Before Skype, before FaceTime, before Zoom, there was…the telephone. As a therapist in the Washington DC metro area, I often had clients who would get tied up at work, or stuck in traffic on the Baltimore Washington Parkway, or needed to stay home with a sick child. In those days, arrangements would be made, and they’d call me up on my landline and we’d hold a session by phone.
With the advent of Skype, I began to be able to better keep up with my clients who traveled for work. Whether it was Germany, Pakistan, or Tanzania, therapy could continue after they had left the DC area.
Sometimes, the video froze, or the sound didn’t synchronize with the picture. There was a lot of “Oh sorry, you froze for a second – what were you saying?” Annoying, but ultimately, do-able.
Enter coronavirus, stay at home orders, and social distancing. Online therapy is now not just an option, but a necessity. And it will be, for the foreseeable future.