Message Based Therapy // "Email" Therapy
Message based therapy with me takes place either through Signal (free download for ios and android, as well as free desktop app!) which is a fully encrypted text messaging platform, or through the Simple Practice secure messaging system. Simple Practice is the platform that I use to provide video counseling, to schedule appointments, complete paperwork, and manage billing. Regardless of which platform you feel more comfortable with, you will need to get set up as a client with me on Simple Practice for other administrative purposes.
Message based counseling is structured in weekly formats, in which we will message back and forth a week at a time and I will bill you weekly for this service. You can expect me to respond to a message from you once a day, Monday through Thursday. I charge message counseling the same rate that I charge my video or phone appointments because I commit the same amount of time throughout the week to reading and responding to your messages - about 45 minutes to an hour. This can help you understand the estimated amount of messaging that you can expect from this service.
Benefits of Message Based, Email Therapy
There are many unique benefits that come from message based therapy. Along with not needing to travel anywhere to see your therapist, you also don't need to set aside any specific time to "meet" with your therapist, so this therapy modality is ideal for clients with very busy lifestyles. It is also a wonderful way to give therapy a try, if seeing or talking to a therapist is something that brings up too much anxiety for you to be able to benefit from right now. I have had many clients begin with message based counseling and slowly work their way up to video based or phone counseling. Message based counseling is also a great way to give access to therapy to people living in areas with minimal internet connection that does not have the bandwidth to support video counseling. An obvious benefit to message based therapy is that you get to take your time explaining what you are going through to me, with no time restraints, and you get to keep my therapeutic responses back to you for reference. I have had many clients tell me that they have saved responses from me that were especially helpful for them, so that they can re-read them whenever they needed it.
Message based Therapy can be used in conjunction of a phone or video session, which can help with preparing for a session and debriefing from a session - ensuring that you talk about everything that you need to talk about in your session, and following up with your therapist after a session with feedback and questions about specific techniques that were practiced in session.
