The Benefits & Risks of Therapy with Focused Psychological Services
The terms “therapy”, “treatment”, and “counselling” are used interchangeably.
Before giving your consent for therapy, you need to be aware of the potential benefits and possible risks.
Potential Benefits
While Focused Psychological Services cannot guarantee or promise a specific outcome, there are a number of potential benefits that may result from therapy. Some potential benefits include, but are not limited to:
- Decreased risk of reoffending
- Improvement in overall mood
- Increased self-esteem and confidence
- Increased ability to manage stressful life challenges
- Increased feelings of connection
- Increased ability to manage strong emotional reactions such as anger, fear, and sadness
- Increased ability to trust and feel close to others
- Increased ability to communicate your feelings, thoughts, and needs to others
- Increased ability to stop behaviors that are not serving you well and start engaging in healthier behaviors
There are also potential benefits from remotely delivered psychological services in comparison with face-to-face sessions. These could include:
- Reduces or eliminates in-clinic attendance
- Increase access to care
- Increase client convenience
- Improved accommodation of some client special needs
Potential Risks
There are also potential risks from participating in therapy. Some possible risks include, but are not limited to:
- You may not find the therapy helpful. If progress is not being made, you or your therapist may decide to discontinue sessions. At Focused Psychological Services, our main priority is making sure you get the best help for your situation. This may mean referring you to a different type of therapist, specialist, or program.
- Sometimes feelings and behaviors may worsen while participating in therapy. Talking about distressing life events can bring up uncomfortable thoughts and feelings that may take time to process and work through.
We encourage you to discuss any fears, concerns, or doubts you may have with your therapist during the intake session.
There are also potential risks from remotely delivered psychological services in comparison with face-to-face sessions, despite reasonable efforts on the part of Focused Psychological Services to use safeguards. These could include:
- Electronic communications can introduce malware into a computer system, and potentially damage or disrupt the computer, networks, and security settings.
- Electronic communications are subject to disruptions beyond the control of the counsellor that may prevent the psychologist from being able to provide services.
- Error may be compounded when remotely delivered assessment procedures are used with people who come from culturally and linguistically diverse populations, require an interpreter during remote/tele-assessment, have hearing or visual problems, or have limited experience/comfort with the technology being used.
- The transmission of health information could be interrupted by unauthorized persons.
- The electronic storage of health information could be accessed by unauthorized persons.