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Welcome! My guest today is Clay Cockrell, LCSW. Interestingly enough, I read an article about Clay while in graduate school. It was about his “Walk and Talk Therapy” in Central Park in NYC, which intrigued me while blowing my mind. Who knew that I would have the opportunity to connect with Clay again on this podcast? Clay has since transitioned to online counseling and has even created an online directory for online counselors. We are dividing this broad topic into two parts, so we’ll cover it in this week’s and next week’s show. Let’s learn more about this relatively new tool in the world of private practice.
Our conversation focuses on The What, The Who, and The Where of Online Counseling:
- What is online counseling? It’s connecting with a client using some type of media.
- Who can benefit from online counseling? The two main groups are people who live in rural areas with limited access to therapy and ex-pats who are living in foreign countries and need an English-speaking therapist.
- Where can online counseling be done? The rule of thumb is that you should only counsel people who live in states where you (the therapist) are licensed to practice. Surprisingly, there are currently no restrictions on international counseling.
- Clay discusses the benefits for a therapist in online counseling: freedom for client and therapist, travel opportunities while still working, connecting with more people in more places.
- Clay shares statistics about the massive shortage of mental health therapists in other countries across the globe, and how online counseling helps meet that need.
- Clay stresses that a framework, via a pre-screening process, is needed to ensure a good fit for clients and therapists.
- Clay discusses the ethical and licensing issues that are inherent with online counseling.
- “Our industry is being impacted by technology and we have to change with it. That brings fear for some. We don’t need to be fearful but informed.”
Resources:
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