Our approach
Your space, your terms
Therapy doesn't have to happen in a beige office with a box of tissues on the side table. Online sessions let you have therapy wherever and however you feel works best for you.
· 7 min read
When most people picture therapy, they picture an office. A waiting room with old magazines. A couch that isn't yours. A box of tissues placed just so.
Our practice is 100% online, and here's something that surprises people: for a lot of clients, the room they choose themselves is the better room.
Your space, your terms
With online therapy, you decide where your session happens. Some clients take every session from the same corner of their couch, with a blanket and a cup of tea. Others use a home office with the door closed, a spare bedroom, their car while it's parked, a quiet bench in a park, or a friend's place on the days home is too full.
There's no right answer. The best spot is wherever you feel private, safe and able to relax.
Where you sit matters more than it might seem. Therapy asks you to say things you may never have said out loud. It's easier to do that when your body already feels at home: your own chair, your own light, your dog asleep at your feet. You don't have to spend the first ten minutes settling into a stranger's office before the real conversation can start.
Online, you don't have to fit yourself into a therapist's space. You choose the room, and your therapist meets you where you're most at home.
Little windows into your world
Something sweet happens when therapy comes to you. A cat strolls across the keyboard mid-sentence. A dog insists on being introduced. You hold up the plant you finally kept alive, the record you can't stop playing, the art on your wall or the sweater your grandmother knit.
These moments might look small, but they aren't small talk. A little show and tell lets your therapist see the things that make you you: what you love, who keeps you company, what home feels like. Therapy starts to feel less like an appointment and more like a relationship.
And the relationship matters. Across nearly 300 studies with more than 30,000 clients, the bond between client and therapist was consistently linked to how well therapy worked (Flückiger et al., 2018). Feeling known, not just treated, is part of what helps.
You never have to share any of it, of course. Your camera, your space, your call.
Therapy that's easier to reach
For a lot of people, the hardest part of therapy has nothing to do with the session. It's getting there.
Maybe you don't have a car, or the bus ride would eat up half your afternoon. Maybe you're living with a chronic illness or disability, or caring for someone who can't be left alone. Maybe anxiety or trauma makes leaving the house feel like a mountain on some days, or most days. Or maybe you have ADHD, and the trip to an appointment is its own obstacle course of reminders, timing and transitions, where any step can derail it.
Online therapy takes those barriers away. You don't have to get yourself across town, through a lobby and into a waiting room before the help begins. There's one step, from wherever you already are: open the Zoom link, or for a phone session, answer your therapist's call or call in yourself, whichever you prefer.
Some days, even that place is your bed. Depression can make getting up, showering and getting dressed feel impossible. In an office, those are the days sessions get canceled, right when support matters most. Online, you can show up as you are: in pajamas, under the covers, hair unbrushed. There's nothing to put together first, and your therapist gets to see what that day is really like.
Being at home can even become part of the work. If you get things done best with a body double, another person nearby keeping you company while you work, you can use part of a session to start a task you've been putting off, with your therapist right there on the screen. And if getting out of bed or out of the house more is one of your goals, that's something you and your therapist can work toward together, at your own pace. Starting from home doesn't mean staying there; it means you get to begin.
Why this matters for queer and BIPOC clients
If you're LGBTQ+ or BIPOC, the traditional therapy office can come with extra weight. There's the waiting room where someone might recognize you. The front desk that may or may not use your name and pronouns. The walls, the books and the magazines that quietly tell you who the space was built for.
Online, none of that is in the way. You don't have to be seen walking into a therapist's office. You don't have to code-switch in a lobby. You show up in your own space, as yourself.
It also means you can choose a therapist for who they are and what they know, not for how close their office is to your home. That's a big part of why our practice exists: so LGBTQ+, BIPOC and Asian American clients can work with therapists who already know their world, wherever they live in the states we serve.
Why we can be this flexible
Online sessions let you choose the place of your care. Being a private pay practice means you and your therapist also get to choose its shape.
When insurance pays for therapy, its billing rules often decide what care looks like: which codes, how long, how often, and what has to go in your file. Most of our clients pay privately, and that keeps those decisions between you and your therapist. Here's what that looks like in practice:
No diagnosis needed to start. You can begin therapy without being labeled first.
No pressure to fill the hour. Some sessions need every minute; some land sooner. Your session time is reserved for you either way, and it's still a full session.
Phone sessions when video doesn't fit. Walking the dog, sitting in your parked car, or just a camera-off kind of day: our therapists offer phone sessions as well as Zoom.
Longer sessions when the work needs it. Sometimes an hour isn't enough. Longer sessions are something you and your therapist can plan together.
You decide how long to work together. No session caps and no insurer reviewing your progress.
If you'd like to use insurance benefits, you still can: we provide monthly superbills for out-of-network reimbursement, and Harry Dixon is our only clinician in-network with Cigna. Submitting a superbill shares a diagnosis with your insurer, so whether to use it is your choice. Our insurance and payment FAQs walk through the details.
Keeping your sessions private
Online therapy changes one thing about privacy, and it's worth saying plainly.
Confidentiality is your therapist's responsibility. What you share in session is kept confidential on our end, the same as in any therapy.
Privacy is a shared responsibility. Your therapist can't see or control who's around you on your side of the screen. So we ask every client to find a space where they can talk without being overheard, and choosing that space is up to you. If you take a session somewhere others might hear, like a park bench or a friend's place, think about what you're comfortable having overheard. And if someone walks in, it's always okay to pause.
A few simple habits help a session feel private and focused, wherever you are:
- Headphones. They keep the conversation between you and your therapist, even if others are nearby.
- Notifications off. Silence your phone and close other tabs, so the hour is yours.
- A little sound outside the door. A fan or white-noise app can help if you share walls.
- Water and tissues nearby. You won't have to hunt for them mid-session.
- A few minutes after. If you can, give yourself a short buffer before jumping back into work or family. A walk around the block counts.
Two firm rules.
No sessions while driving. Therapy takes your full attention, and so does the road. If you're taking your session from your car, park somewhere safe first. If you're driving when your session starts, your therapist will ask you to pull over or reschedule.
Stay dressed. Pajamas, sweats and under-the-covers days are all welcome, but no nudity: private parts stay covered and off camera, even when what we're talking about is sex or your body. It keeps sessions safe and professional for everyone.
The honest limits
"Wherever you feel safe" has one boundary: you need to be in a state where your therapist is licensed at the time of your session. Our practice serves clients in California, Oregon, Washington and New York, and not every therapist is licensed in every state. We'll confirm the fit in your free consultation. If you're traveling, let your therapist know ahead of time.
And while online therapy can be deep, meaningful work, it isn't emergency care. We don't provide emergency services. If you're in crisis, call or text 988, contact The Trevor Project, or call 911.
Choose your spot
Your couch. Your parked car. A quiet bench with a view. Wherever you feel most like yourself is a good place to start. If you're curious whether online therapy could work for you, a free 15-minute consultation is an easy first step, and you can take that call from anywhere too.
Pick your spot, and let's talk
A free 15-minute consultation by phone or Zoom, from wherever you are, to see if we're a good fit.
Book a free consultationOnline therapy in California, Oregon, Washington State and New York
We don't provide emergency services. If you're in crisis, call or text 988, text START to 678-678 (The Trevor Project), or call 911.
Harry Dixon, MA, LPCC #4340 (CA) · LPC #C8199 (OR) · LMHC #LH60684311 (WA) · LMHC #015648 (NY), is the founder of Rainbow Connection Counseling Collective and a Certified Sex Therapist (CST), a certification rather than a state license.