Tag Archives: covid-19

Working within Covid-19

My practice has changed with Covid-19, and since March 2020 I have only been meeting clients online. We are all sharing this pandemic, we all know what lockdown and quarantine mean, and how they feel. It’s another aspect of the human condition we now share.

But your experience of it is different to mine, and even though we are going through it together, it will feel unique to us all.

Working within Covid-19: changes

So much has changed since March 2020. Many of us have found our mental health suffering, and are finding it harder to enjoy our lives as we used to. We might have had more time on our hands, and found ourselves using this time to go over our pasts or our futures. If we’ve had to spend more time on our own, voices from our pasts might have started making themselves heard in our heads. As things change, and we can travel and meet people, we might find this stressful or overwhelming.

Living within a global pandemic means we may have been forced to confront fears of death, both our own, those close to us, and nameless thousands of others.

Whatever the pandemic has brought to you, talking about it can help.

Counselling is a place where you can say the unsayable and show the parts of yourself, both those you are proud of, and the parts you’d rather hide. There is something about having the space to do this that is healing, and can help you make sense of yourself and your life.

Working within Covid-19: online

In March 2020, like many of us, I moved my counselling practice online. I was someone who didn’t want to work online, and who thought that online sessions were second best to working face to face. I was nervous about using the technology, and didn’t like being able to see my own face on screen.

Since then I have embraced online working. I have re-trained and become a professional member of ACTO (Association for Counselling and Therapy Online). Now, working online feels as natural as working face to face.

More than that, I have seen how working online has benefits for the client. Seeing a counsellor online means that you can be in a place that you choose, somewhere safe and comfortable. The relationship has become more equal: we are both in our own spaces, we are both making the connection. The relationship is just as deep, as nuanced and as helpful – the relationship is in a new place, but it works just the same.