TELEPHONE & VIDEO CONSULTATION

Welcome! Thanks for visiting! You are invited to explore! May you emerge more educated. May you make wise decisions. Choose a skillful helping person! Talk to someone who can help! Each web page has a summary near the top. The site map, the last web page, has an over view of the entire site.

Jim

Dr. Jim Psychologist Mentor Guide

http://www.drjimpsychologist.com

Dr. Jim Leonidas Ph.D., C. Psych.

Registered Clinical Counselling Psychologist

Canadian Register Health Service Providers Psychology

jimleonidas@mac.com

1.416.484.9912 voice mail

Skype Name: drjimpsychologist.com

10 MCNAIRN Avenue Suite H1 Toronto Ontario Canada M5M 2H5

Nearest major Intersection LAWRENCE and YONGE Streets LAWRENCE PARK NORTH TORONTO Neighborhood GREATER TORONTO AREA GTA

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Plato

Don´t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive, then go do it, because what the world needs is people who have come alive. Harold Thurman Whitman

Summary

Telephone and Video Counselling, Mentoring, Guiding

Active Homework Exercises

Unique Qualities and Strengths of Phone and Video Counselling

Convenience

Effectiveness Research

Fees and Cancelation

Here's How It Works

Video Format Information, Links, Downloads

Relevant Resources, Guidelines, Bibliography

Using Skype, The Internet Phone Service. Leah McLaren

Research

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Maya Angelou

Telephone and Video Counseling, Mentoring, Guiding

I have been doing telephone Counselling for 39 years since 1972 and Video Counselling for 8 years.

Phone and Video Counselling using EMDR, Brainspotting and Focusing-Oriented Counselling.

You can be guided through EMDR, Brainspotting and Focusing-Oriented processes over the telephone and Video Counselling.

Even when you and your Psychologist have never met in person face-to-face.

You can be guided by a skilled, seasoned and experienced Psychologist and experience the rich unfolding gifts of EMDR, Brainspotting and Focusing-Oriented processes.

Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is a wonderful moment. Tich Nhat Hanh

Active Homework Exercises

Active homework assignments are done through the web by means of e-mail, voice mail, online readings, experiential exercises, questionnaires, inventories, daily practices and other specific suggestions for further practice and learning related to what you are working on, so that you can integrate, internalize and sustain what we discover in this creative process.

Freedom is what you do with what's been done to you. Jean-Paul Sartre

Unique Qualities and Strengths of Phone and Video Counselling

Heightening of focus, presence, awareness, consciousness.

Salient quality of voice tones, intonation and pacing.

Facial recognition and observation enhanced.

Concentrated hearing of each other with more emphasis on the audio video quality of each other’s voice.

Emotionally intimate presence strengthens relationship building, connection, contact.

Breathing awareness, sighs, poignant pauses, sounds are heightened.

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

Convenience

Convenience of sitting in the comfort, safety, security and privacy of your own home, summer cottage, away travelling or private office. Useful on inclement weather days, when a person can’t leave their home or office, when isolated in remote rural environments, when health issues keep a person at home and when it is especially important to talk to a highly skilled and seasoned helping person.

If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves. Carl G. Jung

Effectiveness Research

Jim Leonidas M.A.Sc. Thesis Research. Teaching Empathy and Respect Communication Skills Through Correspondence. Unpublished Research Report, Department of Human Relations and Counselling Studies, University of Waterloo. June 1974.

Universities of McMaster and Waterloo correspondence course conducted by Jim Leonidas using telephone and cassette audio recordings implemented September 1971. These were the early days of correspondence courses with University of Waterloo and McMaster University leading the way among Canadian Universities.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead

Fees and Cancelation

I ask that you pay for your sessions in advance, $160 for a 60 minute hour. On receiving payment I will confirm your scheduled appointment time.

Your payment will be cashed and deposited at the latest 48 hours before your scheduled appointment time. The current hourly fee is $160. A session lasts for a full 60 minute hour. I will immediately send you a receipt for the service provided on e-mail as a PDF receipt.

When payment is made in this manner, your account remains manageable and your counselling becomes a regularly budgeted expense. Fees increase $5 to $10 every one to two years. The services of a Registered Psychologist are HST exempt. I do not accept Interact Direct Payment, Visa, Mastercard or other credit cards.

An absolute minimum cancellation or rescheduling period of 48 hours of weekday notice, before a scheduled session, is required to avoid being charged for the entire cost for the missed appointment. 48 hours of weekday notice is required prior to cancelling or rescheduling an appointment, so that I have sufficient time to schedule another person from the standby waiting list into that time period. It is your responsibility to remember your appointment time.

