Online counseling is a relatively new therapeutic service. There are many advantages over the traditional in-person face-to-face therapeutic sessions offered in just about every community. And, of course, there are some cons. As the technology has developed, online counseling has also grown expanding from simple email based therapeutic communication to also include chat, pc-to-pc telephone sessions and even web-cam based live video sessions. Online counseling is, obviously, dependent on the computer and the Internet.
Online counseling is also dependent upon Internet service providers as a computer attached to the Internet is useless without being connected to the phone or cable lines. With the ever decreasing cost of high end computers and the very reasonable cost of getting hooked up, more and more people are online. Shopping, banking, research, game playing and communication via computer are as common as driving to the local store. Increasingly, online counseling and therapy is also becoming a norm.
This article will outline some of the pros and cons of online counseling, also referred to as e-therapy or distance learning. But first, a little bit about how it works.
Basic online counseling entails a client writing out their problem, whatever it might be, and sending that information through email to an online counselor or therapist who then replies within a day or two. That is generally considered one session. Fee structures vary; however an online session usually costs between $30 and $50. Chat and telephone sessions are generally offered at the rate of $1.00/minute. Open Mind Counseling has taken the unique approach of offering a risk free, no fee policy asking instead for clients to voluntarily submit a monetary gift, of any amount, if they so choose, at the completion of a session. This approach removes one of the more significant cons of online counseling listed below.
The Pros