Providing Psychological Care Remotely

Before Providing Remote Psychological Care

Lesson 7: Communication adaptations
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One of the greatest challenges with providing remote care is the change in communication method. For example, if you are providing support through a basic telephone, you will not be able to see the person's reactions. Therefore, you will need to adapt your spoken communication methods. 

It's important to plan and practice how you will adapt your communication skills to this new way of working. 

tips
Suggestions for ways to adapt your communication:

  • Plan for how to talk about communication. For example, “The way we communicate will be different from in person and may feel strange. So, let’s talk about anything that doesn’t make sense. I may interrupt you to clarify something, so please feel free to do the same to me".
  • Use your spoken communication more, eg. tone of voice, use of “uh huh’s” and similar cues
  • Paraphrasing or repeating back key information may be required more often as misunderstandings may be more likely to happen remote than face to face
  • Allow for silence
  • When talking on the phone, ensure you continue to use your natural body language, as this will help you keep the right tone when talking to someone
  • Listen for signs that the person isn't engaged (eg. if there are noises in the background, they are talking to someone else, or they keep looking over to one side of the room (if using video). Talk about any signs you notice
  • If it is possible to use video calling software to share screens, then you can share documents or drawings with your client
  • Consider what communication (if any) will be used to communicate between sessions (eg. SMS, email, letters, phone calls)

Group sessions

  • If doing group sessions, we recommend the use of videos.
  • If you are not able to use videos, we do not recommend continuation of group sessions.
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