CLOSED to new questions AMA 12-12-19 Lisa, Clinical Support Mgr therapy program 7Cups - answers online therapy questions
Your Therapy Questions Answered
HI there. My name is soulsings, the ambassador liaison with the 7 Cups therapy program. I am thrilled to introduce a new thread that can help you better understand how online therapy works. Lisa, the Clinical Support Manager for the therapy program at 7 Cups and long-term 7 Cups therapist is here to explain what online therapy is and the benefits associated with this. You may also want to ask questions on what you hope to receive in online therapy with a 7 Cups therapist.
Making the decision to undergo any kind of therapy is your choice and is a very personal journey in your life. Lisa is here to answer any questions you may have on the topic of online therapy. This format allows Lisa to answer questions you have about the therapy program and how it might help in the challenges you face. So get your questions ready and Lisa will answer them as quickly as she can.
Remember this is a 1 week thread and is recieving questions until December 12th at noon, so get your questions in early. Lisa will answer all questions in the order received. Sometimes people ask the same or similar questions, so please read through this thread pages before submitting your questions so you can benefit from all the answers presented here and we can limit duplicate questions from happening.
Thanks for participating in this thread. I look forward to your questions and Lisa's answers.
@soulsings
tagging @LisaDeRegtMBPsS
@soulsings
Hi everyone!
I hope you are well. I am Lisa and I am looking forward to any questions that you may have about online therapy and I wanted to say a huge thank you in advance for taking the time to ask questions and to be present in this thread. If there is a question that I am not sure how to answer, I will always do my best to get the answer for you :)
soulsings - thank you for being so helpful, organised and attentive!
I thought I would tell you a little about myself so you can become familiar with who I am.
I am a licensed mental health counsellor and the Clinical Support Manager of the therapy program at 7 Cups. I'm also a therapist at 7 Cups and have been for over 3 years now. It's been such an interesting journey where I have met so many people from all over the world. I have experience with people of all ages both offline and online and I live in sunny South Africa. I have experience in many areas of mental health but my main focuses are trauma, depression, relationships and anxiety. I've worked in many settings such as hospitals, non-profit organisations, police stations as a trauma counsellor and my own private practice. I am thoroughly passionate about mental health and being able to offer this online.
I look forward to getting this started with you all :)
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS. Thanks for having this thread. I think more people could benefit from the 7cups therapy program, if they knew about and understood it. I sure have.
@yzzil
I remember the wonderful comment you shared about online therapy at 7 Cups and I am so glad it has helped you. I know it's a collaborative process and I am sure you have worked very hard in therapy too. Thank you for sharing!!
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS i am totally lost, both online and in life. No idea who to talk to or about what. I just know that I am socially isolated, and I don't have any money.
@amiableGrapes236
Hi there amiable,
Firstly, I am really sorry to hear you've been feeling this way. It is great to see that you're reaching out here on 7 Cups. Hearing how you feel lost both online and offline is truly very difficult and I can only imagine how you are feeling within. It sounds like you're struggling to communicate those feelings and this is making you feel worse. Have you ever tried to journal how you have been feeling?
I would encourage you to keep using 7 Cups as this is a good way for you to feel less lonely. Also, have you thought about resources offline in your local community perhaps support groups? These can be really useful because you are able to connect with people who understand how you feel. 7 Cups online therapy is a paid service and I know that finding the finances available to have this available isn't easy so I would always encourage you to reach out and see what support is around you both online and offline.
Please always remember 7 Cups has someone here to listen.
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS I'm gonna try this app for a while anyway. I'm kind of up and down but I'm pretty down on the holidays... During the week I'm usually good when I'm able to get to the gym. I don't know if my happy self needs as much therapy as my negative self, but I guess they both need some work
@amiableGrapes236
I'm sorry to hear you've been feeling down over the holidays. I would encourage you to think about why you're feeling this way and it's wonderful that gym is helping you as exercise can really do wonders for our mental health. Keep this up if you can as it really seems to be helping you! :) It sounds like you feel you're in one of those spaces where you're feeling okay at times and then really down and having a space to talk this through can really help you make sense of things!
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS yes, it's like there are times when I have a ton of energy to put into being social but then I can't find anybody who wants to talk, and that feels devastating.
@amiableGrapes236
Hi amiable,
I hear how devastating it is because you're trying to reach out and you feel like no one is there for you. There is always someone on 7 Cups to listen so please do not feel like you're alone. I am sending my positive thoughts and wishes to you.
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS Hi How do you treat trauma survivors thru text? How do you treat peolpe who want to talk with their family about serious abuses that have happened?
@adventurousBranch3786
This is an excellent question adventurous! As you probably know, trauma is very complex and treatment occurs in stages. It varies from therapist to therapist based on their therapeutic approach. Both online and offline, I would always take this slowly, step-by-step and at the pace of the individual sharing their feelings and experiences. We may work through what happened during the traumatic event, how it made them feel at that time and how it impacts their lives now. I would work on introducing coping skills such as deep breathing, grounding techniques and journaling. During therapy, we may complete thought logs and reframe throughts and fears (cognitive restructuring) associated with the event. We also may work on replacing negative coping skills with more positive ones (if this applies).
Above all, we would provide a safe space for the individual to discuss what has happened in their lives. If they feel they are not ready to discuss the trauma, we would give them as much time as they need for them to talk about what has happened. I hope this answered your first question.
I'm not sure if I understand what your second question meant so could you please give me a little more detail? I'll then do my best to answer this for you. :)
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS Hi thank you for your answer on treatment for trauma it sounds like a very good approach. I will try to explain the 2cd question better. I am not sure if therapy can help with the following problem. If someone was abused by a family member and wants to report this behavior to the rest of the family, but worries about "destroying" the rest of the family. Can this tyoe of problem be helped by therapy? Thank you
@adventurousBranch3786 Just on a technical note, the chat system at 7 Cups could be used for couples therapy and family therapy, but as far as I know 7 Cups has never configured it that way. I think this means that the usual kind of family therapy with all the family and the therapist sitting around in a circle can't be done through 7 Cups at present, even though it is technically possible. In real life there are therapists who specialize in this kind of work.
Charlie
@RarelyCharlie Hi I never thought of that family therapy may be agood idea.
@adventurousBranch3786
Family therapy in your situation may be extremely beneficial as then you can discuss together your concerns and work on making these better and hopefully strengthening the family dynamics. In online therapy at 7 Cups, we do not have the capacity to hold family therapy with multiple people but we could assist by helping you with ways in which you could approach the situation and by providing coping skills tailored to what you're going through. I wish you all of the very best :)
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS
1. What type of therapy can be done online?
2. do you have therapists who speak french?
3. do you verify the licences of all 7cups therapists?
4. Will I have the same therapist for the lenght of my subscribption?
5. How do you ensure therapists will not abandon us/stop replying?
6. Can we talk about suicidal thoughts with the therapists?
7. What online therapy can bring me more than my in-person therapist?
8. Can you therapists give me reports or communicate with my other providers with my authorization?
9. Is there a way to share documents such evaluations reports, with my therapist, in a safe and confidential way?
@TortueDesBois
Thank you so much for your thoughtful questions!! :)
1. We have therapists trained in a variety of approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behavioural therapy, solution-focused therapy and many more. Please have a look at individual therapist profiles for more information.
2. Yes, we have therapists that speak french!
3. Yes, all therapists go through a verification process to be able to provide services at 7 Cups. If you wish to verify this yourself, this can be done by using the state boards to verify a therapeutic license or using the particular psychology/counselling boards in the country the therapist resides in.
4. At 7 Cups, we have had members work with the same therapist for multiple years so in most cases, you usually have the same therapist throughout.
5. Therapists who provide services at 7 Cups agree to the Terms of Service, in this they agree to responding 1-2 times Monday - Friday with a thoughtful response. We also have procedures on 7 Cups that detects delayed responses. If you are still concerned, we always welcome you to contact customer services so we can ensure this issue is resolved.
6. You can discuss whatever is on your mind at 7 Cups in a safe space with your therapist.
7. There are so many benefits to both online and offline therapy! Some of the benefits of online therapy include: affordability when compared to traditional face-to-face therapy (I know this can still be really difficult for some to afford the monthly fee), accessbility - no waiting times to see your therapist, no waiting in busy waiting rooms or scheduling appointments around your routine, no taking time off work/other responsibilities and you're able to communicate with your therapist at home! You can communicate whenever and wherever you like which I have heard many people say it really is useful for them. You can discuss what is on your mind at that time instead of having to recall this some time later like in traditional therapy. You receive daily responses Monday - Friday which can be very beneficial for people.
