Our therapists provide online therapy in Philadelphia, PA

With online therapy, much like with in-person therapy, I begin with a comprehensive needs assessment. Once the client and I have established their focus of treatment, I can then tailor modes of care that will provide the greatest effectiveness and efficiency for success. Building a sense of safety and camaraderie helps the client feel more comfortable with taking the emotional risks necessary for treatment growth. I then use goals as a means of measuring treatment progress, while using a wide range of treatment interventions to help the client work through stages of change. Throughout the whole process, I connect with the client from a stance of validation, nonjudgment, hope, and optimism, and a sense that the client's rooted narratives of self can be reauthored into more positive narratives.

Depending on the particular needs of the client, I might introduce various therapeutic tools/skills to help a person cope. The skills can fit into various categories such as relaxation, self-soothing, emotional regulation, cognitive behavioral techniques, and others. While I introduce traditional skills such as deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation, I also, depending on need, will introduce more obscure skills such as the FTIP skills used for emotional regulation and taken from dialectical behavioral therapy. FTIP skills are neurophysiological actions that trip various switches in a person's nervous system to address more extreme symptoms such as panic, hyperarousal, and emotional escalation. A few other skills that I often introduce are:

• Positive affirmation/mantras - Shifting the mind to focus on more hopeful and confident thoughts particularly of the self in order to shift a person's personal narrative of self.
• Mindfulness - Intentionally noticing your experience with greater detail, exploration, and nonjudgment. This serves many functions, one of which is to gain awareness of the self to more effectively respond to one's own needs.
• Cognitive behavioral skills such as thought stopping and thought restructuring, which serve to address negative thoughts that negatively impact the client's emotional experience and can lead to maladaptive behaviors (e.g. avoidance).
• Parent training approaches - When working with children and families that experience frequent conflict involving a child's engagement in maladaptive behavior, parent involvement and implementation of behavioral interventions consistently are perhaps the greatest mechanisms for change.

I know a client is making meaningful progress in online therapy when they have a decrease in symptoms and demonstrate a greater sense of self-confidence. I work with the client to establish at least one goal and one objective to provide a focus for treatment and an objective means of tracking progress.

Integrating the skills and concepts addressed in sessions into a client's everyday experience is integral for a person's progress. This is individual to each particular client. For some, this may involve engaging in specific behavioral interventions to target specific maladaptive behavior(s). For others, this may involve shifting a daily routine to involve positive affirmation. With CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), practicing cognitive restructuring exercises regularly outside of therapy contributes to expedited change and relief from symptoms. Mental wellness and physical wellness go hand in hand. I work with clients to address other self-care activities such as social connections, fitness, diet, sleep hygiene, etc.

To prepare for your first online therapy session, you should find a comfortable, quiet, and private location with a strong internet signal. In order to make the best use of the intake appointment time, I strongly recommend completing all consents prior to the session and exploring the Zoom platform to avoid technical issues. While many clients and families experience anxiety prior to this first appointment, generally participants find it less intimidating than they imagined.