Telephone Counselling
Telephone Counselling is sometimes, wrongly, seen as a tool to “only” provide consistency in the counselling process if the client is for one reason or another unable to attend face-to-face sessions. Indeed, this is a very valuable function of telephone counselling, but through many years of experience of providing telephone counselling, I have found it goes much deeper than this.
To me, it is a deeply transpersonal way of working, with its own dynamics and benefits. For one thing, talking on the phone makes for a very close relationship between us, and, a little bit like being on Freud’s couch, you are not being ‘observed’, so you can relax totally in telling me how you feel – and I will be ‘all ear’.
Some of my clients who live abroad, have been using Telephone Counselling for years to access Transpersonal, Integrative therapy, which might not be available where they live. It usually takes two or three phone counselling sessions to fully feel connected.
In the New York Times (Saturday, October 22, 2008), Tara Parker-Pope writes in her article The Benefits of Therapy by Phone.
““(…)David Mohr, professor of preventive medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine and lead author of the study*, published in the September issue of ‘Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice’ “The telephone is a tool that allows the therapists to reach out to patients, rather than requiring that patients reach out to therapists.””
*on telephone counselling
It is further stated, that 90% of patients continue with telephone counselling beyond a few sessions, and, most importantly, that it is just as effective in the treatment of depressive symptoms as face-to-face counselling.
Here in the UK, research on telephone counselling has also been very encouraging.
The study shows that telephone counselling has a much lower drop out rate than face-to-face counselling, This is not surprising to those who find it difficult to travel long distances to their counsellor or psychotherapist, nor to those of you who travel a lot for their job, let alone for those who are in crisis and struggle to leave the house. Here, Telephone Counselling is more than a “stop gap”.
How to arrange Telephone Counselling?
We arrange a time that is mutually convenient for both of us and I will give you my landline number, which you can then ring. Telephone Counselling sessions last 50 minutes unless otherwise arranged and attract my usual fees.
