A Tale of Two Clinicians: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Provision of Therapy

Abstract

The influence of COVID-19 is far-reaching and will likely have long-lasting effects on social work practice in general and specifically on the provision of therapy. In this article, the authors, one a registered social worker and doctoral student and the other a registered psychologist and assistant professor, will discuss the substantial impact of COVID-19  on their private practices, utilizing a narrative framework. The primary focus is the crumbling of boundaries, including the lack of delineation between home and work life, privacy and confidentiality issues for both clients and therapists, and challenges with online therapy delivery. In addition, the authors discuss the alterations to caseload and case management, the forced and sudden transformation of the very nature of therapy, the unique challenges faced by clients from varying demographic backgrounds, and the experience of collective grief, shared trauma, and parallel processing. The article also highlights the unique challenges that two women therapists have faced during this global pandemic while carrying the bulk of household and child-care responsibilities.