ABSTRACT

Many therapists who practice in traditional face-to-face settings are finding that communication that formerly happened by phone or in the context of a session has moved to email. As a result, they need to determine how to weave online tools into the fabric of face-to-face practice. The American Psychology Association’s (APA) Center for Workforce Studies conducted a study that showed that overall email use with clients for service delivery more than tripled among practicing psychologists from 2000 to 2008, with approximately 10% of those sampled using it weekly or more in 2008. Therapists need to prepare themselves and their patients for these kinds of problems and create back-up plans to address them. Technical problems cannot entirely be avoided, but a clear communication plan and agreed-upon strategies for dealing with problems will go a long way toward mitigating their effects. Ms. DeeAnna Nagel believes that several things are required for e-therapy to become more mainstream.