w w w . on l in e t h e r a p y instit u t e . c o m
I’m venturing into cyberspace at a gentle pace. I’m a member of a variety of online forums and contact lists but I tend to be a reader rather than a contributor to them. My web page (www.geofftcox.co.uk) has just been launched so I am looking forward to putting my training in online therapy into practice. My website appears in several directories and it has been featured by both the Online Therapy Institute and Freeola (my ISP). I am anxiously awaiting enquiries. My face-to-face counselling work takes up two days a week. On the other days I sit at my computer working or browsing, I am beginning the process of organising a college reunion and I play golf. The latter ensures that I get some exercise outdoors and is a great way to meet others in an informal and relaxed atmosphere – a wonderful antidote to counselling. I get up at about 6.30. I check my emails on the PC - mainly in the hope that I have a new online client. There are none this morning but I catch up on a couple of discussion threads on ISMHO. I’ve been following the one concerning the use of Skype. I listen to the news while eating breakfast then leave the house at 7.45 am. I work for an agency which offers face-toface counselling to employees of a branch of a national organisation. I arrive at about 8.30 allowing time to relax a little before my first
appointment. I switch on my laptop so that I can do any admin, write or draft responses to emails in any appropriate gaps in the day. At 8.50 I read through notes for my first client at 9.00. The majority of issues relate to bullying. I take advantage of the cancellation of an appointment and go to the staff snack bar for a cup of coffee and relieve the sense of isolation I have working in this situation. I do find that by being amidst a number of other people for a quarter of an hour or so, together with the short walk there and back, refreshing. It is also a chance to catch up on reading an article in a journal. Lunch, which comprises a sandwich, some fruit and a cup of coffee from a vacuum flask, is taken in the gap between appointments at 1.45 and 2.00. My last appointment ends at 5.30. There are no potential email clients awaiting me, causing me to consider what more I need to do to attract them. I think a more careful look at the videos of Laura Dessauer and Dr Susan Giurleo would be time well spent this evening. About the author Geoff Cox is an online therapist in private practice and lives in the West Midlands, UK.
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