Online therapy as effective as in-person: Calgary Counselling Centre study

Calgarians seeking mental health services strapped for time have more options to get the help they need, including virtual counselling.

The concept was made popular amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but now in the post-lockdown world, Calgarians like 25-year-old Lydia Mbikayi are appreciating its convenience.

“Being able to explore my mental health-related issues in my own space feels almost more comforting than a foreign office where it’s very regimented and very structured,” she told CityNews.

“If anything, I felt more comfortable being at home because when the session was done, and you need that time to decompress, I was already at home and comfortable with where I was as well.”

According to a study with data collected from the Calgary Counselling Centre (CCC) before and during the pandemic and published at the end of June, virtual mental health services, also known as telemental health, are as effective as in-person services.

The study included 19,460 people, with nearly 17,000 in-person treatments between March 2015 and March 2020 and 2,788 receiving therapy over the phone or online between March 16, 2020 and March 15, 2021.

It says virtual services produce a more flexible model for treating people with a wide range of mental health concerns.

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Sarah Rosenfeld, a counsellor and associate director at the CCC, says a hybrid between online and in-person offerings will be the future of telemental health offerings.

“What’s going to be great about that is the client will have a choice about what works for them, it will be able to meet their needs, based on what they need, and that could change, so they might need in-person at some time then it can move to Telemental health, and it can move back to in-person,” she explained.

“I think we are going to see a world where the client … is going to have much more choice.”

Lydia Mbikayi poses for a photo while she looks in the distance in Calgary on Friday, July 14, 2023. (Henna Saeed, CityNews image)

City of Calgary employee Mbikayi started accessing mental health support when she was just 17 years old, shifting to virtual counselling in the last two years.

She says to those who are hesitant about accessing those services that society’s reaction shouldn’t be a concern.

“It took a lot of strength for me to get to a point where that’s not really my concern. At the end of the day, you are your top priority, and you owe it to yourself to make the life that you would like for yourself, and online counselling can be part of that,” Mbikayi said.

“And although the judgment may come, it really doesn’t negate the fact that you may need help.”

The CCC offers virtual and online counselling options for anyone seeking mental health services, that too without a waitlist.

It says more than 20,000 counselling hours have been delivered to more than 3,000 clients in 2023.