The next coming months are notorious for being a time when homesickness peaks, which is especially true for expats. Couple that with the colder months and fewer social events during a time when perhaps you could be with your family. That said, therapy doesn’t necessarily have to be seasonal, in fact, some people continue to hold sessions with therapists for years. So many of us don’t think of therapy as that critical, yet it actually makes sense that, like training any muscle in the body, working on our inner processes will undoubtedly make anyone stronger and more resilient. We go to get our teeth cleaned, yet most of us don’t set aside the time or budget to seek help with clearing our minds.
I was someone who was averse to therapy and never thought I needed it, nor that any therapist could truly understand my situation of being bridged between two cultures. But when a good friend from the U.S. gifted me an ongoing monthly membership to BetterHelp, there was no way I could refuse the gesture. With BetterHelp, therapists from all over the world offer to work with you once you describe your situation or you can choose from their rich portfolio of counselors. The therapist who chose me is based in the U.K., which funnily enough ended up making the most sense as my mother is British and it is a sensible middle ground between my native U.S. and Türkiye. But, the thing is that it actually doesn’t seem to matter where the therapist is from, it's a bias that can be quickly overcome.
The video sessions take place online and from the comfort of my computer, which makes it easy to show up although I have also joined sessions when I was out at a café. While at times I have felt at a loss for what to discuss, it always ends up with those sessions being the most valuable as unexpected topics rise to the surface. I have truly felt the benefit of the online therapy system and want to shout it out loud that we should all try the experience at least once!
That's where Advicemy comes in. Advicemy is an online portal to find and book therapists and counselors for individual online sessions, with many also offering sessions in English. Based in Türkiye, Advicemy has dozens of therapists that you can select from that focus on different interests, categories and styles of counseling. From psychologists and family therapists to life coaches and dietitians, all you have to do is click on a category and peruse the counselors available. Each counselor or therapist has their own profile with photos that list their expertise and languages spoken. Other categories include a wide range of energy work such as NLP, numerology and astrology. Other sections of the website include therapists for mothers and children that specialize in all ages and a variety of topics such as child development, sleep and nutrition geared toward children.
Then there is a section devoted to professional aspirations, which has specialists that can assist clients on topics such as professional coaching, storytelling and human resources. Advicemy also has advisers available that specialize in a variety of career-related topics such as entrepreneurship, social media, e-commerce, accounting, marketing, project development and sales.
It is with this wide range of services that Advicemy stands out from other platforms such as BetterHelp as well as through its ease of use and that people can pick and choose whatever type of specialist they are seeking and can book directly online for a single session or more, and then take part in the online session in the platform of their choosing. There are over 500 different therapists, specialists and coaches to choose from, with each profile containing a photo, their expertise, a short bio, their session rates, their languages spoken and which platforms they use for online meetings, as well as client reviews.
Created by Kerem Karşılıklı, a web designer who came up with the concept prior to the pandemic, during which it exploded, becoming a source of comfort, connection and self-development for so many at such an isolating time. Since then, Advicemy has continued to grow and will soon have an app, from where therapists and counselors can be contacted online. Plans are in the works for an English-language version of the site. That said, many of the hundreds of professional counselors on the website do indeed offer English-language sessions in addition to a variety of other languages. All one needs to do is to peruse the website to find the adviser that most resonates and start from there. With the way the website is set up, it is easy to pick and choose among potential counselor candidates, as well as to try out a number of therapists until one clicks.
Yet another great feature on Advicemy.com is its blog containing posts from the various therapists themselves that you can book sessions with. The blog contains a wealth of information on all sorts of topics such as personal development, relationships, childrearing, astrology, health, nutrition and so much more. These blogs not only share knowledge, but can provide insight into the therapist that is the author and may end up being someone you choose to work with.
From my personal experience, I no longer believe that the therapist and client relationship needs to be based on shared cultures or locations. What matters most is simply clicking with the person you are working with in order to be able to comfortably delve into the issues at hand, which in most cases are universal. With the online world allowing therapy to transcend borders, all while transpiring from the convenience of a computer, getting help is extremely easy these days, especially with websites such as BetterHelp and Advicemy. If not for yourself, why not gift a session or membership to someone you care about and maybe you can contribute to positively affecting their lives?
