The client may also be communicating with the counsellor anonymously, using email services which hide the sender's identity. Counselling requires a confidential environment, within agreed limits. It is not clear that the Internet can currently offer the necessary standards for confidentiality. Face to face counselling sessions have agreed boundaries. For instance clients may see their counsellor once a week for an hour.
Clients can send electronic mail when they choose.
In a more conventional setting, meetings may be limited by the service being closed. Contractural arrangements are much more difficult to agree when the communication is via the Internet. All professional counsellor organisations require counsellors to be supervised. As has been described above there are real difficulties regarding client counsellor communications via the Internet. Similar difficulties are likely if the counsellor and supervisor are also only communicating via the Internet.