8. Yes, with your consent your therapist can communicate with your in-person therapist.
9. Unfortunately, we do not have a way for you to upload documents to your therapist.
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS
okay but
- in-person my therapist come to my home, and everything is free of charge for me, and online therapy is not cover at all
- in person i can have an interumpted session for 30-45 minutes, while exchanging texts i would have to wait the next email, next day, and seems there is no option for live-chat.
the reason why I'm considering online therapy is that there are subjects that are hard for me to talk orally and in-person versus communicate by chat or texting. but im insure about emails.
I understand about getting responded in 24h instead waiting my next appointment, but i don't know how i would feel to exchange only one or two sentence a day.
@TortueDesBois
Hi TortueDesBois,
Those are all excellent points that you make. I am glad you feel your in-person therapist is aligned with your needs as I would always encourage you to make the best decisions for you. We are looking at implementing live sessions as soon as possible as I know there is a great demand for these so please keep looking out for this announcement! I understand that you have an uninterrupted session for 30-45 minutes offline which feels like you're able to cover many aspects. In online therapy, you will receive the therapists time Monday - Friday 1-2 times per day so this does actually amount to a fair amount of time in contrast :) Although, it's important that you do what is right for your own needs.
Online therapy can help you to express yourself when you feel uncomfortable expressing yourself face-to-face alongside many other benefits! Therapists at 7 Cups are instructed to provide detailed and thoughtful messages so if you felt like a therapist's response(s) is not meeting these standards you are most welcome to contact us.
@TortueDesBois
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS There are several different ways of sending documents to your therapist, because chatting with your therapist doesn't have 7cups' prohibition against outside contact. Since I have a personal website, I just upload documents to that in a directory that isn't linked to and has a name that's difficult to guess (e.g. a hash). For extra security, encrypt the document and send the URL and key in separate messages.
I remember Lisa!
I wanted to ask
1) What are some things that make you as a therapist understand that someone needs therapy?
2) Does therapy have categories? And Whats the most often therapy people need?
@sensitiveShade5337
Hello again! :) It's so awesome to see you here sensitiveshade! I remember you too and thank you again for getting involved and taking your time to send in your questions.
1. Usually, a particular issue is causing disruption to the functioning of a person's daily life for example, they might be struggling to sleep for more than 2 weeks, changes in their eating patterns, they might have lost interest in the things they found interesting like spending time with family and friends, they might have issues at work or with their relationships, they might be feeling anxious and depressed and feeling like they are unable to cope. I could go on but I think this answers your question :)
2. There are many specific reasons why someone decides to begin therapy and in my experience, some of the most common reasons are anxiety, depression, relationship issues and managing difficult life transitions (grieving the loss of a person, parenting, divorce, breakups, retirement etc). Each therapist may have a different take on this as we have different areas of expertise so may encounter different issues.
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS
Call me Shade and its good to see you too!
thank you for answering my questions!!
@sensitiveShade5337
Hi Shade :) It's nice to see you in here!
DUPLICATE of earlier post: please see answer there ^^^^ @soulsings HI How do you work with trauma survivors thru text? What kind of therapy is there for people who want to talk to famiy members about serious abuses that happened?
@adventurousBranch3786 thank you for your questions.
I will wait till Lisa answers this same question you asked above since they are a professional therapists. They are living in South Africa so they will probably not be answering till Monday.
@soulsings
Thank you soulsings!
@soulsings
1. Is it possible to diagnose disorders like BPD online?
2. How long would a possible diagnosis take?
3. Is it possible to do therapy just for 1 month to hear another person's opinion about one's mental status?
@amiableTurtle9543
Hi amiableturtle!
These are interesting questions, thank you!
1 and 2. I would encourage individuals to work with a specialist in-person if they felt they were experiencing symptoms that suggested they were suffering from BPD as we do not provide a diagnosis on 7 Cups. Although, we are able to work through existing mental health issues with you and work through the ones that you do not have a diagnosis for in a safe space online with your therapist.
3. Therapy is not a quick-fix and it does take time to see positive results so I would always encourage you to give therapy some time to see the benefits. Although, there is no minimum time requirement needed to spend in therapy and if you felt therapy for a month would be beneficial then this is entirely up to you :)
@soulsings I am wondering what kind of information there is on borderline personality disorder. How much support is online here?
