5 Ways to help you prepare for online therapy.

You have decided to try out online therapy! Worried, excited, unsure if you made the right choice? All very valid feelings and thoughts. Before the pandemic most people went to therapy in person. I practiced 100% in person. But believe it or not, people have been doing virtual therapy for decades. And no I don’t mean Zoom therapy.

Phone calls have been used to help provide access to care to those in rural locations who don’t have access to mental health services, let alone someone who specializes in the specific mental health treatment that they may need. Looking at it from this point, I suppose I have also been practicing tele mental health since before Covid sent everyone into lock down. I would often give people a call to check in between their sessions or if they had not shown up for their session. Or I would give a kid’s parent a call (who was not the parent who normally came to the therapy with the kid in question.) 

Now my days are spent 100% doing virtual therapy and I love it.There are some things that I have learned and had to help my clients learn in order to make the most out of their therapy. Keep on reading to learn about how you can prepare for your next virtual therapy appointment.

It is so important that we set aside the time for a great therapy session and that means setting aside time without distractions. This is time that you have carved out of the week to work on you and create the life that you want, doesn’t that deserve undivided focus?  

Make sure you have a quiet room free from distractions.

People will often have distractions in their home that make therapy from home a bit challenging. We might have kids, pets, and unannounced neighbors. During my first appt with people we always go over how to make a quite and safe space available when they partake in therapy with me. Is there a room with a door that can help keep out distractions? Does this mean asking a family member to watch the kids? Having a furry friend can be soothing during your therapy session, I am 100% okay with having your support animal with you. But you get to be the judge of whether your fur baby is too needy or can simple chill out next to you as you pet them.

We need to make sure we have a not only a quite place but also a private place. Therapy is an incredible vulnerable process where we talk about some pretty sensitive topics. Therefore it is important that we have the privacy needed in order to be safe and able to have those conversations. 

Even in the most cramped of spaces,  a private place can usually be found. For example I have seen people in their bathrooms, closets, and even their cars. Hey what ever works. And sometimes a car therapy session is just the space you need to be able to dive deep into your problems to actually solve them. 

It is also important that the tv be off, that your phone be on do not disturb, and that you aren’t doing something that will need your attention, like making dinner. 

It is so important that we set aside the time for a great therapy session and that means setting aside time without distractions. This is time that you have carved out of the week to work on you and create the life that you want, doesn’t that deserve undivided focus?  

Make sure you have something to drink, maybe a snack too. 

Most therapy sessions are just under an hour long. So bring some water, tea, or coffee to help you out when you get thirsty. It can also serve as a pause for you to gather your thoughts. I know I use this for myself when I go to therapy or even when I have big conversations with my husband. When we slow down, it helps us be more thoughtful with our responses and engagement in the conversation. 

Also, I am a big fan of bringing a snack to therapy. Like a small snack- don’t go brining in your whole lunch! Maybe a few pretzels or some grapes. Our brain uses food for fuel and therapy sure burns some serious calories! Think about it. You are doing some deep thinking and just like in school, a study snack can help you focus a bit more. 

Make sure that you have headphones.

Another thing that is a huge must is to bring some headphones, especially if there are others in our home. Even if you have the door closed your ears might pick up some distractions, like the dog running to the window to check out that package that just arrived. Headphones can really help you tune out the outside and help you tune in to therapy. 

Headphones aren’t super necessary if your home is quite. I just find more often than not people can easily get distracted and pick up sounds from both inside and outside their homes. I I have noticed that people will often change there voice volume and may not be aware of it. For example, if we are talking about a sensitive topic you might find your voice goes low, and headphones can help me out to hear even as we explore a topic that is painful.

Lastly, it can be hard if you are in a couples or family session, but wireless buds can help with that!

Make sure you have good lighting.

Now I don’t need you to have 4k quality video or even a ring light but having decent lighting is important for therapy. A lot of the work that I do as a therapist is looking at your facial expressions. It helps me better understand where you are coming from and helps me in determining what is going on. This will help me guide our conversation better. 

So as you can see, it is super important to not have your back to a window and to have some light on your face to make the most of your therapy session online. I will also add here that having a stand for your device is super nice. Holding your phone for an hour can prove to be exhausting. Even propping up your phone or tablet  up against a stack of books will help you out in having more enjoyable online therapy session. 

Make sure you bring something to write with. 

I am always a big advocate that most of “work” actually happens outside of therapy sessions. Think about it, you will only see a therapist for about an hour once a week. That leaves 167 hours until your next therapy session. That’s a lot of hours and hopefully you are able to practice some skills or have some moments where you do some serious journaling or meditating and now have an idea as to why something bothers you so much. That’s the stuff I hope you bring to therapy.

In addition in the actual therapy session maybe there is an “ah ha” moment, take notes. Continue to think about this and journal about this in between your sessions. This will help ensure that you are getting the most out of therapy! 

Also on a side note sometimes it is discussed prior that we have an interest in art therapy. Art therapy is something that I have used for years and not just with kids!  Art can help us better connect with a feeling or thought, and that is why I welcome people to keep supplies nearby or we might plan a specific session where we know ahead of time we will be doing art. A sketch pad and some colors can help create an even deeper therapy session.