Rodney Karr, PhD offers Video Coaching & Therapy for Professional & Personal Effectiveness.

My experience with videotaping clinical therapy sessions began over 34 years ago when I was a graduate student in psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle. An essential part of our innovative clinical training for all graduate students was to have every therapy session videotaped and then reviewed by a clinical supervisor. Over the past 30 years, the use of videotaped sessions for clinical supervision has become common practice at many universities.

I rediscovered video again three years ago, when I began an extensive documentary film project concerning eco-spirituality. During filming I was once again struck with how powerfully transforming the whole process is. It is magical to see, hear, and observe oneself interacting and moving through the world.

My colleague, Natalia A. Bolsheva, MD, and I have discovered that video coaching and therapy greatly enhances other traditional cognitive behavioral and depth therapy approaches. The use of video appears to speed up the therapy process and is useful for short-term approaches. Issues such as stress management, anger management, and depression as well as problems of self-presentation for workman's compensation or the I.N.S can be more expeditiously remedied through the video therapy process. Relationship and family matters may also be effectively addressed through the video method.

The video therapy process we utilize involves the following:

We videotape a session where I interact with the client.

Dr. Bolsheva intensely observes and takes notes during the session. She later shares her perceptions with the client and me.

Dr. Bolsheva and I review the video with the client. Immediately following the session, we discuss our observations with clients and help them explore their own observations of themselves on video.

The client then takes the video home and observes it alone. The client is encouraged to discuss feelings and reactions with Dr. Bolsheva and myself at the next session.

The videotape is confidential; it belongs to the client and remains with him or her. We do not keep copies of these confidential videotaped sessions.

The video process helps clients to develop a more accurate, positive self-image, identify and change negative behavior, develop greater empathy for themselves, develop a better relationship with their bodies, and become aware of unconscious communications which are revealed by video.

We have found that clients come to very rapid and cathartic realizations about themselves while utilizing video coaching and video therapy methods. A recent example is a woman executive who was seeking coaching for an important job interview. While reviewing her video session with us, she became upset as she realized how very unhappy she was with her current job. She was not aware of how angry and victimized she looked and felt. The following week she shared that she had put in her resignation, recognizing how toxic she had become. Another video therapy client has made rapid progress in totally shifting his relationship with himself and his body. He shared that he had always felt skinny, weak, and ugly. We were able to help him see, by way of video, that the years of growing-up and going to the gym had changed his body so that now he is a strong, healthy, and attractive man. Both these individuals had been in long-term therapy but did not make breakthrough realizations about themselves until encountering video therapy.

Video coaching and therapy helps clients improve their presentation of themselves to the world, enabling them to be more attractive, more successful, more powerful, and more self-confident in their relationships and careers. Video therapy is useful in couple's therapy as well, helping partners to see more clearly their interactions and communications with one another. And, video coaching and therapy is particularly useful for attorneys and their clients who are involved in litigation. Deposition and trial are emotionally traumatic for many clients, and using video coaching can feel more comfortable in a stressful situation and enable clients to present themselves positively and well, thereby helping them to better survive the trial process.