Long distance relationship counselling online by video

Virtual sex addiction therapy
Virtual secular therapy for recovery from religion
Virtual psychotherapy for adult children of alcoholics

Woman in a long distance relationship talking to her fiance by phone in her pajamas

Long distance relationship counselling online by video

Beth Mares RP (Ontario licenced) helps with many varieties of relationship and sexual problems, including individual therapy for people in long distance relationships, but is not currently accepting couples. For therapists who are, see below.

Licensed therapists who help long distance couples

Nidhi Gupta, MA, RP offers an integrative approach to couples therapy, with an emphasis on Imago, solutions-focused and cognitive-behavioral approaches. The focus is on the behaviors of both individuals in the relationship, identifying triggers, finding familiar patterns in which issues arise, looking at maladaptive behaviors, and both persons’ personal history. Individual sessions are done to explore the imago and how the influences of childhood and family-of-origin are directly affecting their romantic relationships. The goal is to restore connection and improve communication between partners.
nidhi@globalvisionscoaching.com,
tel. 416.830.5285.

Wendy Kirk M.div, RP is a Certified Imago Therapist and Relational Life Therapist, and does bespoke therapy, where she draws on these and other trainings with acclaimed sex therapist Esther Perel, the Gottmans and others to help you connect and thrive in a meaningful way. How she works with you will be unique, depending on your issues and your backgrounds.
Wendy Mae Kirk, BA, MDiv, RP, MAG, CIT, RLT
(pronouns: she/her)
416-388-4986 (text)
wendy@comingintolife.com www.comingintolife.com

Long distance relationships

These may be new relationships or married couples who have had to live apart because of career or immigration issues. The difficulties may include:

inadequate communication

insecurity and jealousy

sexual frustration

sex addiction

despondency, depression, insomnia or anxiety, especially if it is unclear when the separation will end

being attracted to someone close by, and not knowing how to deal with it (or other fidelity issues)

loyalty issues because one partner is growing closer to the family of origin in the absence of husband or wife

adjustment difficulties when the couple gets back together

distress when it doesn't seem to be working; difficulty figuring out whether to end it

Help to figure out how to end the separation.

Counselling may be done either with an individual partner or the couple. Because of technological improvements, video therapy can now include joint sessions. In order to comply with privacy legislation, Beth does videotherapy by Vsee instead of Skype. (Skype sessions go through and can be accessed through the Skype servers.) To find out more about Beth's distance counselling, see Distance relationship counseling via videocam.

When long distance partners live in different countries

There can be legal issues here. Some therapists have ways of dealing with them and working with couples in different jurisdictions. Ask the counsellor you are thinking of working with.

Beth's policy regarding partners who live in different countries

Beth can provide counselling to people who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents, even if living outside Canada, and with people who are currently living in Canada, even if they are not citizens or permanent residents. For legal reasons, both partners have to meet one of those conditions. If only one meets the requirements, that partner could consider working on the relationship in individual therapy. For further clarification, see the letter below.

Letter

I came across your website while looking for remote couples counseling online. My partner and I are long distance and have been dealing with some things I suspect would be better sorted out with professional help.

The website states that both people in a couples session need to either reside in or be a citizen of Canada. If there are no exceptions to this, do you have any recommendations for therapists who can work with Americans as well? I'm reaching out to you specifically because some of the problems we're having are specifically mentioned on your site. It would be amazing to have your help, or that of someone you can recommend.

Beth's answer:

If you can't find a counsellor who is willing and able to navigate the jurisdictional issues, you have two choices. You can find an unlicensed relationship coach, but you need to be more cautious, especially if they don't have professional liability insurance. Or you could each work on the relationship with a counsellor licensed to work where you live. If I were to work with your partner in Canada I could do a session with you for the purpose of getting information to help her. It's also possible for the therapists to exchange information. But I've had a lot of success with people working in individual therapy on a relationship, and in fact when I do couple therapy, for some couples most of the work is done in individual sessions.

P.S. An Ontario-licensed therapist can work with someone who is legally a permanent resident of Canada even if they are living abroad--they don't have to have citizenship.