(Where a word or phrase is underlined, you can follow the link to another Practice or Clinical Guide for a fuller explanation of that topic. Feel free to follow them as your questions arise—they're designed to help you build a fuller understanding at your own pace.)
This guide forms part of our Practice Guide to Psychotherapy, which explains the principles that underpin our work with individuals, couples and families and can be found at Practice Guide 1.
Practice Guide 4
Working Online
Many people who would benefit from psychotherapy cannot easily attend face-to-face sessions because of where they live, work commitments, disability, caring responsibilities or simply personal preference. Online psychotherapy allows those barriers to be removed without, in our practice experience, losing the depth of the therapeutic relationship.
The CCRTT practice model is intended to be available to all those in need of support in their relationship, whether through individual therapy or for couples, throughout the UK and worldwide. The foundation of our model is based on a deep evidenced understanding of the development of the self, who you are in your world.
The development of online platforms has meant that we are able to deliver our model and to give that support without geographical limitation. You may be reading this because your search for help and support has taken you to our website and model.
You may also be wondering whether online psychotherapy is as effective as working face to face. In short, our experience and the research evidence is that working on line is as effective as in person working.
You may also find it helpful, in reading this guide, to read our Practice Guides on Working with individuals and Working with couples.
An online therapeutic relationship: questions that go to the heart of therapy
Therapy is about relationship: in the development of our personality, our sense of self, and in the healing of our pain and difficulties in our relationship with ourselves and others. The therapeutic relationship restores broken relationships with self and others, for individuals and couples.
Whether working online Psychotherapy is as effective as working face to face arguably takes us to the heart of the nature of therapeutic healing and is a profoundly important question.
The foundation upon which therapeutic healing takes place is the therapeutic relationship. Perhaps the most important skill of a therapist is to facilitate a relationship of depth. A relationship within the which the client feels safe and able to fully trust the therapist with the fullness of their experiences of life and others in all its raw pain and sadness.
The therapist who is able to facilitate this healing space will have themselves been through their own healing journey usually of many years. One of the consistent observations from psychotherapeutic practice is ‘that we can only facilitate the depth of our clients’ journey to the extent that we have been prepared to encounter and resolve the depth of our own pain on our (the Therapists) own journey’. In looking for a therapist to suit you we always advise that this should be one of the key questions in your initial interview meeting.
The online therapeutic meeting
There is no question that for both Therapists and clients alike some will have a preference for Face to Face work; it is also true that some will prefer online work.
In working online it is, in our experience, true that it can take longer to form the therapeutic relationship of depth although this will vary from person to person (as it does in life in a non-therapeutic context whether online or in person).
There are certain practicalities that are agreed with our clients at the outset (which apply to most online Psychotherapy meetings). For example: it is important for the therapist to explain to the client that the Therapist will always endeavour to ensure that the client has finished speaking before commenting; there will be a need to talk about leaving time for silences and reflection, and a number of other practical considerations.
While there are practical difficulties in managing a session our experience is that a warm holding therapeutic relationship of depth can be facilitated in an online environment. A default response may generally be that a personal meeting will always be more helpful but our experience shows that this is not necessarily always the case.
The nature and meaning of relationship
There is an understandable tendency to think of relationship as being in the physical presence of another. A therapist will think of relationship as being based on meaning: the meaning that we have for ourselves and to others.
You may be reading this because these crucial relationships are simply not working; being out relationship, for example not valuing ourselves and believing we have no value to others, can be a source of great pain; the subject of low self esteem is covered in greater depth in our Clinical Guide 4 which you can find here.
We can think of relationship as being created through contact and connection: in these two elements are found trust and through trust: meaning. When we believe we have meaning to ourselves we will believe we have meaning to others.
Therapy is, at its heart, about creating a relationship of deep meaning in and from which our clients, couples and individuals alike, come to believe and trust in their unique selves with their own meaning and value. In this brave new world they are able to encounter an authentic sense of connection and to believe in their own meaning. Our experience is that this psychotherapeutic movement can be achieved at least as effectively online as in person.
At CCRTT we are experienced at working online. We believe in making our practice model available as widely as possible though the UK and beyond. Whether you live in Gloucestershire or elsewhere in the UK, online psychotherapy makes it possible to access the same thoughtful, relationship-based approach wherever you are. If you would like to explore whether this way of working is right for you, we would be pleased to hear from you.
Related Practice Guides
To see how these principles are applied in our Practice please see the relevant guide below:
