How to Make the Most of Your Online Therapy Session: A Clinician’s Pre-Session Guide
If you’ve booked an online session with me — or you’re thinking about whether to — there’s something I find myself saying to almost every client in the first few minutes. A few small things on your end shape what’s possible inside the hour.
This isn’t about being a perfect client or having a perfect home. It’s about recognising that the space around your therapy session is part of the therapy, in a way that’s usually invisible until you start to notice it.
Five minutes of thoughtful setup before each session is time well spent. Here’s how I think about it with the people I work with online.
Why the setup matters
Online therapy isn’t a video call with extra steps. It’s a clinical conversation that happens to use a screen, and the space it lives in still has to hold a particular kind of weight.
In an in-person session, that part is mine. I’m responsible for a room that is confidential and soundproof — held by closed doors, with no risk of being overheard. The room is part of what allows you to speak honestly.
Online, that responsibility shifts to you. Where you sit, who can hear you, what’s running on your device — even something as small as keeping a box of tissues within reach. Those things used to be quietly handled by the room. Now they’re yours to think about, and they shape what’s possible inside the session.
Choosing your space
The first thing an online session asks of you is a space where you can be honest.
In a city like Dubai, building that kind of privacy isn’t always straightforward. Many of my clients live in shared apartments. Plenty work from home. Walls between rooms are often thinner than we’d like.
So what helps? A space where the door closes and stays closed. A time of day when housemates or family are out, or settled elsewhere in the home. If you’re working from a bedroom, your bed isn’t ideal — somewhere upright, with steady posture, will do more for the session than the most comfortable spot in the room.
If your space isn’t truly private, a small white-noise machine outside the door can help. Some clients use their parked car when there’s no quiet room available at home. There’s no judgement here — what matters is that you can speak freely, knowing you won’t be overheard.
Sound and posture
Two small things make a bigger difference than people expect: headphones, and where your camera sits.
Headphones do two jobs at once. They sharpen what you hear from me — small inflections, the pause before a hard sentence, the texture of a quiet question. And — this surprises clients all the time — they keep what I say from carrying through your walls.
Laptop speakers somehow throw sound further than a normal speaking voice. Even at low volume, my words can drift through a closed door more than yours will. Headphones contain that completely. Wired or wireless, in-ear or over-ear, doesn’t really matter. Wearing them does.
The camera matters too. If you set your laptop on a desk and look down at it, the angle isn’t doing you any favours. Your posture closes, your neck tightens, and after fifty minutes it’s harder to stay open. So stack a couple of books underneath, or use a stand, until the camera sits at eye level. You’ll notice the difference within the first ten minutes.
A quick tech check
Five minutes before our session, do this: open the meeting link, check your camera, check your microphone, and make sure your Wi-Fi is on the network you trust. If something needs updating, you’ll know in advance instead of in front of me.
Doing this on session time is one of the small ways online therapy can feel disrupted before it’s even started. We’ve got fifty minutes together. Spending the first five troubleshooting headphones means fifty minutes paid for, and only forty-five used.
Your digital privacy
Therapy is a confidential space, and that confidentiality has to extend to the device you join from.
A few things to think about. Turn on Do Not Disturb on your phone and your laptop before we begin. Notifications mid-sentence will pull you out of whatever you were just opening up about. Close any tabs or apps that might ping — work email, group chats, anything that might surface a name you’d rather not see right now.
Many people share a computer with someone — a partner, a family member, a flatmate. If that’s you, think about what’s saved on it. Browser history, cached chat logs, even the meeting link sitting in your calendar can give away more than you’d choose. If your work laptop is the only option, consider whether your employer’s IT setup can see what crosses the network. When you can, use a personal device on a private home connection.
I take confidentiality seriously on my end. The Department of Health and the HPCSA require it, and good practice asks the same. Your end of the line matters just as much.
A five-minute pre-session ritual
Pulled together, here’s what I suggest to clients before they join:
- A space where the door closes and you can’t be overheard.
- Headphones in, camera at eye level.
- Phone on Do Not Disturb. Laptop notifications off. Distracting tabs closed.
- A quick check that the meeting link, camera, and microphone all work.
- A glass of water and a box of tissues within reach, and a couple of minutes to settle before clicking join.
Five minutes. Not because the rituals are sacred, but because they free your fifty minutes to be about what brought you to therapy in the first place.
How to book with me
If you’re considering online therapy and wondering whether it might be a fit, get in touch. I see clients online from anywhere in the UAE through Thrive Wellbeing Centre in Jumeirah Lake Towers.
You can read more about how I work on my services page. For the research perspective, see my recent article on what the studies actually say about online therapy. It walks through five of the most relevant academic papers and what they show.
To book get in touch directly through Thrive:
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