Telephone Counselling

Telephone Counselling

What is telephone counselling at My Sisters Place?

Telephone counselling, which can also be referred to as phone therapy, phone counselling, telephone therapy or telephone counselling is therapy/counselling that involves you speaking to a My Sisters Place counsellor/therapist via phone to address difficulties you might be experiencing rather than travelling to meet your counsellor/therapist face to face in one of our therapy rooms at My Sisters Place.

Just like face to face counselling/therapy telephone sessions usually take place once a week, on the same day and the same time each week.  This is usually a time and day that fits with your schedule and can be made from a location you choose/prefer.

Telephone counselling has become very popular in recent years and research shows that this form of therapy can be as effective as more familiar face to face therapy with many benefits.

Benefits of Telephone Counselling

• It can feel more convenient and easier way of talking to a counsellor as it fits more flexibly around other commitments, time pressures or other personal situations.
• Therapy can take place from our own home or from any safe location at a time that suits you.
• For some it feels easier not being seen going into a counselling service and worrying about seeing someone they know either in the service or someone seeing them going into the service.
• You may find it easier to express feelings on the phone rather than face to face, some people say they actually find it easier to talk about some things when they are not in the same room as the person.
• It is a way of communicating that we are all used to using and this can make it feel a little easier.
• You may feel too anxious to go to new places but still want to access some counselling.
• You can still access counselling and access support if you have a physical condition that makes it difficult for you attend counselling at My Sisters Place.
• It can be more affordable – even though the services that we offer are free of charge telephone counselling can cut cost of travelling to and from sessions.

Disadvantages of Telephone Counselling

• As you are responsible for ensuring privacy at your end you will need a private and confidential space where you can talk in confidence, where you will not be overhead or where someone may walk in on your session. Sometimes if others are close by that may impact on what you share with the counsellor during the session as you may find that you are more distracted if there are other people, partners, children other family members around.
• You may feel that it’s harder to communicate what you are feeling if you are unable to see the person as you would in a face to face session, as we often pick up information and read emotions through facial expressions, body language etc and these cue’ s are not available via phone.
• You may find that you say things that you may not have been able to say face to face but this might lead to unexpectedly feel heightened emotional responses very quickly – although this part of therapy and your counsellor would explore this with you it is something to be aware of.
• There may be technological problems which can arise on a call. The call signal may be poor or there may be interference that may affect the session or the signal may be lost resulting in the loss of the call.

As with all types of counselling/therapy each has its advantages and disadvantages. Here is a check list of areas to consider and think about that might help you decide if telephone counselling is the right choice for you. Click Things to consider for Telephone Counselling to help you decide.

If you find you have answered no to many of the questions in ‘Things to Consider for Telephone Counselling’ it may be that this type of therapy may not be suitable for you at this time.

Next step

If after considering the above you would like to progress with telephone counselling please either email, call or text to the following:

EMAIL

Click to Email Counselling Service

TELEPHONE

01642 256036 (direct line)

TEXT

TELEPHONE COUNSELLING REQUEST to 07941 976087

The counselling team will then contact you directly to provide you with more information

As a BACP Accredited Service My Sisters Place Counselling and Therapeutic Services work within the BACP Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions