⚖️ What do clients lose without travel time?

Author

Suvrita
June 17, 2025

This is the third post in the series on Challenges in Online Therapy. Read Part 1- What do we lose in online therapy? and Part 2- What happens with our focus in online work?

In online therapy, clients lose the time it takes to travel to and from a session. They might be juggling other responsibilities and join the session with a quick click- perhaps right after a work meeting, a gym session, some household chores or heading into another work meeting right after.

Losing this transition time removes an important space to reflect on the last session and let thoughts emerge for the upcoming one. Some analysts have noted that this makes therapy less memorable (Russel & Essig, 2020).

“The buffer that this (travel) can create is often felt to be very valuable by patients, giving them time to shed their daily busyness on the way, preparing their mind for therapy, and time to digest what has happened in the session on the way home and to help them reacclimatise to whatever waits for them at the other end.”

Kegerreis (2022)

So what can we do in the face of this loss?

  • If a client has experienced both in-person and online therapy, it might be helpful to explore how this part of the experience differs.

  • One could also gently enquire what the client does before and after a session- whether they have a ritual, and what it feels like to have or not have one.

  • It can be suggested that clients allocate 15 minutes before and after the session to stay with the therapy experience.

Have more ideas? Please reply to this email.

Until next week,
Suvrita

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