Your First Counseling Session

Video Counseling

Video counseling by its very nature is not the same as face-to-face counseling. Video counseling has some great advantages such as access to a greater choice of therapists, reduced travel time and expense, and, of course, increased convenience, but it also carries some risks you need to be aware of. For instance:

• the risk of your counselor not being aware of your physical location and so not being able to direct help to you should you need it;
• the risk of a potential release of private information stored on your own devices through viruses and scams;
• the risk of our conversation being overheard by anyone near you should you not place yourself in a private area.

Our commitment to you is to provide a secure electronic medium through which to offer your therapy, a secure means of protecting your personal information, and a private location from which to speak with you. Should you partner with your therapist to do the same and confirm to them your physical location at each session, the risks are very low; however, these are issues to consider prior to beginning video counseling.

Technical Policies

We use a healthcare-enabled version of Zoom® for secure, Internet-based video calls with you. The purpose of these policies is to educate you on the use of Zoom® as a medium to provide you with therapy.

• Please have Zoom® installed and ready to go prior to our first session together by visiting https://zoom.us/download
• We also recommend you try a test call well before our first session: https://zoom.us/test
• Please use a laptop or tablet where possible. It should be set up or propped up in a fixed position (preferably a desk or table) to prevent your counselor from getting motion sickness! Also please be sure you are in a well-lit, private location that will be free from interruption and has limited background noise.
• For individual sessions, we require you to use earbuds or a headset with a microphone: this ensures nobody can overhear what we say and also saves us from experiencing distracting feedback and other background noise so that we can focus on helping you.
• We cannot ensure the security of your device or the connection between us as we do not have any control over whether or not the connection is secure.
• Zoom® will not be set up to record our actual communications, but it does record and share identifying information about its users and about their internet traffic patterns. **Please note that it is unethical to record sessions unless you obtain the written permission of both client(s) and counselor.
• You are responsible to read and agree to all of Zoom’s terms & conditions, rules, regulations, and limitations.
• Video counseling cannot be done safely while driving. Please be aware that your counselor will disconnect the call if you choose to drive during the call.
• You must make arrangements to have no distractions or interruptions during your session. Also, I highly recommend your cell phone be kept in another room or turned off completely during the session. The “buzz” of a text message can very easily disrupt your process and distract you from valuable insight.
• A couple of minutes prior to the start of the appointment time, please join the meeting. Your counselor will join as soon as they are able and are almost always punctual.
• You will not hold your counselor responsible for any technical issues or other issues beyond their control resulting in a breach of confidentiality.
• You cannot use Zoom® or your counselor’s phone number as a method to contact them in case of an emergency. In the case of an emergency, you must dial 911.