LZcybershrink for online therapy

Hi, I'm Liz.

I'm a psychotherapist with 30 years experience. By training, I'm a licensed clinical social worker and a credentialed alcoholism and substance abuse counselor. I'm proud to have been in the vanguard of mental health professionals, including psychologists, psychiatrists, and family therapists as well as counselors and social workers, who believe people can be helped effectively through online counseling or online therapy (e-therapy).

Here are some of the questions that people who are considering or even just wondering about online therapy ask most frequently.

Is online therapy for me?
If you are in a severe emotional or medical crisis, thinking of killing or hurting yourself, or feeling completely out of control at this moment, STOP reading right now. Call 911 (999 in the UK, 112 in the EU), go to your local emergency room, or contact someone close by who cares about you and ask them to help you get the help you need.

If you are thinking about going into therapy, lonely, unhappy, mildly to moderately depressed or anxious, seeking personal growth, wanting help with life choices, relationships, family issues, addictions, or creativity, or in need of support and understanding, GO ON reading.

Online therapy may be a good choice for you
if you meet some of the following criteria:

• You are comfortable on the Internet, especially chat and email; if you usually communicate only by texting or tweeting, you'll need to be willing to expand and deepen the way you communicate online

• You use the keyboard more or less as fast as you think or speak (or you have voice activation software, so you can transmit without typing)

• You like expressing yourself through the written word

Online therapy may also be a good choice
if you fall into one or more of the following categories:

• You have difficulty leaving your home due to disability, caregiving responsibilities, or some other reason

• Your work involves a great deal of travel, so you cannot make a commitment to a regular schedule of face-to-face therapy sessions

• You live in an area where there are few or no licensed or certified helping professionals such as social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists available to do psychotherapy

• You live in a community or work in a field in which it may be important not to reveal that you are in therapy or the issues that you need to talk about

• You are too busy to spend time commuting to a therapist's office

• Your schedule varies from week to week so that you need scheduling flexibility in order to commit to therapy

• You are deaf or hard-of-hearing and typing with your therapist is the most direct method for getting therapy

• You are blind or have low vision and face-to-face contact with a therapist is not important to you

• You are uncomfortable around people, but think you might be able to open up in a chat room with a caring therapist

• You are in the military and want safe and confidential access to support with stresses and family issues

• You and your spouse or partner want to work as a couple on your marriage or relationship, but you are currently located in different communities, states, or countries

Are you the therapist for me?
Like any close relationship, the therapeutic relationship works through a combination of good fit, luck, and lots of hard work. It differs from other relationships in that we are both there to focus on your needs: you never have to take turns or worry about my feelings. I have worked with clients on the Internet by chat and email since the year 2000. In addition, I have a lot of experience in a number of different fields. I've been a clinician, supervisor, and program director in several addictions programs, working with very successful people as well as those who are needy and special programs for women and for the homeless. I love working with people in recovery. I have specialized in codependency issues, dealing with a drinking or drugging partner or other loved one, and adult children of alcoholics and other dysfunctional families for many years. I am very much interested in empowering and supporting women and helping them to make the most of their strengths. I’m also happy to work with men, who may find therapy gives them new ways of dealing with feelings and helps them achieve their goals. As a published fiction writer, poet, and singer/songwriter with many years experience in the ups and downs of getting heard, I can help you with the creative process and with the challenges of putting your art into the marketplace. I take an affirmative approach to working with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clients, and I have a variety of techniques for helping couples of all kinds to get along better. I can also help you improve your ability to have good relationships, both by looking with you at your personal history and working through some of the problems in our interactions in treatment. Finally, I can support you through transitions and stuck points in the workplace. If any of this clicks for you, I'd love to work with you!

Where do we meet?
You will find two chat rooms on the Liz's Cyberoffice page. The LivePerson chat room offers a completely private one-on-one chat. You don’t have to download any software to use it, and no one else can enter while we’re talking. If you see the purple icon that says “Click for a real person” (on this page, the Cyberoffice page, or the Home page), it means I am available and can talk briefly with you now. You'll "ring the bell" and enter the same way for a scheduled session. When the purple icon says “Leave a message,” it means I'm not available. You'll get a form that will allow you to send a message that will reach me via email. The Group Room is a private, secure chat room that appears only on this site and is not listed anywhere. You need to be registered and given a password to use it. It can be used for couples and groups as well as individual sessions.

