This article offers some critiques of the rapid move to online therapies in response to the restriction of movement and in‐person psychotherapeutic and psychological practice, imposed by necessary responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic. The critique is informed by concerns about the security of online therapeutic practice; informed by, but not restricted to, legislation and practice in the United Kingdom. Furthermore, it includes cultural perspectives regarding healthcare provision, specifically with Pacific communities in Aotearoa New Zealand and, more broadly, with regard to disadvantaged and vulnerable clients and communities throughout the world. The article offers a framework that accounts for the challenge of making practical, culturally appropriate, and therapeutic decisions about the security and accessibility of online therapeutic practice.
This commentary is based on Julia, Catherine, and Keith’s article, ‘The challenge of security and accessibility: Critical perspectives on the rapid move to online therapies in the age of COVID-19’, published originally in 2021, which can be found here: https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/psychotherapy-politics-international/article/view/643.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.