Unlocked

All therapeutic work described in this book happens online. The pandemic forced therapists to move to remote work but Anastasia Piatakhina Giré had already been working with her clients in this way for a decade. Her stories show how a curious and skilled online therapist can make the most of the unexpected gifts that ‘screen’ therapy offers – be it the intrusion of a pet, a parent breaking into the session, or a client taking her therapist for a trip outside. Rather than being somehow ‘less’, taking therapeutic conversations out of a physical therapy room breathes a new energy and new possibilities into the therapeutic process. These conversations happening through the screen have a surprising close-up quality and foster a different kind of intimacy and intensity. Giré’s years of experience reveal the positives of digital practice, including how it enables multilingual, cross-cultural therapy, and will inspire others who work in this way or are considering a move to online therapy. Her accessible storytelling has a broad appeal to those working in psychotherapy and to the general reader curious about human psychology, diversity, and contemporary psychotherapy.