Wild Ginger Writing

Counselling has always been an intimate process between a person in need and a person trained to help. But sometimes finding the right person in order to be open and vulnerable with is an overwhelming task, or even impossible, such as in remote rural communities.

This is where e-therapy aims to bridge the gap.

In recent years emerging technologies, starting with email and now up to Skype, has equipped counsellors with additional resources to stay in touch with their clients and provide access to those who normally wouldn’t have any.

“I work with some people who are on vacation and they want to continue it through Skype, or people who are not able to access resources in their community,” said Pat Roles, a registered social worker with 35 years of experience as an individual, couple, and family therapist. “For example, I was helping someone in Hope who would alternate face-to-face meetings with Skype sessions.”

Roles also sees email as a natural outlet to do forms of narrative therapy, where a client submits up to two pages in an email describing their problems, what they need help with, and ask questions.

“It allows for critical thinking,” she said. “They have to sit there and think about what they’re going to tell me. They have to sequence it, and prioritize it. People do more critical thinking when they slow down to write.”

Other counsellors also see the benefit of choice, allowing the client more options for them to find the right person to work with.

“Choosing a counsellor is a really tricky thing,” said Dr. Derek Martin, a psychotherapist based out of Victoria who has adopted Skype into his sessions for a year now. “Not only do you need somebody who is a good fit, somebody you can trust, but somebody who’s way of working aligns with the way you work.”

As an example, Dr. Martin said to think of a person in Charlottetown, PEI, who has access to several different kinds of counsellors of varying gender, age and therapeutic approach.

“But the thing is you click with who you click with, and people who may even have access to qualified mental care services may not click with what is physically around them,” Dr. Martin said.

With e-therapy this person can instead choose to connect with Dr. Martin in Victoria or Roles in Vancouver, all the way across the country.

“We’re just taught to stuff things down and stuff things down,” Dr. Martin said. “It’s just one more way people can reach out.”

Dr. Martin can be contacted through his site at http://www.islandcounselling.ca and Pat Roles can be reached at http://www.e-mailtherapy.com.