LZCYBERSHRINK: Treating Clients Online Since 2001

Welcome to LZcybershrink.com, where many who couldn't or didn't want to walk into a therapist's office, long before the pandemic, have found understanding, empathy, compassion, and a lot of skill and experience at helping people deal with life, relationships, and emotions. I'm Liz, and I've worked with clients all over the world with a great variety of issues for 35 years in traditional and online settings. Some of my specialties: alcoholism and other addictions; codependency; eating disorders; dysfunctional families; healing the wounded inner child; learning how to have healthy couple relationships; healing from a history of emotional, physical, or sexual trauma; LGBTQIA issues; exploring or enhancing your creativity; grief and loss; women's issues from a strengths and feminist perspective; spirituality. I welcome people in recovery in 12-step programs as clients. If you have a mental health condition and are receiving medication under a qualified local prescribing professional's care, you must be stable in order to have talk therapy with me. If you might have a diagnosable mental health disorder, I may recommend you be assessed locally before pursuing talk therapy with me. If you are suicidal, online therapy is not the recommended modality. If you become my client, I promise commitment, connection, and confidentiality. I also promise to be clear about our boundaries and what I can and cannot do. I am happy to work with your existing health care team or help you develop one as needed.

Long and short term counseling and therapy for "interesting times"

What next?

The COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet. Many have resumed more or less "normal" lives, traveling, going out with friends, seeking entertainment in large groups of people. Others are still fearful and wary of leaving home and mingling. Even with vaccinations, as the virus adapts, a lot more people are getting COVID. Since the pandemic started, most of us have suffered personal losses. Many experienced drastic changes in financial status. Our whole way of working and having relationships has changed. At the same time, the whole world is in turmoil, with conflict and uncertainty in politics, the environment, and the economy. There is a great deal going on that most of us cannot do much about. I am here to provide support, counseling, and therapy to individuals and groups by email, chat, phone, text, and video via Zoom on a one-time, short-term, or open-ended basis. I have been helping people online for more than twenty years, with fifteen years before that in traditional practice, and I would be glad to work with you.

About Online Therapy

The terms online therapy and online counseling encompass a variety of ways that a skilled mental health professional can help people effectively over the Internet without ever meeting them face to face.

Video therapy
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, most people have become familiar with Zoom as a way to stay in contact with the people in their lives and keep appointments with health providers and helping professionals. We don't have to be in the same place or even in the same time zone, but otherwise, it's a lot like face-to-face therapy in an office setting. We take our cues from each other's appearance and facial expression at any given time.

Text-based therapy
I see most clients in a secure, password protected chat room on my online therapy website. The chat room can also accommodate a couple or a group. The chat is scheduled in realtime in advance, just like a session in a therapist's office. But there are several differences.

If we choose to work by email rather than in the chat room, we don't even have to coordinate our schedules to match.

Scheduling is flexible. Some clients meet with me once a week at the same time every week, others don't, depending on their needs.

We don't see each other. This gives clients more control over how they choose to present themselves.

We express our feelings not through visual cues but with the techniques that texting and the Internet have developed to replace them. We can also intuit a lot from silences and word choices in the chat room. And if we aren't sure, we can ask.
If you can't sit at a computer or don't have access to one, you can have a session by texting on your smartphone.

Phone therapy
The phone may be right for you if you feel most comfortable expressing yourself aloud without being seen. This is something we can talk about. Phone sessions are scheduled in advance. Besides the session fee, you must pay all charges for the call.

How do I make an appointment?

Email me at lzcybershrink(at)aol(dot)com to discuss whether online therapy is right for you or to schedule a video, chat, phone, or email session. Video and chat sessions can be scheduled at your convenience, seven days a week, depending on my availability and coordination of time zones. You will need a password to enter the Zoom meeting room or chat room, and you must be granted access for the day and time of your session. Clinical emails can be written at any time. I will respond within 48 hours, usually much less. All clinical work requires payment in advance without exception.

How and when do I pay?

Payment is made in advance for each session through Paypal, a secure online payment service that many millions of Internet users all over the world find reliable and easy to use. Some established clients pay for a month's sessions in advance.