Bodies on the line: how telepsychology brought about new relationalities between therapists and their clients during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This article explores a series of psychosocial and embodied relationalities that emerged between registered solo-practice psychologists and their clients during the COVID-19 social lockdowns that took place in Australia between June and August 2020. Drawing on findings from a larger qualitative research project into Australian psychologists’ experiences of maintaining therapeutic relationships via teleconferencing technologies during the pandemic, I explore the ways in which the relational and embodied experiences of taking therapy online resulted in new ways of working with clients over digital media interfaces such as Zoom, Skype and Facetime. Central to this discussion is an exploration of the ways in which embodied attunement, fears of risk and contagion, and concerns around trust and privacy were negotiated to create new, ‘more-than-human’ relationships between therapists, clients and the spaces and technologies that brought them together.