From the author: Both psychotherapy and short-term counseling can take place remotely, via Skype. In this article I talk about the features of working with a psychologist on Skype. Compared to face-to-face meetings, working with a psychologist on Skype has a number of advantages and disadvantages. Advantages: - you do not need to leave the house (as a rule, this is relevant for mothers of babies, people with disabilities, other features that limit mobility) - you can work with a therapist from another city or even country (relevant for residents of small towns, villages, Russian-speaking emigrants who cannot / do not want to visit a local psychotherapist) - you are in a safe, familiar home environment—you feel more control during the meeting—when meeting on Skype there is a feeling of some distance, this adds comfort and safety to those people who experience severe difficulties in communication and contact (anxiety, fears, shame, shyness) . These psychological obstacles in communication may become the focus of work over time, but Skype helps to weaken them, so that psychotherapy itself can begin in principle. Disadvantages: - communication can be suddenly difficult or interrupted for technical reasons (power surge in the network, problems from your provider, etc.)—if you have relatives at home, you may not feel comfortable speaking loudly or, in general, speaking out loud on some topics (this is worth taking into account; it is better to plan meetings so that you can feel free) , — the “talking head” effect - you and the specialist do not see each other in full height, and therefore the psychologist receives somewhat reduced information about you (since the state of the body, posture, movements provide a lot of information about the experiences at the moment, help create “ portrait" of a person as a whole) - and you also get less non-verbal information about the psychologist - less sense of presence, somewhat "cut down" contact for many people is uncomfortable. In general, according to my feelings and experience, the advantages of working on Skype outweigh the disadvantages, I I am happy to take advantage of this achievement of technical progress and recommend this format even to those clients with whom we work in person - in the event that they need to go on a long business trip, vacation, due to illness or in case of an unsafe situation in the city. If the client , with whom we work via Skype, there is such an opportunity, I propose a “shuttle therapy” format: once every six months or a year, come to my city for a few days for personal work. During these few days, we work intensively in person (2 times a day). What does a client need to find out before starting to work with a psychologist on Skype? (Technical and organizational issues that each psychologist solves in his own way, and which are worth finding out in advance, so that the relationship is clear and safe): - what are the available payment methods? (I offer several already tested options, different for clients from Ukraine and from abroad, and the client can choose the appropriate one) - will I be able to return the prepayment if in advance will I cancel the meeting or decide to interrupt counseling/therapy? (I will return the prepayment a) if the client warned that he is canceling the first meeting before the meeting, b) for subsequent meetings - if the client warns about the cancellation in advance) - what will we do if the Internet suddenly turns off /electricity? can we extend or reschedule the meeting without additional payment? (In case of technical problems beyond the control of me and the client, I make a reserve of 15 minutes and extend the meeting for this time without payment. If there is no Internet/electricity for a longer time, we agree on something else time when the connection will be restored, without additional payment). - what backup communication channel will we have, in case we need to reschedule a meeting/emergency contact? (We need to agree on an affordable, “handy” option for fast communication for two - SMS, calls, viber, mail,!