Virtual therapy can be incredibly convenient, flexible, and can help save time. You don't have to worry about traffic to and from therapy, the iced coffee you buy as a little treat before every session because it's basically on the way, plus you don't have to sit in a waiting room for an extended period of time. The time you are required to dedicate to therapy is just that, the time you are paying for.
You can log in on your lunch break at work and log off just in time to return to work. That would be impossible with a standard 1 hour lunch break if you were attempting to go in person.
You can attend your therapy session from any location in which your therapist is licensed. The limitations to that would be you need to be able to fully pay attention and be able to talk about really personal things. If you are planning on doing a therapy session over your lunch break, you would want to make sure you have a secure location to do so. Mary from accounting doesn't need to know all your business! This could mean a door you can shut so you can be in your own space wherever you are to conduct therapy (this could even be a car door). Headphones that work in both audio and speaker functions so we can hear each other clearly. If you are responsible for childcare during the time of your session, you would want to think about if at all possible scheduling your session during a nap time or even during the kids' activities. Some moms do sessions while their son is doing soccer practice or daughter is in Karate.
You also want to make sure you have secure wifi. This seems like a given in 2026 to have decent wifi. The amount of bandwidth required to do a video call for an hour is very different than streaming a movie. That might be something to look at when deciding if virtual therapy is a good fit. Does it mean the therapy session is ruined if the call breaks up? No! Of course not. It just means things might need to be repeated or clarified.
Technology glitches happen. You can have the best wifi in the world and then a storm comes along and you're freezing every ten seconds. Things happen. We can adjust as needed. It's most important to remember a therapy session is your time to discuss what's been going on the last few days and work on treatment goals. You decide how we do that. There are certain best practices I would encourage, like using video if at all possible. But if for one or two sessions we need to swich to audio and you feel you can be just as engaged on a phone call as you would be on video, that's you choice. You are the client, so I want to make you feel as comfortable as possible. That doesn't mean I can't bring up concerns I have, but that does mean it's a conversation and not a dictatorship.
Certain things to consider would be what is your goal for therapy. If you have concerns about a controlling partner or any form of abuse, we would want to be very careful and aware of where that partner is during the sessions. Your therapy sessions are your time to express your opinions, thoughts, fears, stress without worry about the person you need to vent about overhearing. If you would like to work on social anxiety and going out in public more, virtual therapy might not be the best fit for you in the long run. I reserve the right to let you know I feel virtual treatment is not the most effective form of therapy for you.
Studies show therapy is just as effective virtually as it is in in person when it comes to individual sessions. That means the self worth, grief, life change, couples, or EMDR sessions can be just as effective if this is the right fit for you.
What determines the right fit is if you
1) Have good enough internet
2) Have a safe/secure place to do therapy virtually
3) Feel you can be engaged in therapy hour during your session virtually
4) Feel comfortable speaking virtually.
What I mean by "feel comfortable" is it's my job to make sure the video platform I use is HIPAA compliant and keeps your personal information safe. It's your job to decide if you feel comfortable doing therapy virtually. Some people have to adjust settings to hide backgrounds or hide their own video so they aren't staring at the thumbnail of themselves the whole time. It is possible to adjust things to increase your comfort level, but at the end of the day, the only person that can determine that is you.
Some of the downsides of virtual therapy include the following. It's a lot easier to check out in virtual therapy if you're not interested in being there. With in person therapy, there is a living, breathing person in front of you. If you are craving human connection, this isn't something that can be substituted. I pledge to be warm, open, engaged, and with my camera on during sessions, but I can't teleport through the screen unfortunatley.
These might be some things to consider when you are looking into finding a provider that's right for you.
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Emma Price LCSW