Online Counselling
Teenscounselling-Online is a secure and confidential online counselling service for young people aged from 11 to 21 years. I provide professional and therapeutic support through the Internet for young people who prefer to use this medium rather than meeting face to face and in person. I have substantial experience of working via this mode of communication, not only through my work at Childline but also my experience at www.COAP.org.uk and my work as an online counsellor.
Why Counselling Online?
The main advantage of online counselling is that I can work with you wherever you live. It doesn’t matter if you live in a different city, county or country!
Many of you prefer to socialize and communicate using online as your preferred mode of contact...using social media such as Facebook, MSN, and Twitter etc. Online counselling can therefore be a comfortable and accessible form of finding support. There are some things that can be said online through emailing or Instant Messaging that might be too difficult to say face-to-face, at least to begin with. You do not even have to use your real name. This is important to those of you for whom confidentiality is a big concern.
Not all issues can be resolved by online counselling, if this is the case I will endeavor to support you to find the best alternative possible that works for you, your well being is of the upmost importance.
Benefits:
You may choose online counselling as an alternative to what is called ‘face 2 face’ for a variety of reasons.
- It isn't dependent on location, and is therefore accessible country wide.
- It is convenient and time efficient to sit in the comfort and privacy of your home computer and write an email.
- It is cost effective, at about half the cost of face-to-face therapy or counselling.
- You are in charge of the timing of your e-mail to suit your needs. You can wait until you have some quiet time to write your e-mail, to reflect or to read the response.
- Online sessions can be adapted around your school timetable, social life or just in the comfort of your own space
- You may not want to talk to someone face to face, for any reason; embarrassment, shyness, guilt, shame and you feel you can be more open by talking to a counsellor online, this provides you with the safe space to talk about what is troubling you without having the worry of having to ‘see’ someone.
Issues:
Online Counselling can cover a wide range of issues: - Depression
- Anxiety
- Abuse
- Stress
- Eating disorders
- Bullying
- Friendship issues
- Family relationships
- Low self esteem
- Bereavement
- Transition
- Relationships
- Anger
- Social anxiety
- Addictions
- Isolation
- Violent behavior and many more.
Options:
Communication can be via email (synchronous) or chat, IM (asynchronous) you will be able to choose your preferred method of communication. Whilst you will need a pc to communicate with me, you do not have to be a ‘professional ‘ in this field, during our consultations I will be advising and helping you with your preferred choice of messaging to get you started with a safe encrypted programme through which we can communicate when our sessions begin.
Email online Counselling: The emails that we send in our sessions will be via a free encrypted online email service called Hushmail, this ensures that all communication is unreadable if intercepted by a third party and only accessible when either you or I sign in using our password protected accounts, and so ensuring confidentiality between our emails.
Instant Messaging: This service is where we chat live to each other, this is done via SKYPE a programme that is free to download and encrypted to ensure confidentiality between us when we chat.
Face to face online Skype: Using this online platform we meet face to face in a confidential space within your home.
How do we get started working online?
You can contact me by emailing me at [email protected] or call/text me on 07854 569844.
If you are interested you will be asked to complete a simple assessment and agreement form, this asks a little about you and what has bought you to counselling. Once I have received this and we have agreed to work together we will then look at your preferred method of communicating, the frequency of sessions, how many, preferred day etc. just as in face to face counseling.
For emails I will send an acknowledgment letting you know when I have received your email. In order that I can reply fully and give full consideration to your exchange, I will ask that you send me your email 48 hours before I am scheduled to respond, but if you want to be more flexible and just email when you feel you need to that’s fine, that can be negotiated too.
(Please note that, as this is a service for young people if the child is aged 16 and under I will require the consent of the parent/carer before agreeing to work with a young person. This consent is written within the assessment /agreement to be completed where applicable.)
Safety:
To support you in the best possible way and ensure your privacy and confidentiality of our email exchanges you would need to have access to a PC that is not shared with others, or have your own individual password protected access.
If you decide to go ahead with online email counseling I would ask you to set up an account with a safe encrypted email provider that is free and secure, I will send you details of this once you return the agreed document, and we would then exchange emails using this service. If this is not possible then to still ensure your privacy we would agree on using password protected document exchanges via your email provider.
Fees:
1 x email session £30 or £25 a session when booking four or more in advance
1 x I.M chat session £35 or £30 when booking four or more in advance.
1 x face to face Skype (50 mins) £40 per session
All payments are made by electronic payment in advance of the sessions (further information on how this will be done will be discussed before our sessions start.)
EMERGENCIES
Online Counselling is not for emergency situations. If you feel that you are unable to cope, feeling suicidal and need to talk to some one straight away then please do not hesitate, contact your local Accident and Emergency Dept. at your local hospital. Alternatively please find below two useful links for 24-hour service:
www.childline. org.uk (up to the age of 18)
Tel: 0800 1111
www.samaritans.org
Tel: 08457 90 90 90
