Three tips on how to keep your virtual therapy session private
During the COVID-19 lockdown, therapy services have largely moved online in order to accommodate for people not being able to leave their homes. We look at Thorbjorg’s top tips for clients for maintaining privacy despite these changes.
COVID-19 restrictions in recent months have seen many services such as therapy moving online. These changes are leading to more professionals choosing to adopt an online approach going forward, which can greatly increase accessibility to treatment for many who are unable to leave their homes due to various reasons. However, often clients must attend their sessions from home, which can in some cases compromise clients‘ ability to talk freely: relationships and living situations are usually the most common topics for discussion.
Thorbjorg, psychologist, CEO and founder of Kara Connect, shared with us her tips for keeping these sessions private in order to continue with quality therapy sessions while at home.
Get creative with your space selection and use technology to your advantage
Consider where you‘re likely to get both space and quiet: a bathroom, garden, or garage if you have one? If you‘re comfortable with people possibly walking by, is there a park or patch of grass nearby where you could sit with your headphones? Make sure you‘re able to get good connection wherever you choose. If you‘re somewhere where you could be interrupted, it‘s easier to use your phone and headphones to signal that you‘re busy, than looking at a laptop screen during a session. This also gives you the freedom to move if necessary. Once you have found a space, minimise the likelihood of interruptions by turning off notifications, and use the chat function in your sessions if you‘re worried people are listening in.
Talk to your household
There is still some stigma around therapy and seeking help. If it is safe to, speak to those that you live with about how they can accommodate for you during your sessions, by scheduling their outdoor activities at the same time, wearing headphones, or simply agreeing to leave you alone for an hour. Sharing your progress with them can also reduce the mystery around your sessions and make them more inclined to accommodate for your needs.
Use pseudonyms
If you‘re worried about talking about your household while at home, talk to your therapist to agree on fake names and concepts that mask the conversation enough to be unrecognisable to them, while beneficial to you. For example, you could call your mother ‚the girl from English class‘ and discuss your break-up as ‚your friend quitting her job‘.
