CLOSED to new questions Live AMA Thread With 7 Cups Director of Clinical Services - Anna-Kate!
Learn more about this event here!
Ever wanted to know more about online therapy at 7 Cups? Anna-Kate Miller will be joining us for an AMA! She is our Director of Clinical Services and has been a therapist here for 2 years. Shell be posting about How does online therapy help?
Anna-Kate will also be joined by 7 Cups Therapist @LisaDeRegtMBPsS!! :)
Shes excited to share some time with you discussing why she likes online therapy, her background and the future of online therapy. Please keep to general questions about therapy. Therapists license legally prevents them from providing any personal care in public forums and without consent.
Post your questions for Anna-Kate & Lisa!! :)
@Laura
YAY!
Presubmitted question from the community: Why do we have to pay for therapy? Not everyone can afford it.
Presubmitted Question from the Community - Are you planning offer live chats for therapy on 7cups?
Yes! We will be starting live sessions and members can choose between video, audio or live chat message for their live session. It should be here soon!
@AnnaKateMillerLCSW Exciting news!!
@AnnaKateMillerLCSW that is great news!!!! Thank you for responding my question!
@Kate will the censor on "video chat" being removed when it will be live? lol
Presubmitted Question From the Community - how simple exchange of messages can be effective as much as real therapy?
Good question! I like to say it's like emails back and forth rather than texts. You exchange meaningful information, set goals, report on progress and work through emotions. I find having more frequent contact with my clients here really deepens things and allows us to quickly work on things compared to meeting one time every week or two
@AnnaKateMillerLCSW It's a very good point, I did not think about this from this perceptive. time to try things which you dont during a weekly meeting, and then regular checkings right when there may be objectives done or things tried, for goal based approach or solution oriented, that looks very interesting. Thank you for answering my question, I had trouble to see the advantages of it, and now I can see them better!
What would you say are some of the major benifits and/or drawbacks (if any) to seeking therapy online versus in person?
@magneticForever58
Very similar to the last one. Lets see.... Drawbacks are that I can't give you a tissue when you cry. And I can't see the non verbal cues- but it also makes us talk more about feelings bc I have to ask. The benefits again is that you get your feelings out when you need to. I've had people sit in front of me and say "I wish I had come here two days ago. I was feeling bad then." Then the therapist gets more interaction with you. Emojis are a great thing too 
@magneticForever58
One of the major benefits to online therapy is the accessibility just like Anna-Kate mentioned and also no travelling to and from appointments, no difficulty in scheduling around work, studies and life in general. It can be done from the comfort of your own home and in your own time. Drawbacks are that we are not there with you to be able to pick up on body language but so much can be picked up from online therapy. Also people tend to be more open online which enables people to get more out of the time they spend in therapy too.
Presubmitted Question from the Community -
are there any advantages to work with more than one therapist? by example combinate online therapy with an other type of therapy?
I would say that could be an individual decision and might be about needs and wants. Ive had members here who have outpatient therapist and use me in between sessions or to work on different challenges. Also, most therapist encourage their clients to use support group or peer support as another type of therapy. It's one reason I love being a 7 Cups therapist bc I can encourage you to talk to a listener or go into a forum beyond how we work together.
How much does the therapy cost? And do we get a trial period in case we dont get along with our therapist and wanna opt out?
@ryuk09 Therapy is $150 subscription for 30 days. Yes we have a free trial to make sure this is good for you. You can switch therapist as well. If its not your thing then cancel before the 72 hours (3 days) to not be charged.
Do you see more therapists trying online therapy in the future as a result of the success it has had here on 7 Cups?
@CoffeeDrinker247 I hope so! I fully admit I was a skeptic. I've been in the field 18 years- I didn't know if I could do it. But I still have clients I had when I started. I have loved my experience here and I hear all the time from therapist how much they love it. I do think that just like medical profession there will be more online or hybrid. We'll be starting video/ audio soon so you'll get that face to face as well
@AnnaKateMillerLCSW
That's really cool! I worked as an orderly at a psych hospital just after college and several of the doctors would do intake assessments via closed-circuit television in order to admit patients on the weekends and holidays or in emergency situations. I could see it working very well here with audio/visual one-on-one sessions with a therapist. Thanks for your response!
@CoffeeDrinker247 Wow! That sounds like really cool experience!!
@CoffeeDrinker247 I've worked at psych hospitals and that is a touch job you had! And yes- video just makes sense for so many situations. Wait times go down which is so much better for people.
How long have you been doing online therapy, and what is your personal experience so far with it?
@lovelyWhisper66 I've been with 7 Cups for 2 years and it was my first time in my career doing online. It has been great- bc I don't have to wait 7 days (or more) between sessions. I see such amazing change bc my clients work so hard. Being on 7 Cups has been a wonderful experience.
Do you plan to encourage more therapists to hang out in the group support rooms? 
@bear228 Yes! I'd love to see more therapist in the community. I was a liaison with 2 SC and liked that different experience here. If you have ideas let me know!
@AnnaKateMillerLCSW
I don't believe SHR has a therapist lieason. Is there a reason for this, could we have one? And maybe you could do more ama's but in like the group support rooms too so that people can ask and learn about therapy.
@bear228 Make sure you have a Help Wanted post about your needds. You've got some great ideas! It'd be great to have more therapist present in the community.
@bear228
That is a great question and whilst I've not been part of the liason projects yet it's something I've been planning so hopefully I'll see you around the community very soon!