Unlocked: Online Therapy Stories

All therapeutic work described in this book happens online. The pandemic forced therapists to move to remote work but Anastasia Piatakhina Gire´ had already been working with her clients in this way for a decade. Her stories show how a curious and skilled online therapist can make the most of the unexpected gifts that ‘screen’ therapy offers – be it the intrusion of a pet, a parent breaking into the session, or a client taking her therapist for a trip outside. Rather than being somehow ‘less’, taking therapeutic conversations out of a physical therapy room breathes a new energy and new possibilities into the therapeutic process. These conversations happening through the screen have a surprising close-up quality and foster a different kind of intimacy and intensity. Giré’s years of experience reveal the positives of digital practice, including how it enables multilingual, cross-cultural therapy, and will inspire others who work in this way or are considering a move to online therapy. Her accessible storytelling has a broad appeal to those working in psychotherapy and to the general reader curious about human psychology, diversity, and contemporary psychotherapy.