Online Counselling Melbourne: Does It Work As Well As In Person?

Counselling Journey

By Christina Feyes · ~8 min read · Does online counselling really work for Melbourne?

Does online counselling really work as well as in person?

This is the question almost everyone asks first, and it is a fair one. You picture a warm room, a box of tissues, a person leaning in, and you wonder whether a screen can carry any of that.

The evidence is reassuring. Meta-analyses comparing videoconferencing therapy with face to face therapy have found the results are largely equivalent. One frequently cited review pooled data across 281 separate outcomes and more than 4,300 clients and concluded that video delivered treatment produced effects broadly on par with in person care. A 2021 meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials in the journal Telemedicine and e-Health reached a similar conclusion for depression specifically. Just as importantly, studies measuring the therapeutic alliance, the felt sense of trust and rapport between client and counsellor, found it holds up over video, and drop out rates are not meaningfully higher.

So the connection you are worried about losing is the thing the research keeps showing survives the screen. What matters is still what has always mattered: whether you feel understood, and whether the work helps.

Is online counselling actually used in Australia, or is it still fringe?

It is mainstream now. During the pandemic years telehealth accounted for roughly 28 per cent of all mental health services delivered in Australia, and use of existing video consultation items rose sharply. Millions of Australians have now had a health appointment by phone or video. What began as an emergency measure turned out to be something many people simply preferred and kept using.

Melbourne, with its size and its transport, took to it quickly. When your counsellor could be anywhere in the country, you are no longer limited to whoever happens to practise near your suburb.

What does an online session actually look like?

With Soul Counselling, a session runs 90 to 105 minutes, which is longer than a standard appointment on purpose. It gives us room to settle in, go deep, and not feel rushed by a clock.

You click a link at your appointment time and we meet by secure video, or by phone if you prefer. There is no waiting room, no parking, no travel. Before any of that, the first step is a free 15-minute assessment, which is simply a short conversation to feel out whether we are a good fit. No card, no obligation, nothing to lose. You can read more about how I work on the about Christina page.

A few things people are surprised by:

• You often feel more, not less, at ease being in your own space with your own tea and your own couch.
• Silences and tears land the same way they do in a room. I can see your face clearly, sometimes more clearly than across a wide office.
• You can have your notes, a journal, or a pet beside you.
• If the video ever drops out, we switch to phone and keep going. The work does not stop.

How do I keep it private in a share house or apartment?

This is the real Melbourne question. In Brunswick, Fitzroy, Coburg, St Kilda or Prahran, plenty of people live in share houses with thin walls or one bedroom apartments where privacy is a genuine puzzle. In the growth suburbs the house might be bigger but full of family.

People solve it in creative ways, and any of these work:

• Headphones, always. They keep both sides of the conversation to yourself and make the whole thing feel more contained.
• Booking a session when housemates are at work or out.
• Sitting in a parked car, which is private, quiet and surprisingly common.
• Using a white noise app or a fan outside the door for sound masking.
• Going by phone with the camera off if that feels safer on a hard day.

You do not need a perfect setup. You need a spot where you will not be overheard for the length of the session. That is enough.

What technology do I actually need?

Less than you think. A phone, tablet or laptop with a camera, and a reasonably stable internet connection. That is the whole list. You do not need to install anything complicated, and you do not need to be tech confident. If the connection in your area is patchy, phone counselling is a full alternative, not a lesser one. Some people choose phone from the start because talking without a face to look at helps them say the hard things.

A quick test the day before, checking your camera and headphones work, takes the last of the nerves out of it.

Who is online counselling a good fit for?

Online tends to suit you well if you are juggling work, kids or study and cannot lose half a day to an appointment, if you live in an outer suburb far from practitioners, if leaving the house is hard on anxious days, or if you simply feel more open in your own environment. It also suits anyone who has tried the traffic on the Monash or the West Gate at the wrong hour and decided they would rather not build a therapy schedule around it.

It is a strong option for individual work on anxiety, low mood, grief, relationship strain and life transitions. You can see the shape of that work on the individual counselling page.

Who should not rely on online counselling?

I would rather be honest than sell you something that is wrong for you. Online is not the right first port of call if:

• You are in crisis or at immediate risk. In that moment you need faster, in person help. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14, or 000 in an emergency. Counselling comes after you are safe, not instead of urgent care.
• You truly have nowhere private and cannot find even a car or a quiet hour. Being overheard will keep you guarded, and guarded is the opposite of what we need.
• Your internet is genuinely unstable and phone is not an option for you either.
• You know in yourself that you need the physical presence of another person in a room, and nothing else will do. That is a valid preference, and a local in person service is the better match.

If any of those is you, that is useful information, not a failure. It just points you somewhere else.

Phone or video: which is better?

Neither is better in general, only better for you on a given day. Video gives us facial expression and a stronger sense of being together, which many people want, especially early on while trust is building. Phone removes the self consciousness of watching yourself on screen, and some people find they speak more freely with their eyes closed and the phone to their ear. You are allowed to switch between the two week to week. Some clients start every session on video and drop to phone when they are crying and do not want to be watched. All of that is normal.

The Melbourne angle: sprawl, trams and traffic

Melbourne is enormous, and that is the whole point. Getting from Tarneit or Werribee in the west, or Cranbourne and Pakenham in the south east, or Craigieburn up north, to a counsellor in the inner suburbs can eat two hours out of your day before you have said a word. Trains and trams are wonderful until they are replaced by buses, and Hoddle Street and Punt Road have their own opinions about your schedule. Add a burst of that famous four seasons in one day weather and the trip alone can be enough to make you cancel.

Online counselling quietly removes all of that. It does not matter that Soul Counselling is based in Southport on the Gold Coast rather than in Melbourne, because the session comes to wherever you are. A counsellor being interstate makes no difference to a video call, and it means your choice is no longer limited by your postcode or by which practitioners have a free slot near the office. You can meet from Point Cook, Reservoir, Footscray or a flat in the CBD with the same ease. The Melbourne counselling page has more on how this works across the city.

How do I start without committing to anything?

You start small. The first contact is a free 15-minute assessment, a short and low pressure conversation where we get a feel for each other and you decide whether it sits right. There is no cost to that, no card details, and no expectation that you continue. If it is not a fit, you have lost nothing but fifteen minutes, and you will have a clearer sense of what you are looking for.

Healing does not require a perfect room or a long drive. It requires a bit of privacy, some honesty, and a person who listens. The screen can carry the rest.