4 Benefits of Teletherapy for Patients
Aside from its equal effectiveness as a therapy treatment, there are many other benefits to teletherapy for patients seeking it out. A few notable ones include:

1. Accessible to More People
For individuals living in rural communities, living with a disability that makes travel difficult, or those who are just unsure about trying therapy for the first time, teletherapy is a highly beneficial option. Teletherapy removes many of the barriers – physical, emotional, or mental – towards seeking out therapy and makes it accessible for more people.
Research has found that those who participate in teletherapy are also more likely to seek out face-to-face therapy as a result of a positive experience (Jones et al., 2014).

2. Offers Greater Flexibility
It’s easy to put off attending therapy when sessions are offered during limited office hours. For many people who already have a lot of commitments to juggle, seeking out this form of support can easily be bumped down the priority list. When a therapist can be readily available at a time that suits the patient, it offers greater flexibility and could even encourage more people to seek the right support when they need it most.

3. Reduced wait times
It might seem like a small benefit, but increased flexibility also means reduced waiting times for patients wanting to speak with a therapist urgently or for the first time. It can take a lot of courage to make an appointment for therapy, and the less time someone has to wait, the more likely it will be they’ll follow through and get the help they need.
Taking time off from work to battle traffic while going to the therapist, wasting even more time in the waiting room, having the session, and then battling traffic to return to work, is also a huge deterrent to many. Being able to brew a quick coffee, step into a private room for the scheduled therapy session, and ready to return fairly soon to ‘work-mode’ is a much more viable solution for many office workers.

4. Creates a Safer Environment
That feeling of anxiety many experiences when sitting in the waiting room of the dentist or doctor surgery? It’s the same anxiety experienced when waiting for a therapy session. The process of going to a new environment to meet with a therapist can be a stressful one. Teletherapy alleviates this stress by allowing patients to familiarise themselves with the process in the comfort of their own home.