Internet presencing essentials V3.5: For eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) professionals

Paper on therapeutic presencing, or how to offer the benefits of the personal environment of a clinician’s office via virtual visits.

Article Abstract

“The fields of counseling and psychology have focused on human contact as a vital element for providing healing experiences for clients. Meeting together in an office has been the basis for developing interpersonal connection, which ideally provides an environment which is trustworthy and safe.

The tremendous growth of electronic communications brings new options for meeting with clients. Technology enables more people to receive services through the ability to telecommunicate from a distance. However it challenges service providers to adapt to a less direct, possibly more impersonal way of connecting with people. The Internet brings advantages that are accompanied by the requirement to adjust to a new kind of relational experience in a virtual setting with electronically transmitted images and voices.

There are many reasons to embrace this change. Most recently we have had the spread of viruses, most notably the COVID-19, coronavirus. People have been forced to minimize their exposure to the public. Clinicians, many of whom previously resisted telehealth, are turning to online therapy to protect themselves from close contact with their clients.

Telecommunications also enables us to successfully reach a broader spectrum of people. Not everyone can meet the minimum qualifications for attending traditional, in-office psychotherapy sessions. Disabled people have been numbered in the underserved population. Physical limitations prohibit many who lack mobility or convenient transportation from accessing therapy offices. Others cannot regularly attend sessions because of the side-effects of the same issues of fear and anxiety that they need to address.

In addition, clients who previously may have attended regular sessions can develop illnesses or may travel frequently for work, preventing them from continuing their sessions for extended periods of time. New mothers with postpartum issues may be home-bound. There is also a long list of underserved population segments, which include people in unsafe or isolated locations making it challenging for clinicians to provide services. Military personnel are noteworthy for their need and their distance from providers.

Offering services to a broader world necessitates the use of newer forms of communications. Having the skills to use the Internet effectively can enable clinicians to reach out in new directions. To successfully address having Internet sessions in a virtual office, we must identify, study and learn how to provide the elements that make an office-centered relationship highly personal, supportive and restorative.”

—Description from publisher

Article Access

Open Access

Watson Wong, J. (2020, March). Internet presencing essentials V3.5: For eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) professionals. https://www.emdria.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/internet_presencing_essentia.pdf