Tips for Online Therapy
4/15/26 | By: Dr. Harron
Make sure your therapist is licensed in the state where you physically live.
Licensure laws are odd when it comes to telehealth, but they exist in order to protect the public from those who would call themselves therapist, but not get the education or training in needed in order to treat people effectively. It is still vitally important when you are doing telehealth to ensure that the therapist you are working with is licensed in the state that you are in. This technically is supposed to still apply when you are on vacation, traveling for work or home from school, but in many of cases the ethical mandate for continuity of care may be seen as the more important value to your therapist.
Make sure your therapist is using a HIPAA-based platform
Not all online therapy is equally private. If your therapist uses a therapist that isn’t HIPAA-encrypted, the level of secure that technology needs to be in order to meet standards for health care privacy, it might be possible for people to view or download parts of your session. Some platforms that do not make the grade include FaceTime and the non-upgraded version of Zoom. Some that do as of this writing include doxy.me, Simple Practice, and VSee. A platform is not HIPAA-compliant if it will not provide a Business Associate Agreement (BAA), a document pledging that all employees of the technology company will treat your information with privacy, to your therapist.
Choose your therapist carefully
The tips for finding a therapist from Dr. Harron’s blog post on the topic still apply. Reflect on what you’re looking for in a therapist and make sure your therapist has particular expertise for the issue you are struggling with. Interview several therapists and see who you feel most comfortable with.
Make sure your internet connection is working well
It’s important to beta test your internet before sessions. Over the last several weeks, since moving fully to telehealth, we’ve had clients’ internet cut out at the worst possible moments more than once.
Make sure you have privacy
If you live with family or roommates, you may need to get creative by going to a car, a bathroom, or even an isolated outdoor space (you can use your phone for a hot spot if you have one). You won’t be able to speak as freely as you really should be able to with your therapist if you have the sense that someone might be listening in.
Get rid of notifications
Notifications can be distracting, especially if they deal with stressful topics such as work or news updates. Pause notifications for the duration of your session so that you will be able to concentrate fully on your thoughts, feelings and body sensations.
Limit other distractions
Paying attention to yourself doesn’t stop with notifications. Make sure you aren’t multi-tasking in other ways by checking in on your phone, folding laundry or focusing on anything other than yourself and your well-being.
Make sure you’re in a comfortable position
A session lasts a long time and often paying attention to what’s happening in your body can be an important part of it. If you’re uncomfortable and fidgety because of where you’re sitting, you’ll have a harder time focusing on how you’re feeling. You may have to interrupt the session to go somewhere else partway through. Try to avoid this by finding as comfortable a location and position as you are able, given the confines of privacy.
