Robert Jones, LICSW, LCSW

Practical approaches for online therapy

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and understanding your perspective. The therapist follows your lead, reflects what you say, and helps you find your own solutions. This approach is helpful for people who need a respectful space to talk through hard things.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, teaches practical skills to change thinking and behavior. It helps with anxiety, mood shifts, panic, and unhelpful habits by breaking problems into manageable steps and testing new ways of coping.

Solution-focused therapy aims at short-term goals and clear next steps. This method is useful when you want focused sessions to move past a specific problem or to get unstuck quickly.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their goals, needs, and preferences. Sessions may combine listening, skill practice, and goal-setting depending on what helps most.

Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect. Video calls let you work face-to-face from different locations. Phone sessions are simple and use less bandwidth. Live chat and text-based messaging are useful for quick check-ins, shorter coaching-style conversations, or when typing feels easier than speaking. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule and try different formats to see what works best.