Payment can be made through an E-mail money transfer with your web banking financial institution. All 5 Canadian banks offer this through their web banking. See the following web link as just one example: https://www.tdcanadatrust.com/ebanking/email_transfer.jsp

If you prefer you may pay by post dated cheques, money orders, certified cheques in Canadian funds and mailed to arrive at an absolute minimum of 48 hours before your session.

Life is just a chance to grow a soul. A. Powell Davies

Here's How It Works

Make an appointment or inquire about more information call, e-mail or Skype

1.416.484.9912

E-mail: jimleonidas@mac.com

Skype Name: drjimpsychologist.com

When sending an e-mail or when leaving a phone message, please let me know your preferred dates and times Monday through Friday during the daytime 8AM to 5PM and evening hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 4PM, 5PM, 6PM and 7PM Eastern Time zone from Toronto Ontario Canada and your complete contact information including your phone numbers and time zone.

May love surround you, comfort you, and fill your heart with hope. Jim Leonidas

Video Format Information, Links, Downloads

FREE Skype downloads for Windows, Mac, Linux, Skype on your mobile phone, Skype from your TV http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/other-downloads/ If you on a Mac computer we can use FaceTime, if you are on Google+ or Gmail we can video through these platforms, all no cost, from wherever you live.

Whatever you do or dream you can, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Goethe

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens. Khalil Gibran

Relevant Resources, Guidelines, and Bibliography

Ethical Guidelines for Psychologists Providing Psychological Services Through Electronic Media. Canadian Psychological Association Committee on Ethics. http://www.cpa.ca/aboutcpa/committees/ethics/psychserviceselectronically/

APA Statement on Services by Telephone, Teleconferencing, and Internet. A statement by the Ethics Committee of the American Psychological Association http://www.apa.org/ethics/education/telephone-statement.aspx

A new emphasis on telehealth. How can psychologists stay ahead of the curve and keep patients safe? Amy Novotney June 2011, Vol 42, No. 6 http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/06/telehealth.aspx

Veterans Affairs Canada. Mental Health Tele Mental Health. http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/mental-health/support/telh

TelePsychology Guidelines Ohio Psychological Association. Communications and Technology Committee 2009. http://www.ohpsych.org/resources/1/files/Comm%20Tech%20Committee/OPATelepsychologyGuidelines41710.pdf Revision of April 12, 2008 version approved by the Board of Directors, April 17, 2010. These guidelines are available online http://www.ohpsych.org/professionalissues.aspx

Ohio State Medical Association. Social Networking and Medical Practice. http://www.osma.org/files/documents/tools-and-resources/running-a-practice/social-media-policy.pdf

California Telehealth Regulations http://www.zurinstitute.com/telehealthlaws.html

Tele Mental Health Institute http://telementalhealth.com/ethical-statements

Notice to California Consumers Regarding the Practice of Psychology on the Internet http://www.psychboard.ca.gov/consumers/internet-thrpy.shtml

Ethical use of technology in counselinghttp://ct.counseling.org/2006/12/ct-online-ethics-update-4/

The Practice of Internet Counseling. National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc. And Center for Credentialing and Education, Inc. 3 Terrace Way, Suite D Greensboro, NC 27403 http://www.nbcc.org/Assets/Ethics/internetCounseling.pdf

Guidelines for the clinical use of electronic mail with patients. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 1998 Jan-Feb;5(1):104-11. The AMIA Internet Working Group, Task Force on Guidelines for the Use of Clinic-Patient Electronic Mail. Kane B, Sands DZ. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9452989

eHealth Code of Ethics http://www.emro.who.int/his/ethicscode.pdf http://www.ihealthcoalition.org/ehealth-code-of-ethics/ http:/www.ihealthcoalition.org/foundations-of-the-ehealth-code-of-ethics/

International Society for Mental Health Online. (2000). Suggested principles for the online provision of mental health services. (Retrieved 29 May 2006.) http://www.ismho.org/suggestions.html

Now is the season to know that everything you do is sacred. Haifa

Using Skype, The Internet Phone Service. Leah McLaren. Globe and Mail 18 August 2009

“August is a wicked month,” Edna O'Brien once wrote. When I met her in London a few years ago, I asked her what she meant. The Irish novelist gave a caustic laugh and said, “Because that's when all the shrinks go on holiday.” In the digital age, however, no one need be separated from their therapist ever again. More and more people are using Skype, the Internet phone service, to keep in close, long-distance contact with their nearest and dearest - and for many people, that includes their shrink.

Just this month, the U.S. Army launched a pilot program that allows soldiers and their families to use a phone or computer with video-conferencing capabilities to “communicate directly with licensed counsellors about stress-management issues, family difficulties and pressures, family separations and deployments … or any personal problems that might adversely impact work performance, health or well-being,” according to a press release. “I believe we have taken a very important first step in getting behavioural health care to soldiers and family members who might not have received it otherwise, because of stigma or geographical separation,” said General Peter Chiarelli of the TRICARE Assistance Program. The idea of soldiers in the field Skyping their shrinks might seem revolutionary.

