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“Many people reading this will have heard of online therapy but might find it hard to imagine how it works. What better than to hear from someone who has been there and done that. Here one of my former patients shares her experiences of life in online therapy.

I was a reluctant client at first due to my experience of therapists and years of trying to deal with my issues. Someone passed me the details for Dr Jenner’s therapy and I immediately put it in a drawer and forgot about it. Online therapy…what next?.. I thought. Surely that cannot be effective, so I forgot about it for a few months. Then something happened for the worse and sent me into a spiral that left me depressed with no hope of recovery and resigned to my fate. I had experienced the triple whammy…financial, health and personal problems all at the same time and I felt desperate. As always happens, I could not find his details at first and that depressed me even more. I searched on the internet, found him and made tentative contact. I sent a long email, not really knowing who would read it, if anyone would read it and unsure of the response. I felt bad that I had spilled my guts to a total stranger and regretted my decision to write. Just as I was going to bed one night, I received my answer.

Dr Jenner wrote me a long reply that seemed just to fully understand what I was going through. He didn’t offer solutions, just compassion and empathy and I felt better that at least one person in this wretched world seemed to understand what I was going through. He suggested that we get together online via video and talk about he might be able to help me. I asked him if it would be ok if we did that on the phone first and we set up the call. He called me one evening and we spoke for about an hour….he didn’t say much but what he did say mattered and I felt understood. I signed up for a course of therapy and I started. Due to my financial problems at the time, he allowed me to pay over a period of time.

This enabled me to start. Two hours before our first video session, Dr Jenner called me and asked me if I had any questions and put me at ease about appearing on video.The first session was easier than I had anticipated and I found myself getting more and more comfortable as time went on. It was great to think that I didn’t have to go into town to see my therapist and I guess that is the big advantage for many people. What I found amazing was that Dr Jenner gave me assignments to do from a self-help book between sessions and I was free to contact him by phone or mail if I hit a rough patch. This was never the case with other therapists. I always got an answer within an hour. Was the treatment effective… certainly.

I found that Dr Jenner centred first on the things I could change quickest…things that would have a real positive effect on me and he gave me constant encouragement to set small goals and not procrastinate. He has given me tools to consolidate what we do in session. We are now nine months down the line and I am taking a little hiatus while I go back to my past and rectify a few things. I will be back in therapy in a few months. Despite my early misgivings, Dr Jenner has become a trusted confidant. He has allowed me to get close enough while still keeping the boundaries needed for therapy. I cannot imagine my life now without him in it or doing therapy any other way”.