Working with us online, by email or telephone

We offer online, email and telephone therapy and coaching to clients who prefer or need to work in this way. These services are available through our First Psychology Online service. People often seek these types of therapies for a whole range of reasons including irregular working patterns, living in areas far from our centres, moving away, working away from home, or mobility issues.

Online therapy

Online therapy is similar to a standard therapy session in that you can see and hear your practitioner (and them you). Many of our practitioners have experience working with clients using online technologies and this type of therapy option has proven particularly popular for many clients.

Email sessions

Our e-mail service involves you writing your problems and concerns in an email, and your practitioner replying with a considered therapeutic response. Some of the benefits of e-mail therapy:

You can read and write emails at a time that suits you. There is no need for an appointment.
You can take as much time as you want to get your thoughts and feelings down in writing.
Writing down the things that are on your mind is very helpful in itself – the act of sharing can provide some relief. Articulating your thoughts, feelings and concerns in writing can begin to give insight into what is happening in your life.
It allows you and your practitioner time to consider issues and solutions more thoroughly.
You have freedom to record what is on your mind as it occurs.
Writing in comfortable, familiar surroundings can allow you to be more open than you might be face-to-face.
You are able to refer to the conversation history and look back at what your practitioner suggested.

Just knowing that there is someone there to respond to your problems without judgement can provide an enormous sense of comfort and support to anyone attempting to overcome a difficult period in their life. If you’re unsure as to whether email counselling is a suitable option for you, the best thing to do is to get in touch to discuss your concerns.

How does email therapy work?

Each session is allocated a therapy hour (50minutes) where your emails are carefully read and replied to with a therapeutic response. In your practitioner’s reply, you will be provided with support as well as feedback, suggestions or questions. Each session ‘ends’ once your practitioner has used all 50 minutes of your session to read and reply to your messages. Depending on the length of your e-mails and the nature of your problem, you may receive a number of responses for each ‘session’. Your practitioner will inform you at the end of each e-mail how many minutes of your session remain so that you can plan for any additional sessions you feel you might need.

Our email service is subject to our normal contracting and fee arrangements. We are happy to work with clients using a combination of session types, for example, regular email ‘meetings’ in tandem with monthly face-to-face meetings. We have found this type of combination the most successful way of working using email technology.

Telephone sessions

Our telephone therapy and coaching service operates in the same way as a regular session in that we agree a day and a time to meet, but do so by telephone. This can be a very effective way of working, and increasing numbers of clients are opting to work in this way. We would generally ask you to send in or email copies of any tasks we have agreed you would undertake (e.g. an anxiety diary) before the telephone session, so we can see where we are if we are not meeting face to face.