Therapy in the Time of Corona: Initial Lessons

It was Friday, March 13th and as I sat and organized my client session calendar for the next week my Friday afternoon ritual felt different than every previous Friday.

The day before I was grateful to attend case conference, a regular gathering of my most beloved and trusted colleagues. We greeted each other with a stilted levity considering our normal hugs or if we were breaking some sort of new social order that had yet to be fully adopted. We chose to share hugs and then, with some disorientation, started to explore what the future of our practices would be.

At case conference I was still uncertain whether I would continue to see clients in my office or do all my sessions via video connection. A mere twenty-four hours later during my Friday afternoon personal planning session, I wasn’t even considering in-person sessions. That’s how fast the understanding of our circumstances shifted. My sessions would happen without interruption, but would clearly be different than what we were all used to experiencing.

So then it was to be: adaptation. Adaptation in a time of upheaval and uncertainty, frankly, precisely when most people seek therapy in their own lives. Though, in this case, the entire global community is experiencing the upheaval and uncertainty simultaneously. Therapists included.