Quote:
Originally Posted by owlpride
Leah123, I think we agree on the "buyer beware" part.
What I originally wanted to get at is that one doesn't need to go through an online therapy website to find an online therapist. In my area, there are a fair number of therapist with a traditional brick-and-mortar office who willl also work online on request (e.g. via Skype). Most of them don't work with online therapy platforms. They don't need the technology and they also don't need the advertisement; they already get enough referrals through free/cheap listings (e.g. Psychology Today, Yelp, own website) and by word of mouth.
Having a local online therapist also has the advantage that one can switch to face-to-face meetings later without changing therapists.
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Yes, online therapists with local practices are less common, but definitely an option. One often loses the advantages, though, of those set up for fully online, flexible practices like Live Person where a key benefit is therapists who don't keep traditional office hours, but often work opposite hours, just for example.
Also, I wouldn't necessarily judge the industry by the first four listings to come up, just because it's a bit like choosing a therapist from the alphabetized listings in the phone book and just looking at the ones whose names start with A, or who buy the most ad space, I don't trust Google to find one for me, haha.
At any rate, it's a unique option, not for all. I'm reminded of one more Pro, actually, which is the anonymity factor. I don't choose to be anonymous with my therapist, but it's a benefit the online platforms offer.