Removing Barriers | Online Counseling

Let’s remove any barriers that can keep us from working together through these challenging times.

In the last article, I shared some details about my new online counseling initiative:

Limited Time Offer | $40 per hour Online
Normally $60 for face-to-face or online therapy
Now in these challenging times, I’m offering online counseling for $40 hour
Face-to-face will still be $60/hour, but online will be $40/hour

Removing Barriers
Online Counseling

In this article, I want to deal with removing some common barriers.

Barriers | Needs

At the end of the last article, I spoke about needs which may be a barrier. Your needs are important, no matter how great the needs around you are.

We live in changing times, but family dynamics don’t always change. In fact, some personal and relational issues only get magnified in times like this, i.e. boundaries during lockdown, tensions in the home, civil unrest, love issues, etc.

Barriers | “Why counseling?”

Another barrier is the question, Why not something else?

We all know people we’d probably rather call than a therapist. Hopefully, you have a family member or friend you can confide in. Perhaps you have a teacher or pastor to talk to.

Here’s my question. If you’re having a personal or family issue that you just can’t wrap your mind around, would you seek out a mental health professional or your beautician? Your beautician may be an excellent listener, but is your issue her specialty?

Well, what about my pastor?

This is a great choice, especially in the short term. Many pastors are trained to offer spiritual direction, but . . . in-depth spiritual formation often changes the relationship. Also, there are many other obligations on a Pastor’s time.

So Pastors are often looking for Christian mental health professionals. They want to refer people to a counselor after a few sessions.

Counseling can compliment the ministry, not compete with it.

Barriers | “What about my Christian faith?”

Isn’t all humanistic psychological theory opposed to God?

Not at all, when I went to seminary, there were over 300 counseling theories. Many of them are easy to integrate with Christian practice. They leave room for our faith to exercise its muscles in counseling. There are plenty of Christian counseling theories as well.

On the practical side, I practice in satellite offices within churches. I’m an Ordained Minister with 2 graduate seminary degrees. I honor the client’s wishes about religion, but . . . faith is commonly part of the counseling session.

Barriers | Online Security “Is it secret? Is it safe?”

Can I trust online counseling?

In the state of Michigan, and in many other states, online counseling is common. I work with pastors, therapists, and educators. 2 education administrators have recommended Zoom for online meetings. It’s the most secret and safe option for a free connection at this time. So I’ve been working with Zoom with clients.

Another thing that makes the online room safe is a working agreement. I work in an enclosed room, with no other traffic on or off screen. It is the client’s responsibility to do the same to protect the trust.