Open Mind Counseling

Effective

Confidential

Convenient

Affordable

What is online counseling?

Online counseling, sometimes referred to as distance counseling, engages in the same process as face to face counseling: therapeutic dialogue. The medium of that dialogue with online counseling includes email, live chat/instant messaging, telecounseling and even webcam videocounseling. The general goals of online counseling, clarifying and solving personal problems, gaining insight and increased self awareness, healing and growing, are the same. Most online counseling relies on  written therapeutic communication through email or live chat/ instant messaging.

Telecounseling, counseling by telephone, is also available as part of distance counseling and has been around quite a bit longer than livechat and instant messaging. Telecounseling is available not only by telephone, but by computer based telephony as well, using such programs as Skype and Yahoo Messenger. For computer based telephone counseling, a microphone and speakers are required.

One of the newer technologies available is videocounseling via webcam.  You need to have a computer system which meets the minimum requirements for videocounseling, a microphone, speakers and a webcam. Webcam counseling is, of course, the most revealing. As such, webcam counseling is the least popular of online platforms and used very little. However, it is one of the platforms available at Open Mind Counseling.

Unlike face-to-face counseling, online email and live chat counseling is completely void of any visual and vocal cues and clues. In-person counseling depends quite heavily on not just the content of speech, but the tone, the rate, the inflections, etc of what a person is saying. How a person says what they say is equally if not more important than what they actually say. Visual signals such as posture, facial gestures and general bodily movements, i.e., body language,  are also informative and unavailable with basic online counseling.

Online text based counseling depends entirely on the written word. The personal issues being discussed, whether it has to do with divorce, depression, grief, frustration, anger, indecision, conflict, confusion, anxieties, the search for meaning....whatever the issue is.....must be typed out with words. This can be an advantage as it requires some thought.  Furthermore, the counselor's reply is also written out and affords the opportunity to re-read, and think about, the reply.

Online distance counseling is very flexible and accommodating not being tied to set location, appointments, drive time and parking. Being computer or telephone based, "sessions" are conducted in the comfort of your own home on your own time schedule. With wireless technology, you can engage in online distance counseling almost anywhere.

If you have any questions, email: info@openmindcounseling.com

Click here when ready to initiate online counseling

To request a FREE ebook of James Allen's timeless self-improvement classic As A Man Thinketh   click here