@Mlambes43
Hi there Mlambes,
There are many sources of information on borderline personality disorder on 7 Cups: Here are some articles here about BPD: https://www.7cups.com/experts/~borderline-bpd/ . The Q&A is here: https://www.7cups.com/qa-borderline-bpd-44/ and you can also search for any relevent sub-communities. Finally, as you know we also have licensed therapists too that are experienced in working with individuals with BPD. There is lots of support for those that need this type of information on 7 Cups. I hope this is helpful.
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS
Hi Lisa
I also live in sunny South Africa nice to see you helping here.
I was wondering, I know that in therapy the psychologist reads body language, tone and all of that type of thing, is online therapy as affective if that side of things can't be assessed as it's mainly writing?
Also I sort of get "brain freeze" with live texting so I prefer to write something and then get a reply later and then reply later etc, is that ok with online therapy?
And sorry another one, I'm paranoid with trust issues, how safe is the content of what is discussed online?
Thank you
@Avaray
Hi Avaray,
Ah, how wonderful that you live in sunny South Africa too :)
That is such a great question because as we know body language is very important in identifying how a person might be feeling. Some people find it easier to write than verbally express themselves so in this instance, online therapy can be extremely beneficial as it allows them to discuss in-depth how they've been feeling. It also helps them to process their thoughts. I use a client's written expression to understand more and sometimes I might even use the length of their messages so for example, if I have a client that writes a lot and then they've only written a very short response it would encourage me to gently address this with them to understand more of what has been happening in their lives. Working with a person Monday - Friday means that you can really get to know them and their patterns of writing, expressing themselves through writing and responsiveness.
During online therapy, the therapist will reflect on what you have expressed using paraphrasing and open-ended questions to try to prompt you to send more information as to how you have been feeling so we can best understand. We use a lot of reflection of feelings in our work and clients can also correct us on this so if they've been feeling sad rather than angry they are invited to let their therapist know. Also, therapists will regularly ask for feedback on how the process has been going which means that it gives the client time to reflect and process how they are feeling.
7 Cups therapy is asynchronous text-based therapy which means that you write a response and your therapist will respond to this in-depth. You are then able to formulate your next response when is convenient for you and so on. The way you like to express yourself is very fitting as to how we deliver online therapy!
Finally, your messages with your therapist are stored securely as our platform is HIPAA compliant so your information is safe and your therapist will work with you to build rapport and trust together in the therapeutic relationship.
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS
Thank you Lisa (from the now beautiful raining South Africa, a real answer to prayer this rain that's falling)
What you said made a lot of sense to me.
Thanks
Thank you for your great questions everyone. Lisa is living in South Africa so they will probably not be answering till Monday their time since it is now the middle of the night there.
Hi everyone! I wanted to say thank you for all of the questions that you've sent in. I've throughly enjoyed answering them and please keep them coming :) Thank you soulsings for organising this and letting people know the time in South Africa last night! 
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS
I have really enjoyed reading the questions and your in-depth answers. I have a question, everything implies that the Therapist only replies once or twice a day M-F and not at weekends? Can the Therapist actually reply more if they so choose and on weekends?
Listening .... One Step At A Time
@MistyMagic
Hi Misty!
Thank you for dropping by! At 7 Cups, we have to set a standard to ensure that this is met. Although, a therapist can respond more this is determined by the therapist and it is not managed by 7 Cups. Usually to set realistic expectations it is best to keep to Monday - Friday 1-2 times daily response rate as it's not setting up realistic expectations that some people might receive more from a service and this sets a person up to either be very happy or extremely disappointed. When a new client comes into therapy especially over the weekend, they will receive a response to build rapport and provide an orientation into online therapy at 7 Cups.
@LisaDeRegtMBPsS Thanks for answering!
Listening .... One Step At A Time
I just want to say I've had 2 therapists on 7 Cups. The first therapist had to leave 7 Cups to focus on their in person therapy. Both my previous and current therapist are good at allowing me to put my words on the page and express my thoughts. They both are very intelligent and kind. Trying therapy on 7 Cups of Tea has been and continues to be a very good decision.
@NG2
This is wonderful news NG2! :) Thank you for letting us know your experiences using online therapy at 7 Cups.
