Dunlap native Kim Brooks-Miller has started an online counseling service called Your Story Confidential. The business offers private, confidential counseling services through live chat, email, phone, televideo and even texting. (Photo courtesy of Kim Brooks-Miller)

Add mental health counseling to the list of the many things people can now do online locally.

“I saw that there was such a need, and I really wanted to help people,” said Kim Brooks-Miller about her private on-line counseling business, Your Story Confidential, which she launched last November.

YSC offers private, confidential counseling services through live chat, email, phone, televideo and even texting. The site focuses on issues such as anxiety, depression, grief, pet loss, eating disorders and post-abortion counseling for men and women.

Brooks-Miller is an entrepreneur, not a counselor, but said she realized the need for a business like YSC while working in human resources in the corporate world. So far she’s recruited four counselors to offer online services through YSC.

“I worked very closely with a lot of different levels of people, and one thing I found in common was people felt that they didn’t have the time to go in and talk with a counselor due to their work schedule and family life and trying to balance it or else there was something going on in their life that they didn’t want to talk to someone about face-to-face,” she said.

Brooks-Miller also noticed there often is a perceived stigma attached to seeking counseling.

“Unfortunately, some felt that being seen in a waiting room or even their car being seen in the parking lot could be detrimental for their job,” she said.

Your Story Confidential is a new online counseling service in Peoria that focuses on issues such as anxiety, depression, grief, pet loss, eating disorders and post-abortion counseling for men and women. (Photo courtesy of Your Story Confidential)

The service is also helpful for people who are unable to leave their homes for emotional or physical reasons or for people who are traveling but need to check-in with a counselor.

“Or maybe it’s a young mom who’s stuck at home with three little children and can’t get away who could benefit from a platform like this,” Brooks-Miller added. “It’s all very private, and the software is HIPAA compliant, so people can feel safe and secure.”

The federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects the privacy of an individual’s medical and health information.

“I put a lot of research behind this,” Brooks-Miller said. “There were some other very large groups that did (online counseling), but no one else was or is at the time pursuing this in central Illinois.”

Clients can choose a counselor on the YSC website from a directory that details their background, certifications and specialities. Clients pay the counselors directly, and the counselors pay Brooks-Miller a sort of “virtual rent,” she said.

She stressed that YSC is not a 24/7 service and that clients make appointments for online counseling.

“This is a virtual office for counselors if they want to add to their practice. Or maybe if they’re retiring and they don’t want the bricks-and-mortar anymore, they can still do it through this platform,” Brooks-Miller explained. “I do have additional counselors that are going to be coming on board, and I do plan on growing it.

She said she had no trouble recruiting counselors, even though it’s a fairly new concept locally.

“Technology seems to be slower coming to some areas than others. The East Coast and West Coast are all over this, but it’s been slower coming to the Midwest,” she said.

Currently, all YSC counselors are located in the Peoria area, but counselors could be located anywhere, she added.

Both mental health counselors and life coaches are available for online services through YSC. Life coaches help people move forward in life by helping them set personal and professional goals.

Each counselor or life coach sets their own rates, but Brooks-Miller said the rates are reasonable because they don’t have the usual overhead costs. Some accept a client’s insurance.

“There are some insurance companies that honor this platform and some that don’t,” Brooks-Miller said.

“I think (the insurance industry) is going to have to take a hard look at this because so much is being done online now.”

A Dunlap native, Brooks-Miller previously owned and published Healthy Cells magazine for six years and hosted a “Healthy You” radio show for several years. She sold the magazine in 2016 when she began thinking about starting YSC.

“I’m revamping the website right now to target millennials more, because they already communicate this way,” Brooks-Miller said. She hopes to launch the new website within a week or two.

“This service is not to take away from in-person counseling at all,” she added. “I still think that’s very important and there are some people that do need to have the face-to-face counseling. But it’s been shown in studies that 20 percent of clients cancel their appointments just because of life interfering. So if you can catch them virtually, you can keep up with them and reach out to them.”

She chose the name Your Story Confidential because she believes everyone has a story to tell.

“Now people have a safe place to go and talk to somebody from their bedroom or their living room or even while they’re driving if they have Bluetooth,” she said. “The main goal is for people to be able to get help when they need it.”

For more information, visit the YSC website at www.yourstoryconfidential.com. The business also has a Facebook page.

–Local mental health counseling moves online with Your Story Confidential service–