Someone has decided to start therapy. She works full time, has two children and lives forty minutes from the practice. She books in-person sessions because that feels like the real version, and cancels three of the first six.
She would have attended every one of them from her kitchen after the children were in bed.
When in person suits better
It suits where somebody has no private space at home, where being out of the house is part of the value, where the work benefits from a neutral room, where technology is a barrier and where somebody simply finds the physical presence of another person important.
When online suits better
It suits where travel is a real obstacle, where childcare makes fixed appointments difficult, where somebody would otherwise not start at all, where a specific specialism is not available locally, and where being at home makes it easier to speak openly.
Ask about privacy at home
The practical question that decides it. Someone who cannot speak freely because of who else is in the house needs to be in a room, and this should be raised gently rather than assumed either way.
Explain the practical requirements
A device, a connection, headphones and a private space for the session length. Publishing it prevents a first session spent troubleshooting.
Explain what happens if the connection fails
Whether the session is continued by phone, rescheduled or made up. Anxiety about technology is a genuine barrier and this settles it.
Publish whether formats can be mixed
Mostly online with occasional in-person sessions, or switching as circumstances change. Flexibility is what keeps people in therapy through a busy period.
Be honest about what is not suitable
Some work, and some circumstances, are better in a room, and a therapist may say so. Publishing that this is assessed rather than assumed is honest.
Explain the confidentiality position for online sessions
What platform, what it means for privacy and what the therapist does at their end. People worry about this specifically and rarely ask.
Keep the fee position clear
Whether online sessions cost the same, and why. Clients expect a discount and are usually wrong about why one might apply.
Route crisis regardless of format
Urgent support routes must be visible for everyone, and remote clients may be further from help, which makes it more important rather than less.
Say what a first online session involves
People worry about staring at themselves on a screen, about awkward silences and about whether it will feel like a real conversation. Describing how a first remote session actually goes, and that most people stop noticing the screen within a few minutes, addresses a hesitation that has nothing to do with the therapy itself.
Fees and availability arrive together
They are covered in therapy fees, sessions and availability questions.
Some work has specific format needs
It is covered in couples and family therapy enquiries handled sensitively, remote clients behave as in online coaching enquiries from around the world, and the boundaries are those in how to handle sensitive questions in your chatbot.
Getting started
Publish both formats, what each requires and whether they can be mixed, then capture enquiries gently at any hour with crisis routes shown first. SpideyChat for therapy practices answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about answers on the features page.