Working online with Covid-19
‘19’ (c) Dylan Burns 2020
I have never been a fan of working online, but like many others, I have been surprised by the power and intimacy of sessions since lockdown began. These extraordinary times have challenged therapists like myself to engage in new ways with our work. Here are a few observations about what’s different.
There is an increased urgency and intensity. We are in an unprecedented crisis. The world will never be the same, and we are all waking up to the larger ecological crisis that needs even more radical responses. Clients are considering how they, too, might not be the same after lockdown ends.
A shared experience. None of us can pretend to be unaffected by this crisis, and our clients want to know how we are. It would seem weird not to acknowledge this, and answer.
Some clients, who find working face to face too intense, are liberated by the additional distance provided by the screen.
Others find it more difficult to feel connected, or have no privacy at home, and prefer to wait until we can work face to face again.
Working with people ‘in’ their homes means that they can show me where they live. They are looking at or handling objects in their home, and we explore how that feels and what it means. We are sharing files, poems, stories.
Working with touch is possible. A client has a pain between the shoulder blades, and I suggest that this is the one place he can't reach for himself. It is also the place behind the heart. And so I suggest that if I were present, I would offer to put my hand there in support. This intention to touch produces profound effects that reverberate for weeks.
All of this has shown me that therapy is not limited to being in the same physical space. A minority of my clients have decided not to continue for now, but for the most part the work goes on. In many cases, the new framework opens up creative possibilities and invites therapist and client to find ways to relate more deeply.
If you are considering working online, but are uncertain about whether it would work for you, I invite you to get in touch.
