportunities within them, and our work together can help you develop new skills, improve and excel, find new ways to overcome challenges, and create the life you want.

Online therapy can help you bring about meaningful change. This flexible solution is perfect for busy people, or someoe who has difficulty with getting to an office to see a therapist. Today, distance counseling is facilitated with secure online media to help you shape your tomorrows and create a more fulfilling life. Making a decision to engage in distance counseling is a way to get expert, professional help from the comfort of your home or wherever you are. Growth begins with a decision to change. Making that decision is as easy as making a click with your mouse – resolve to thrive – choose to get started now!

Counseling and therapy services are for life's tough times. If you are experiencing changes in your life that are tough to handle, I can support you during these times. I provide a safe place for you to open up, to explore new options, to question, to practice new behaviors and ways of communication, to grow and to heal.

I also offer consulting and life-coaching services. Consulting differs from counseling in that it answers questions about life situations and provides you with the necessary tools so you can make informed decisions. Life-coaching services are for helping you solve challenging situations that benefit from expert help. These services focus on setting goals, managing personal change, and creating results.

A distance therapist or counselor offers you the opportunity to work on problems you haven’t been able to find adequate solutions to. Online therapy and counseling is not any different in the way it works than if you were going to an office to see a therapist in person. People usually go to therapy when they’ve experienced distress over emotional, social, or behavioral problems, and online therapy might just be as good a way for you to resolve some of your problems.

You might also want to utilize distance therapy in a non-medical way, focusing on self-knowledge and improving your life experience through achieving insights about your life’s journey. This non-medical counseling includes questioning your path, achieving a comprehensive and honest picture of your present, and working on shaping your tomorrow consciously, so you might reach the fulfillment you are seeking and give your life the meaningful direction you want it to have.

Your therapist is trained to work with you on your concerns in an objective and non-judgmental manner. Not every therapist will be right for you. Usually you will know within the first or second session if you feel comfortable with your therapist. If your find that you have difficulty connecting with your therapist, don’t be bashful, let your therapist know. Just like you can’t be friends with everyone, not every therapist is right for you. Your therapist will recommend another therapist to you, who might be a better fit for your situation and for you.

Your therapist works with you to achieve the goals you have set for your therapy. Distance counseling does not differ in this aspect from conventional counseling. When you engage in therapy, your therapist will initially consult with you about your life situation and if your therapist’s skills and experience match your needs. A good therapist will let you know if your situation is not within their skill set and will recommend another therapist to you, who has the required skill set for your individual situation. Once your therapist is confident that she can help you, a comprehensive intake questionnaire will be filled out by you, along other important forms and information that will help you understand your counseling relationship with your therapist, safety and privacy issues, and for your therapist to gain insight into your individual situation. After submitting the paperwork you and your therapist will discuss your concerns at your next appointment. Usually goals are discussed and set collaboratively by both you and your therapist then. At the beginning of every session thereafter, you and your therapist will review how you are progressing towards your goals.

Online counseling is no different than in person counseling with some exceptions: people tend to share more of themselves on the internet. This factor oftentimes allows distance counseling to actually work more efficiently, when compared to in office visits. The online disinhibition effect is an important aspect of online counseling that you might want to consider. Online disinhibition is the loosening of social inhibitions and restrictions that all of us experience in the online environment. In online therapy people tend to open up more quickly than in face to face therapy. One benefit of online disinhibition is that you might get to the basis of your difficulties quicker, and therefore resolve your problems more efficiently and in less time. A negative effect of online disinhibition is that people tend to share more about themselves than they wanted to, especially on social media sites.

Online therapy can be conducted over the short term or long term. Everything you share with your therapist in secure client area is privileged information and transmitted over the internet with secure and encrypted protocols. Your therapist will not speak to others about you or what you have shared unless a legally mandated exception to confidentiality occurs: if your therapist judges that you are in immediate danger of harming yourself or others, your therapist will have to notify the appropriate services. In the case of suspected child or other vulnerable person abuse such as suspected child abuse, neglect, or maltreatment. Therapists or clinical records might be subpoenaed by courts in legal cases.

Online counseling, just like in person counseling, is distinctive in that it focuses on the developmental aspects of a person during their life-span. Counselors focus on relationships and personal functioning of a person. Counselors focus on improving people’s mental well-being by ameliorating maladaptation, distress, and crisis, and help people move towards a more successful and fulfilling life.