Danielle (Dani) O'Connor, NCPS

Approaches that suit online therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify what matters to them and take small, values-based steps even when feelings are difficult. It can be useful for anxiety, low mood and life changes. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationships shape current patterns and helps people notice and shift how they connect with others. This can be helpful for relationship issues, intimacy concerns and attachment difficulties. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking and behaviour patterns and trying practical experiments to change them, which often helps with anxiety, depression and sleep problems.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and suggest which methods might fit best. This is a collaborative process and approaches can be adjusted as the work progresses.

Online therapy offers flexible options such as video calls, phone sessions, live chat and text-based messaging. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone sessions use less bandwidth and can be easier to fit into a busy day, and messaging or live chat enable brief check-ins and ongoing support between sessions. These formats make it easier to schedule appointments around work, caring responsibilities or travel and to keep momentum between meetings.