Benefits of “Decentered and Influential” Practices During Telehealth: Establishing, Slipping, and Re-Establishing Position in a Therapeutic Conversation

Abstract

Telehealth therapy has become a common platform to provide therapeutic services during the COVID-19 pandemic and is expected to remain a viable option for services. Most mental health professionals had little prior experience in using this modality and have been experimenting with various ways of ensuring respectful, collaborative and effective ways of offering their services. A Decentered and Influential position offers numerous benefits that support anchoring therapists in a mindset that is conducive to optimized therapeutic conversations especially with people from socio-cultural and generational backgrounds different from their own. The value of this therapeutic position is illustrated by clinical work with a teenager struggling with violence towards family members during the quarantine. A description of clinical work where the therapist slipped to a centered position, and the re-engagement of a Decentered and Influential position, is exemplified by a discussion and preventive suggestions.