Can we work together by email?
Some clients prefer to get counseling by email for a variety of reasons. It may feel safer and/or more intimate. They may prefer to think at greater length about what they want to say and have a chance to go over it before they send it as well as being able to read the therapist's reply at their own pace. See below for the fee for one substantive reply to your counseling email. Chat and email are both effective ways of getting professional help, so choose the one that feels most comfortable for you. If you're not sure, we can talk about it in our first session.

How do I pay?
Payment is made in advance for each session through Paypal.com, which is a secure online payment service that many millions of Internet users find reliable and easy to use. Payments should be directed to Elizabeth Zelvin.

FEES

Why do I have to pay?
Therapy or counseling by a licensed social worker, psychologist, or counselor is a skilled service like those offered by other professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, and dentists. When you become my client, I make a commitment to you backed not only by my training and experience, but also by my professional ethics. The fee is your part of the bargain. My part includes accepting responsibility for our work together, maintaining confidentiality, behaving professionally toward you at all times, and giving priority to your emotional needs.

Why a professional?
Many visitors who contact me through this site start out by saying they “just need advice” or are “looking for someone to talk to.” So why choose a professional? Real counseling or therapy offers a lot more than just an ear to listen or a shoulder to cry on. A professional is more likely to help you get unstuck and make some real changes, in both your life and how you feel. Maybe you are afraid that there is “something wrong with you.” A helping professional in a recognized discipline like social work or psychology is trained to know the difference and help effectively whether your trouble is mild or severe, either through “talk therapy” (online or face to face) or by referring you to a qualified professional whose skills will match your issue. Finally, do you really want a stranger who doesn’t know you and whose qualifications are unknown to make the major decisions in your life? If you click on a site where someone will tell you instantly whether to leave your spouse, quit your job, or skip the operation, who will have to live with the consequences if it doesn’t turn out the way you hope? Not that stranger in cyberspace, but you. Counseling or therapy is a process in which, over time, the therapist gets to know you, helps you make the most of your strengths, and empowers you to make the choices that only you can make.

What about confidentiality?
As your therapist, I am bound by professional ethics to consider the confidentiality of our work a sacred trust, just as I would in office practice. While nothing on the Internet is hacker proof, the secure and private chat rooms on this site should protect us from intrusion in all reasonable circumstances. If we meet in the LivePerson chat room, no more than two people (you and I) can enter the room at any time. The chat room is set up so that everything we say when we're in it is deleted when you leave the site. Records are kept only in secure archives. If you choose to keep your own record of a session, you may do so by printing or copying and pasting the text immediately after the session. The group room, which is protected by individual passwords and an access log, is used primarily for groups and trainings, but you may request an individual session there. No one else will be allowed to enter the room while we are having our individual session. If you choose, you may log your session by cutting and pasting or printing the text when it ends. No transcript is stored on any server or computer. The confidentiality of electronic and printed records created and maintained by you is your sole responsibility.

If you decide to have one or more sessions with me, you will be asked to read and agree to a statement on Informed Consent.

How long does online therapy last?
Like face to face therapy, how long online counseling or therapy lasts depends on your issues and your willingness to work on them. I do not offer "advice" or a quick solution to your problem. My job is to empower you to make life decisions that are right for you and to give you some tools for doing so. What often happens is that we meet a few times so that you can see whether you feel comfortable working online and how you like working with me. If it seems like a good fit, we'll set some goals and objectives. How long we work together will depend to a great extent on what those goals are and what other issues appear in the course of treatment.

Page contents ©2001,2005, 2007-2017 Elizabeth Zelvin. Revised page design ©2005, 2007, 2016 Elizabeth Zelvin and COIN Services.
Webmaster: COIN Services. All line drawings ©2001, 2005 Elizabeth Zelvin.