There are both practical and technical considerations. Here are some things you might like to consider.

Practical considerations

  • I encourage you to treat the online session as you would an in-person session and implement as many of the same boundaries as possible.
  • Find a comfortable space with privacy. This could be a comfortable armchair, your office desk, garden, or parked car for example.
  • If there are other people in the house, you may wish to put a note on the door of the room requesting that other people not disturb you except in an emergency.
  • I encourage you to use headphones or earphones. This keeps the content of our sessions private, improves sound quality, and also minimises distractions.
  • Please close other applications and browser windows on your device, and put your phone on silent or turn it off just as we do in person.
  • You are welcome to bring water or a cup of tea or coffee with you to the session.
  • Please avoid alcohol and drugs prior to and during the session and please do not smoke or vape during the session.
  • Your pet is welcome to join you; however, it is important to be aware that this could be distracting for either or both of us.
  • Give yourself time after the session to process the session before rejoining your family, working, or making other calls.

Technology considerations

  • I use a secure video conferencing platform called Zoom in order to protect our privacy and confidentiality. Our calls cannot be intercepted or recorded. A lot of people have become familiar with Zoom given the restrictions of Covid19, but I can talk you through the features of it once we are online if you feel you need to gain more knowledge.
  • When you book an appointment, you will receive an email containing the link for you to join the session at the scheduled time.
  • You may like to download Zoom prior to our session in preparation, however, no prior download is necessary and you may connect directly from the link provided in your confirmation/reminder emails.
  • Bandwidth Requirements – The call quality on Zoom is usually very good. It can be improved by you using an Ethernet connection as opposed to Wi-Fi, however, Wi-Fi or 4G will usually work well too. Usually, if your internet is good enough to stream YouTube or Netflix, it is good enough for video conferencing. I recommend closing all other browser windows and programmes running in the background to make the call quality as good as possible.
  • Troubleshooting In the event that it is not possible to connect using a video conferencing platform, I suggest trying to reconnect twice. If that is not successful we can agree to have the session on the telephone instead and try to iron out any difficulties together.