But for many people posted away (or separated from a therapist they are close to), video counselling is as much a part of daily life as grocery shopping or getting a haircut. One friend of mine, a foreign correspondent, used Skype to communicate with his Toronto therapist from an overseas war zone (previously an unthinkable setting for a man to talk about his feelings). “At first when I went away, I let my relationship with my therapist go because it seemed too complicated,” he recounted, adding that he considered searching for a new therapist in his posting but didn't want to start all over again with someone new. “It wasn't until I'd been gone some time and then I repented having fallen out of contact with therapist. Whatever the issues, therapy forces you to pay attention to your life.” With Skype, my friend found that he was able to rekindle and maintain a close relationship with his Toronto therapist across continents and oceans – and the best part about it was that no one had to pay the charges, since Skype-to-Skype calls are free.

But the technology wasn't without its problems. One was scheduling, which is difficult for busy people in different time zones. The other was connection speed, which can be slower in less developed countries. Despite the glitches, my friend is glad that he stuck with the same therapist. “When you've been with someone a while, they get to know you pretty well. They don't fall for your routines any more. The idea of starting that all over again from scratch is very tiring.”

Stephan Tobin, a registered psychologist in Portland, Ore., has used Internet video phone with about half a dozen patients in his practice over the past few years. While he concedes that it's “generally better” to see someone in person, he believes that Skype therapy is a good option for people who want to continue with the same therapist or find themselves in a remote location where traditional counselling is simply not an option. The argument for sticking with the same shrink no matter where you live is actually bolstered by the therapeutic process itself.

“A lot of people, when they come to therapy, have trouble letting themselves feel dependent. And so when they feel they can depend on a therapist, a very strong bond develops.”This bond, known as a “transference tie,” is one that can be maintained, much like any other human relationship, via phone and Internet.

With video, Dr. Tobin is also able to see his patients' visual cues and body language. But he takes it one step further. A respected clinical psychologist with more than 30 years of experience, he practises a form of therapy known as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), which allows patients to “reprocess” traumatic or unpleasant events in their lives by moving their eyes back and forth and focusing on the memory. Dr. Tobin practises EMDR on Skype and says that, for his patients, it has been highly effective. He is also mentoring another psychotherapist in Iceland on Skype and says that, increasingly, his work is being done in front of a computer rather than beside a couch.

Meanwhile, therapist Laurie Anne King says she has kept virtually her entire client list after a recent move to Australia from Canada. She updates her hardware, Skypes often and has her clients pay online through PayPal. “I've worked over the phone/Internet for many years now, so in fact nothing has changed in terms of logistics or payment,” she told me. “I could be on the moon and as long as I have an Internet connection it would be business as usual.” One of her clients, a Toronto wedding photographer, said that, if she couldn't see King on Skype, she would quit therapy. “I don't think I could find someone else like her,” she said.

Gen. Chiarelli has great hopes for the possibilities of online therapy. “I could set up a gymnasium, when a brigade came back, that had 250 computer stations in it,” he recently told the press. Those stations, he explained, could accommodate the entire chain of command, from the brigade commander to the sergeant major to the soldiers of the brigade, all of them “getting a no-kidding, real mental-health evaluation after a 12-month rotation.” Yes, it's a long way from Dr. Freud's couch. But if it makes a soldier's August less wicked, who can argue?

First realize that the world is a reflection of yourself and then stop finding fault with the reflection. Jana Fleming

Research

Online Counseling Effectiveness. 12 studies. https://www.breakthrough.com/effectiveness

Therapist-delivered internet psychotherapy for depression in primary care: a randomised controlled trial http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)61257-5/fulltext

Is Telepsychiatry Equivalent to Face-to-face Psychiatry? Results From a Randomized Controlled Equivalence Trail. Full online article. http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/58/6/836

Shy? Anxious? Depressed? Log on for relief. September 2009. http://www.unsw.edu.au/news/pad/articles/2009/sep/Phobias.html

Online Behavioral Therapy Found Effective in Depression. 42 percent with online therapy recovered from depression versus 26 percent with usual care. http://www.modernmedicine.com/modernmedicine/Modern+Medicine+Now/Online-Behavioral-Therapy-Found-Effective-in-Depre/ArticleNewsFeed/Article/detail/620809?contextCategoryId=40137

Therapy online: Good as face to face? August 31, 2009. http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/31/online.internet.therapy.cbt/index.html

Beauty is truth, truth beauty. John Keats

Jim