If in the last decade there had already been a significant boom in the popularity and use of the online therapy format, after the months of the coronavirus pandemic this progression towards digital has intensified even more. Today we are in a real boom in psychotherapy based on video calls.
But as always happens with technical advances and the emergence of new opportunities based on the Internet world, to take advantage of the potential of the online medium it is often necessary to train and learn, slowly but surely, to open up to this way of doing business. clearly supported by technology. That’s why, Here we will see what it takes to practice as a psychologist who offers online therapy.
Online psychological therapy has the particularity that although it is essentially like classic “face-to-face” psychotherapy (including its degree of effectiveness in treating patients), the fact that communication is carried out via Through a virtual context through devices connected to the Internet, it provides unique characteristics, several of which are advantageous. That is to say, a relatively simple change makes this new modality of psychological care offer benefits with qualitative and quantitative benefits. In this sense, the most important advantages of online therapy are the following:
This is what you need to offer online therapy effectively and sustainably.
1. Have university training in Psychology
The fact that to perform online therapy it is not necessary to go to a mental health clinic or a psychological clinic does not mean that this is an informal practice that can be carried out without university training (at least).
For this reason, it is considered that to offer online psychotherapy you must have at least a Bachelor’s or University Degree in Psychology, and specialization training through Masters and/or postgraduate degrees. In the event that the therapy is applied to people with diagnosable disorders, in most countries it will also be necessary to carry out a specific professionalization path through a Master’s Degree in Clinical and/or Health Psychology and an internship stage caring for patients who have developed pathologies such as depression, addiction, post-traumatic stress, etc. On the other hand, in some countries you can also practice in the field of psychotherapy when you become a doctor.
2. Design your strategy
It is necessary that you plan a consistent strategy when offering online therapy, considering the time and resources that you will dedicate to this format of psychological care, and what type of patients and/or clients you will appeal to and in what way. This may involve Do a little research on the opportunities that await you if you start serving online.
For example, it is not the same to dedicate all your time to online care as it is to reserve only the last hours of the afternoon, and it is not the same to offer online therapy in a region where there are hardly any services of this type than in a city with high population density, where there are already many psychologists who work from online therapy.
In the 21st century, online therapy is not technically very complicated in itself, but despite that you will need to have the appropriate equipment. To offer fluid sessions with good image and sound quality (something essential not only to make communication possible, but also so that patients feel comfortable and feel that they can express themselves openly), you must purchase a sufficiently powerful computer, a good camera and sound capture system, and You must ensure a stable Internet connection capable of supporting the emission and reception of live videos.
4. Consolidate your brand image on the Internet
This means mastering the use of social networks and, preferably, having your own website (or that of the psychological assistance center that you direct, if applicable). Keep in mind that in the world of online therapy your potential audience is no longer that of your neighborhood or municipality who have heard about you through word of mouth. You will have access to clients from very distant cities or even from other countries, but in exchange, you must learn to move your marketing in the digital context.
If you do nothing to make your services visible on the Internet, you will not exist and your competitors will take all the opportunities to their territory, both in terms of clients and in terms of collaborations with other professionals or companies.
Related article: “7 keys to Psychology applied to Marketing and Advertising”
5. Learn both what is necessary to attend online and what will allow you to squeeze the potential of online therapy
The Internet allows us to use digital tools that are very flexible and adaptable to the business models and services we offer. Therefore, it is not only worth learning how to do what is essential to conduct online sessions with patients; In addition, it is recommended that you learn the functionalities of the Internet and web pages beyond this, to have a global image of what you can and cannot do with the resources you have and take advantage of options that you would not have considered if you had not been trained. in this. For example, you can have them design a video chat service for your website that manages information requests from potential clients, you can make an online agenda accessible to schedule sessions directly, etc.
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