The Journey to Becoming an Online Therapist
By: Dr. Chrissy Davis, Ph.D
“Teletherapy” is a term prior to 2020 that many of us as therapists shied away from. The rules and regulations of how to log on with a client seemed tricky, and Zoom was not a household name. Many of us couldn’t imagine seeing our clients across a screen instead of in the chair next to us! We wondered if telehealth was here to stay. But now, according to Health and Human Services (2022), 23% of adults reported accessing mental health telehealth services in the previous year, with 19% of kiddos using online therapy services.
There was an increase in interest in telehealth therapy services too - according to the American Psychiatric Association (2021) from 2020 to 2021, an increase of 49% of Americans to 59% stated they would be interested in online mental health treatment. In this study, younger adults were more likely to utilize it than older adults, and when race was examined as a factor, for Black and Hispanic adults, there was little difference in interest. So it seems that there is not only a general increase in online therapy services, but it’s also increasingly appealing for many people. What does this mean, and how does someone even become a teletherapist?
When I decided to become a therapist, I never dreamed that I would see the majority of my clients through telehealth in the future. The journey to get here wasn’t quite what I imagined (meaning, I never envisioned a global pandemic during graduate school), but I am really happy that I’m able to provide services to people who may have not considered therapy as an option for them before! While some folks prefer to return back to in-person services, it seems teletherapy is here to stay. But - how did I get here? And how do you get here if this is a career path you’re interested in, too?
What does a Master’s program look like to become a therapist?
To become a therapist, you’ll need at least a Master’s degree in counseling, clinical psychology, or social work. Usually, this is a 2-3 year commitment with your first year or so being mostly coursework, and then you participate in what many states in the U.S. call practicums. These are opportunities to work in community mental health, psychiatric hospital settings, college counseling centers, or private practice to receive training under an Master level clinician’s license. Sometimes these opportunities are paid, but many times they are not (and this is an aspect of our field that I hope changes someday for more equitable training opportunities). Practicum is a really unique opportunity to work with hands-on experiences with clients, learn your style as a therapist, and have many supervisors seeing your work with clients and giving you feedback. Once you get your degree, then you take a licensure exam alongside supervised hours to become a licensed counselor.
What does a doctorate (PhD or PsyD) program look like to become a therapist?
To get a PhD or PsyD in psychology in order to practice therapy, it requires the bones of a Master’s program, additional classes, additional practicum, a residency internship (such as what M.D.’s and pharmacists do), and writing a dissertation. You also typically have opportunities to be a Graduate Assistant to teach classes, or a Research Assistant, to serve on research teams. To become a doctor, you’ll be creating your own research through your dissertation to give back to the field. The additional experience with clients and research can give clinicians an idea of which clients they work best with, and what they’d like their advocacy and research efforts to be moving forward. Similarly to the Master’s degree route, you will obtain a license after completion of your degree to become a Licensed Psychologist.
How do I practice teletherapy?
In order to practice teletherapy, you’ll need to either work for an agency that has HIPAA-compliant software to video chat with clients, or purchase your own secure platform if you support your own private practice. You are able to seek these employment opportunities after receiving your degree, and working on your state license. Once you feel efficacious on how to keep client information confidential, you set up a space in your home that is confidential, and encourage clients to do the same for their own space when they log in to meet with you. We also participate in continuing education courses alongside our licensure to ensure we are keeping up to date with issues, trends, and evidence-based practices, and you can take continuing education specifically for providing telehealth if that is an area you are seeking additional training in.
My journey to this was a little unique, as it was for many folks who were in the middle of their graduate school training when the pandemic hit. The majority of my supervised experience was in-person. Then suddenly, I was running therapy groups from my bedroom in March 2020 and Zooming with my supervisors. This change was hard at first, but then I felt increasingly confident. I learned we can connect and get to know each other online, especially when it was our only option. I learned how to explain to some of the older adults I worked with how to use various technology platforms, and my Gen Z college student clients definitely taught me a thing or two! It was a learning curve for us all, but after time it became normal. It is now common practice in training programs to teach therapists on in-person and telehealth services.
We as therapists jumped into action and learned the in’s and out’s of teletherapy pretty quickly in 2020. Sometimes when we need to learn a way to help rapidly, it’s amazing what we can discover! I’m glad teletherapy is an option not only for my clients to get the accessible care they need, I’m also glad for myself it is an option - to have a work-life balance and flexibility I enjoy in order to be a good listener, clinician, and coworker. Plus, having my cat as a coworker is pretty cool too.
If you have questions about how to become a teletherapist, I encourage you to ask to colleagues, friends, professors, and mentors about their journey, and learn more about what could work for you! It is a career I feel very grateful to have, even if it isn’t what I thought it would be!So next time you log into your therapy session, maybe you can plan for it to be on a day you have less meetings to log into. Maybe, you can take a minute to grab a drink of water and a snack before you log in to the appointment. You can grab Kleenex if you want. You can feel empowered to write down what’s bothering you throughout the week, and notice your feelings with curiosity instead of judgment or shame. You can log in, pull up your notes app, take a deep breath, and when your therapist says, “What would you like to talk about today?”... you’ll be ready!
About:
Dr. Chrissy Davis, Ph.D (she/her) is psychotherapist for And Still We Rise. She is under the supervision of Dr. Natasha Holmes. Learn more about Chrissy here.