Elaine Devlin, NCPS

Approaches that translate well to online therapy

Client-Centred Therapy puts the person’s experience at the centre of sessions. The therapist listens without judgement and follows the person’s lead to build understanding and self-direction. This approach helps when someone needs space to talk through painful feelings and to regain confidence in their choices.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT, focuses on spotting unhelpful thinking and testing small behaviour changes. Online CBT often uses short exercises between sessions to reduce panic, tackle social anxiety and change patterns that feed depression.

Emotionally-Focused Therapy helps people notice, name and work with strong emotions. It can be useful for reducing intense anxiety, processing grief, or coping with trauma-related reactions by learning different ways to soothe and respond to feelings.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will discuss goals and preferences and suggest which methods to try first. This is a collaborative process and can be adjusted as therapy progresses so the plan stays useful and realistic.

Online sessions offer practical benefits. Video calls let people maintain visual contact and use normal session structure. Phone sessions need less bandwidth and can be easier to fit into a busy day. Live chat or text messaging are helpful for shorter check-ins, journalling between sessions or when someone prefers writing to speaking. These options make it simpler to keep continuity of care and to fit therapy around work, family and other commitments.