How Online Therapy Changed The Way I Work

When the world shut down in March 2020, I had just started my counselling training. I expected to be sitting in a quiet therapy room, face to face with clients. Instead, I found myself on the phone with my very first placement client. They were terrified to leave their home after a traumatic local event. The pandemic meant we could not meet in person.

We were both navigating something completely new.

The beginning was messy

The first few sessions were intense. Sometimes the call ended abruptly. Sometimes there was silence. We could not see one another. I was new. My tutors and supervisor had never done online therapy either. None of us knew whether this would work.

But we kept showing up.

Week after week, over twelve months, we built a relationship without ever being in the same room. When the time came to transition them back to local services, I realised something important:

The connection had been real.

What surprised me most

I expected online therapy to feel like a compromise.
Instead, it changed how I understand connection.

Clients who work with me online choose me intentionally.
They are not walking past a door and stepping in because I happen to be nearby.
They have searched, compared, read, reflected, and then decided:

It is you I want to talk to.

That level of agency shapes the relationship from the start.

Why online clients often stay longer

Online therapy removes the barriers that cause people to drop out.

No travel.
No parking.
No rushing across town to get to a session on time.

Clients join from home. From a car after work. From a quiet corner of a garden.
They show up where they feel safe, and therapy goes deeper because of it.

What I learned

Therapy is not about the room.
Therapy is about the relationship.

Connection does not depend on chairs facing each other.
It depends on presence, attention, and emotional safety.

A quick note on how I work online

Sessions are on Zoom.
I do not record sessions.
If a client wants a written summary, I create it after the session using secure, ethical AI tools, and only with their consent. They choose what is included.

Most clients say having a summary helps them remember key insights during the week.

A different kind of presence

Online work has taught me to listen more closely to tone, timing and pace.
When the body is not in the room, the nervous system still is.

People often feel more able to open up when they are in a space they control.
A sofa. A car. A favourite mug. A blanket.
Small things that help the nervous system settle.

And when the body settles, therapy deepens.

The myth about connection

There is a belief that therapy must be in person to be effective.
My experience says otherwise.

Online therapy has allowed me to work with individuals and couples across the UK and Europe who would never have found me otherwise.

It has not diluted connection.
It has broadened it.

Choice creates commitment

In a crowded online world, if someone chooses you, it is not accidental.
They choose with intention.
They choose because something in your voice, approach or presence feels right.

And that choice often becomes the foundation for meaningful, lasting work.

The evolution

Online therapy was never my plan.
It has become an integral part of my practice.

It has taught me that connection is not limited by location.
It has shown me that presence is not dependent on being in the same room.
And it continues to show me the resilience of the human spirit.

We are wired for connection.
Sometimes we find it through a screen.
Sometimes that screen becomes a doorway.