Can ART be done online?

Some therapists do offer Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) by video, but it is an adaptation rather than a tested way of doing it. Every published ART study was done in person, no study has tested ART delivered by telehealth, and neither of the organizations behind ART has published a position on it either way. For a first course of ART, I generally recommend meeting in person.

What the ART organizations say

Two organizations stand behind ART. The Rosenzweig Center for Rapid Recovery, founded by ART’s developer, runs the training. The International Society of Accelerated Resolution Therapy (IS-ART) handles certification. A search of both organizations’ websites found no official statement on delivering ART by telehealth, for or against.

What you will find are individual clinicians’ choices. Some ART trainers write that they use ART in both face-to-face and telehealth sessions, and the IS-ART directory includes therapists who offer virtual therapy. Those are statements about their own practice, not a policy. The training itself is in person only: the training center says plainly that “The ART training is only offered live/in person.”

What the research says

Nothing yet, for video. The trials and cohort studies of ART, including the 2013 randomized trial and the studies in the only systematic review, were all done face to face. Whether ART works as well by video, less well, or just as well for some people and not others, is unknown.

That is different from some other trauma therapies. The 2023 VA/DoD PTSD guideline strongly recommends secure video for its recommended therapies, such as Cognitive Processing Therapy and Prolonged Exposure, “when that therapy has been validated for use with video teleconferencing or when other options are unavailable.” ART is not on the guideline’s recommended list, and it has not been validated for video.

Why I generally recommend in person for a first course

In ART I move my hand across your field of vision and you follow it with your eyes, in sets of about 40. Between sets we check what has shifted in your body. That works best when I can see you fully and adjust in real time.

ART can also bring up strong emotions and physical sensations, such as fast breathing or a racing heart. The first time you go through it, it helps to be in a room with someone who can see how you are doing and make sure the session closes properly.

“Generally” matters in that sentence. It is not a blanket rule, and whether video could suit you is something we decide together before you start. Your first ART session describes what the in-person version looks like.

The Texas rules: where you are during the session

For licensed counselors, what counts is where the client is during the session, not where the counselor is. Under the Texas rule (22 TAC §882.23), a counselor is practicing in Texas whenever the client is physically located in Texas, so a client in Texas must see someone licensed or otherwise authorized to practice here.

The rule also lets a Texas licensee see a client in another state by telehealth, but only if that other state allows it. Rules differ from state to state, so my policy is simpler: telehealth sessions are for people who are physically in Texas at the time of the session.

Texas and the Counseling Compact

The Counseling Compact is an interstate agreement for licensed counselors. Texas is not a member. The Texas board has said it supports the Compact but has to wait for the Legislature, and the 2025 bill (SB 498) did not pass. The next regular session starts in January 2027. Until Texas joins, a Texas license does not carry into other states through the Compact.

If you do have therapy by video

Whatever the method, a few things make a video session safer and more useful:

• A private room where you will not be overheard or interrupted, with the door closed.
• A stable connection, and a device on a stand rather than in your hand.
• An agreed plan for what happens if the call drops, including a phone number to call back.
• Your location at the start of each session, and the local emergency and crisis numbers where you are. The Texas board’s guidance asks licensees to plan for client emergencies and technology failures in telehealth.
• A secure platform provided by the practice, not a general social or chat app.