That was one of the main concerns. Better Help South Africa…that was really essential to me as a psychologist was that I would have autonomy over what I spoke about what what topics I picked to present and also you know my own views when when needed or appropriate to share them and I was given that by a better help they essentially stated you know we trust you as a scientific professional and we’re gon na trust you to go out there and speak about what you understand and one of the things that I really wanted to address is the fact that I’m not just here to say that online treatment is the answer for whatever you know I believe it can be incredibly valuable for many individuals I’ve seen it myself working with individuals from a couple of months up to over a year and I seen how being able to message and likewise have video sessions with somebody is actually a it almost enriches the the healing experience in such a way at the same time I have a private practice where I see individuals in person and I thoroughly take pleasure in that and there
are people that I see there that I would not consider seeing online either they would not be appropriate we wouldn’t have the ability to do the level and depth of work we’re doing or it just wouldn’t feel comfortable and and that’s okay those two things can both hold true and I think among the things that I want to start to have people consider is there’s a location for both online and offline therapy it is truly a matter of you understand deciding what’s right for you but also what’s most proper for you with the help of an expert when I speak about particular therapy styles or techniques as being appropriate for you what I mean by that is that it would be the best method for the particular problem that you’re handling and I think that a person of the concerns that a great deal of individuals have is that online therapy is attempting to change offline counseling and I can inform you 100% that that’s not real I’ve had many discussions with the founder of better help where he has actually mentioned that his audience isn’t to compete with traditional practices or put psychologists or certified professionals out of business his mission is to provide psychological health access to the people who aren’t going to come into the treatment workplace and I 100% support that mission and I think it is necessary and we have an issue with access to mental health care in this country and
betterhelp debate
better hope is one option as our other online companies I was pointing out earlier that there are things that I personally think that online treatment is better for or offline therapy is more appropriate for and I’ve in fact I’ve actually discussed this in other settings due to the fact that it is something I feel pretty passionate about and I have to say that my viewpoint has been well-received by companies like better help in regards to hopefully how they how they deal with individuals that present for care so I just wanted to invest a number of minutes speaking about my own is my own individual opinion about the things that are most suitable for online versus offline treatment so in my view I see online treatment as a wonderful location for people who are fighting with challenging life transitions for scenarios where they’re experiencing more tension than regular for circumstances where you understand they have an extremely precise concern with stress and anxiety or social stress and anxiety and a treatment like cognitive behavioral therapy which is very structured can can benefit them and that therapy since it’s not as social as others is perfect for online therapy due to the fact that it involves a great deal of research it includes worksheets it includes learning particular skills and techniques so moderate milder disorders like moderate stress and anxiety mild depression change conditions even PTSD as long as like the person has gotten care at first elsewhere these are all things that can be dealt with through online counseling you know consider someone who has a agoraphobia and maybe they connect to a counselor from their house because they can’t leave their house and just simply to clarify agoraphobia is a disorder where individuals are actually terrified of being caught and caught in a location where they might have a panic attack and so essentially they begin to restrict their activities and limit their activities up until a number of them can’t leave their home without truly feeling substantial distress so if someone like that is at house and they can connect through their computer and link to a counselor that’s an excellent initial step is that going to treat them absolutely not because agoraphobia to be successfully dealt with needs that individual to be able to go outside and to resume regular activities and in some cases that includes a therapist going to their house to help them with that process certainly online counselors are going to be able to do that but could they be the bridge that got that individual who’s afraid to leave their home from that initial supportive technique to therapy where they can really have a better life 100% and this is what the gap that better help intends to fill with their services my indicate this to this specific video and bringing these things
up is that I I wish to plainly communicate that anything that I share with you is going to be completely from where I stand as an expert psychologist and more notably what I think is as simply a human being on this earth attempting to do the best that I can and so I I will not tell you that something is appropriate that I don’t believe is appropriate I won’t show you that online counseling is the cure-all for everything because I do not believe that therefore you can constantly expect to hear my sincere opinion on what I believe from my own experience and knowledge base as a certified psychologist I hope you discovered this video intriguing and useful if you did please like it below and feel free to sign up for our YouTube channel where we’re going to be producing more and more videos on a variety of different mental health subjects and please reach out if there’s something specific you would like us to address or cover in an approaching video