How effective teletherapy is, really depends on the individual and their reasons for seeking therapy. Since it first began to be used as a treatment method more than 20 years ago, psychological research has explored the different ways teletherapy has been used, and it’s effectiveness.

Safety Alliance Group Inc. is using teletherapy for a range of extreme circumstances or to protect the safety and privacy of our clients.

Benefits of Teletherapy for Patients

Aside from its equal effectiveness as a therapy treatment, there are many other benefits to teletherapy for patients seeking it out. A few notable ones include: 

1. Accessible to More People

For individuals living in rural communities, living with a disability that makes travel difficult, or those who are just unsure about trying therapy for the first time. Teletherapy save time and avoid paying transportation or baby sitter fees. teletherapy is a highly beneficial option. Teletherapy removes many of the barriers – physical, emotional, or mental – towards seeking out therapy and makes it accessible for more people.

2. Teletherapy Offers Greater Flexibility

It’s easy to put off attending therapy when sessions are offered during limited office hours. For many people who already have a lot of commitments to juggle, seeking out this form of support can easily be bumped down the priority list. When a therapist can be readily available at a time that suits the patient, it offers greater flexibility and could even encourage more people to seek the right support when they need it most.

3. Reduced wait times

It might seem like a small benefit, but increased flexibility also means reduced waiting times for patients wanting to speak with a therapist urgently or for the first time. It can take a lot of courage making an appointment for therapy, and the less time someone has to wait, the more likely it will be they’ll follow through and get the help they need.

Taking time off from work to battle traffic while going to the therapist, wasting even more time in the waiting room, having the session, and then battling traffic to return to work, is also a huge deterrent to many. Being able to brew a quick coffee, step into a private room for the scheduled therapy session, and ready to return fairly soon to ‘work-mode’ is a much more viable solution for many office workers.

4. Creates a Safer Environment

That feeling of anxiety many experiences when sitting in the waiting room of the dentist or doctor surgery? It’s the same anxiety experienced when waiting for a therapy session. The process of going to a new environment to meet with a therapist can be a stressful one. Teletherapy alleviates this stress by allowing patients to familiarize themselves with the process in the comfort of their own home.

1. Offers Greater Flexibility and Work-Life Balance

As with patients, the ability to work from the security of a home office or private therapy room offers therapists greater flexibility and availability to their patients. For therapists with multiple other life commitments, this flexible can make a huge difference in finding a positive work-life balance.

2. Lowers Overheads for Delivering Therapy

With teletherapy, the therapist can deliver from any location that works for them, so a private home office works well. By removing the need for an external office location, therapists can significantly reduce their overhead financial costs, meaning they can focus more on professional development and patient support.

3. Offers a Greater Sense of Safety

Therapists often take a risk when taking on new patients. People can react and behave in unexpected ways when working through the therapeutically process, and sometimes this can present itself in negative or even aggressive ways. For therapists working with new clients or clients with pre-diagnosed severe mental illness, teletherapy can allow them a safe distance to get to know the patient before moving to face-to-face therapy if deemed necessary.

4. Opens up New Opportunities and Areas of Specialism

Teletherapy also has the benefit of offering therapists the ability to work with new patients, anywhere in the world. This can help them find not only new patients but patients they might not otherwise get the opportunity to support and engage with. This could include patients in the prison service, remote schools or communities, or patients restricted to hospitals.