To mend or strengthen a relationship, couples and marriage counseling is often an effective choice. But we all live busy lives, making it difficult to meet in-person on a consistent basis.
There are multiple benefits of moving into telehealth services for the two of you. With online relationship counseling, there can be a greater emotional intimacy between the couple and their counselor, the couple often feels more relaxed and safer to open up in their own home environment, and even reaching out to make that first appointment can feel safer if you are planning to meet online. Typically, it also results in even deeper, more honest conversations with your partner which greatly improves the outcome of couples and marriage therapy.
Create a safe space around you for your telehealth appointment. You will also want to make sure that your location is confidential and that you treat it as if you were coming into an office to speak to a therapist in-person.
Some clients have communicated that expressing their feelings online with a therapist can feel a little more awkward, but we encourage you to work through this to the best of your ability. The more open you are about sharing, the more impactful your session is going to be.
For couples, we recommend that you both attend the sessions on the same couch in front of a monitor. The model we work from, Emotionally Focused Therapy, is interactive with your partner and there will be specific times the therapists asks you to turn and talk to your partner directly.
Try to limit anything that might take you “out of the moment.” It’s really easy to get notifications on your computer or your phone, but you will get the most out of your sessions when you are completely present with no distractions.
We encourage you to be open and honest with your therapist about your experience in therapy, especially if you are meeting online. The more you both are sharing your thoughts on how you think things are going, more effective and helpful the process will be for you both.
