4 Benefits of Online Christian Counseling

Every person may need counseling at some point in life to help them cope with life’s challenging circumstances. Whether it be a sudden loss, unforgiveness, marriage, or family issue, people need counselors to help them deal with their pain and give them practical strategies to move forward. Unfortunately, counseling still carries a stigma.

Many people believe counseling is needed only when something is wrong. However, counseling can be beneficial no matter what season of life you are in. Online Christian counseling might benefit people who need counseling but face obstacles that prevent them from going for it. Perhaps they believe the stigma and don’t want people to think something is wrong with them.

4 Benefits of Online Christian Counseling

In light of that, here are four benefits of online Christian counseling:

Quicker Openings

Counseling centers were inundated with clients after COVID. Many people needed counseling to help them cope with the isolation and fear COVID-19 brought. Because of the high volume, openings have not always been readily available. Some people may have to wait months or even over a year to get an appointment. This certainly won’t do for someone dealing with a problem who needs immediate help.

However, a person exploring online Christian counseling may find there are quicker openings. With the proliferation of apps like Zoom, counselors can each occupy a Zoom room and take clients for 50-minute sessions back-to-back.

This will allow for more appointment times because Zoom can open many rooms, and a counseling center can take many more clients depending on the number of available counselors. Every person will get an individualized telehealth appointment with the counselor without having to worry about a shortage of available therapists or rooms to meet in.

Access To Counselors From Around The Country

Because you are not limited to your local counseling center, telehealth appointments may be available throughout the United States. For example, you may be able to find an immediate appointment with a counselor who lives in North Carolina, even if you don’t live in that state. This will allow you more opportunities to meet with a therapist specializing in your issue.

For example, your local counseling center may lack marriage and family therapy counselors, but you may be able to find an online telehealth appointment with an LMFT. Because they specialize in that field, they may have quicker openings.

You also allow yourself opportunities to get with therapists with more knowledge and expertise in your field. An LMFT will specialize in understanding family and marriage therapy. A person who specializes in drug counseling, for example, may be helpful in processing generalized issues but will only have specialized expertise in drug and addiction counseling. This may only benefit you if that’s your field or area in which you need help.

Because people live in different states and different areas of the United States, their strategies might be different depending on the culture in which they live. For example, a person who is a therapist in the Bible Belt may have different strategies regarding God and the local church because those things are a more significant part of their culture.

However, the therapist’s strategies may be more secularized in areas like New England, where Christian counseling centers are scarce. Be sure to research where the therapist is located and what advice they can give you based on their experience. Please make sure you align with their philosophy of counseling to ensure they don’t use techniques that stem from atheistic psychology such as that of Freud or Jung.

No In-Person Anxiety

Although meeting with your counselor face-to-face is most beneficial, telehealth might be good for someone who is super shy about experiencing counseling for the first time. It may be less intimidating to look at someone from a screen than to have to interact with someone face-to-face.

People with difficulty dealing with their feelings may also have the luxury of turning off their sound or camera if they need a minute to take a break from the session. A person who meets in person may not have that luxury.

Sitting in front of a screen lessens the anxiety of having someone in the room with you looking at you and making you feel as if they are judging or condemning you. It is less intimidating to look at a screen than in person because a screen gives clients physical distance from their counselors.

A person who struggles with anxiety may have added anxiety placed upon them by going in person to see someone. There’s still emotional distance when you are in front of a screen rather than in person. A person who shows anxiety may need this extra buffer to lessen the amount of anxiety they have before they go to a counseling session.

No Embarrassment Of Local Centers

Although there are sound machines and other ways to muffle the sound outside each office and counseling center, there is still a risk of someone overhearing your conversation. If you are worried about privacy, counseling can be done through telehealth from your home. This will allow you more privacy to speak openly about your problems.

Additionally, by doing it in the comfort of your home, you don’t have to worry about being seen coming in or out of the office or going to your car after a session. By doing telehealth in your home, you can do so in comfortable attire and with less stress than having to be in a formal counseling office.

If you are well-known in your town, it may be intimidating to discover that a friend or someone from your church saw you coming out of a counseling session. Doing counseling from your home means you can keep that fact private.

The privacy factor of telehealth appointments is also good if you are dealing with a significant traumatic event. A person who has been raped, molested, or has endured some abuse may do well to talk about this in their own home. Their home is a safe space that they have created for themselves.

A formal counseling session is stiffer and requires more effort on your part. A person who needs to cry or gets loud regarding their sadness or the problems they are discussing might be better able to express themselves more openly in their home rather than in a counseling center where someone could overhear them.

Counseling can be beneficial for every person who has ever experienced trauma, abuse, or any problematic situation. However, due to the adverse effects of COVID, people are still going to counseling sessions to deal with the mental and health effects COVID-19 brought on our society four years ago. People struggling with new issues now may need a counseling session immediately.

Telehealth allows them to make appointments more quickly, have access to people with expertise in their field, and have some emotional distance behind a screen without the embarrassment of being seen in their local town.

Having a friend or acquaintance tell you they saw you coming out of a counseling center can be uncomfortable. Due to the nature of the subject matter, counseling requires an element of privacy. Confidentiality is vital to healing; doing it from home may be best.

When these many advantages of telehealth counseling are weighed against those of counseling in a formal office, many people afraid to go to counseling for the first time may feel more comfortable behind their screens in the comfort of their homes. This opens the door for people to be introduced to counseling who may have never been introduced before, and it will be highly beneficial both immediately and in the long term.