How do I find an online therapist?

Zoom therapy, telemental health, digital therapy and telepsychology – all terms you may have heard that add up to the same thing: online therapy. It has become more common over the past five years, and the trend has received a turbo boost since the start of Covid. As well as therapy going online out of necessity, sites such as Talkspace and Betterhelp offer on-demand therapy from around £35 a week. They allow you to message a therapist as much as you like, with the opportunity to schedule video calls. Despite the obvious drawbacks (tone of voice and body language become harder to analyse, for example), research suggests that this form of therapy can work just as effectively as the faceto-face kind for anxiety and depression. Many therapists also believe it’s a gateway for those who find traditional therapy intimidating or who don’t want to self-identify as having a specific mentalhealth problem. For more information about this type of counselling, see the section on online therapists at bacp.co.uk.