I Almost Didn’t Say This—But I Need To
I almost didn’t write this.
Because I know not everyone will agree.
Because I know some people will have strong feelings about it.
And because it’s easier to stay quiet than risk being misunderstood.
But I need to say it anyway:
The way we talk about teletherapy is often laced with ableism.
And I can’t keep pretending I don’t hear it.
I’ve seen comments like:
“Teletherapy isn’t real therapy.”
“It’s a last resort.”
“I would never do that to my clients.”
"Teletherapy sucked when we did it”
I get it—some people love in-person work. Some SLPs need in person work, some clients need in person work. I’ve done both, and I still do a hybrid.
AND I also know what it felt like to need flexibility because of what my family was going through. To keep working when everything in our lives was fragile.
To find a way through—and have virtual work be the only viable path to maintain employment.
I’ve had clients who only got therapy because of telehealth.
And I’ve been one of the therapists who could only continue working because of it.
So when I hear people write it off, I don’t just hear an opinion. I hear erasure. I hear dismissal. I hear privilege that doesn’t recognize its own shape.
I’m not here to convince anyone to love teletherapy. We all have preferences and that is normal, expected and great!
But I am asking this:
Before you dismiss it entirely (I’m looking at you Facebook warrior) —consider who might be listening. And who might be silently wondering if they’ll ever be seen as enough.
The clients who are homebound, the clients who don’t have transportation, the clients who don’t have a therapist in a 100mi radius…the SLP going struggling through cancer treatments who has to continue working in order to keep health insurance, the SLP struggling with infertility and going through IVF who has to keep working in order to keep health insurance, the SLP with an autoimmune disease, the SLP who’s taking care of their aging parents, the SLP who’s taking care of their young children…I could keep going…