Online therapy with a psychologist in France: rules, video tools, plan B and notes

Online therapy with a psychologist is a session held remotely, usually by video, which follows the same rules of professional secrecy and confidentiality as a session in the consulting room.

What the 2021 code of ethics says

The French code of ethics for psychologists, revised in 2021, devotes Article 24 to remote communication. It starts with a principle: the psychologist favours meeting in person over any form of remote communication.

The article goes further. When you work remotely, you must remain personally identifiable and take care to secure the exchange. In practice, the patient must know who they are talking to, and nobody else should be able to follow the session.

The same article asks you to use teleconsultation tools while taking into account the specific features and limits of cyberpsychology. It also asks you to keep up with changing regulations and with the recommendations of international psychology organisations.

Other articles of the code apply fully to video sessions.

• Article 6. Your premises must guarantee confidentiality, and you protect all data about your work, whatever the medium. This article does not mention video. In practice, the room you work from deserves the same care as your practice.
• Article 9. You seek the free and informed consent of the people who consult you. Offer video, explain what it involves and leave the choice open.
• Article 23. You file and archive your notes in a way that protects people's privacy and professional secrecy. The rule is the same on video as in the practice.

Mon soutien psy remotely: what is allowed today

For sessions reimbursed under Mon soutien psy, the French national health insurance (Assurance Maladie) sets precise rules. They are set out in the FAQ for psychologists on ameli.fr, a page dated 25 March 2025 and checked in October 2026.

• The first session, called the assessment interview, must take place in person at the practice.
• Follow-up sessions can be held by video. Whether to hold a session remotely is your decision, case by case, and is decided together with the patient.
• You cannot carry out your contracted activity exclusively at a distance. At most, 20% of the volume of that activity can be remote. This threshold applies to your overall annual contracted activity, not patient by patient.
• Remote sessions take place with equipment, support and organisation suited to patients' clinical situations.

The page for patients, dated 16 September 2026, adds several conditions. The arrangement must suit the patient's clinical situation. Both you and the patient need suitable IT equipment. The session must take place somewhere that keeps the exchange confidential, and the data transmitted must be secured. Finally, remote sessions must not hinder the patient's care.

For the rest of the scheme (number of sessions, fees, referral), see our article on Mon soutien psy in 2026. These rules can change, so check the ameli.fr FAQ before you reorganise your practice.

When to prefer the practice

The code asks you to favour meeting in person. In May 2019, the French National Authority for Health (HAS) published a factsheet on implementing teleconsultation. It is aimed at doctors, midwives and dentists, not psychologists. It states that the professional carrying out the teleconsultation judges whether it is appropriate. The points below are pointers, not rules. They do not replace your clinical judgement and simply flag situations where the question is worth asking.

• The first session. It must take place in the practice under Mon soutien psy. Outside the scheme, the decision is yours.
• No quiet, private place. If someone can walk into the room or overhear the session, confidentiality is not guaranteed.
• A patient who does not seem free to speak where they are. Confidentiality depends not only on the room but also on who else is at home.
• A crisis or suicide risk. What to do is a matter for your clinical judgement. In France, 3114 is the national suicide prevention line. It is free, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and also answers professionals who want advice.
• Repeated drop-outs. A session that keeps cutting out helps neither the patient nor the follow-up.

Remote sessions still have real advantages. They let you continue care when a patient moves, travels, is ill or lives far from a practice. The point is to choose them for good reasons, not only for convenience.

Choosing a video tool

Not all video tools are equally suited to a care session. Before you choose, we suggest checking four things.

The contract and terms of use

In advice published in April 2020, during the Covid-19 crisis, the CNIL, the French data protection authority, recommends always reading the terms of use of a video conferencing app. It also notes that a free app is often only free in appearance. Check whether the provider reuses data, for example for advertising. If the tool processes your patients' data for you, the GDPR (Article 28) requires a data processing agreement between you and the provider.

Confidentiality of the exchange

The same CNIL page recommends checking that the provider applies essential security measures, such as end-to-end encryption of communications. If you can, also choose a tool with a virtual waiting room. It stops someone else from joining the session by mistake.

What the tool keeps after the session

The safest option is a tool that keeps nothing once the session is over. If the tool stores messages, documents or notes about your patients' health, that data must be hosted by an HDS-certified provider (the French certification for health data hosting). Our article on HDS-certified hosting explains what this means for practitioners.

Ease of use for the patient

The simplest option for the patient is to join with a link, without creating an account. For the other tools in your practice (diary, invoicing, notes), see our guide to tools for psychologists in private practice.

Preparing the session and planning a plan B

The 2019 HAS factsheet was written for medical professionals. Its practical pointers can still help you. Among other things, it provides for the following.

• Obtaining the patient's free and informed consent before the teleconsultation, then noting it in their file.
• Checking the patient's identity and keeping a trace of that check.
• Choosing a quiet place that keeps the exchange confidential.
• Planning how to work if the equipment or the connection fails.

The tips that follow are practical advice, not obligations.

Before the session

Send the link in advance, with a sentence explaining how to connect. Ask the patient to sit alone in a closed room, with a headset if they have one. On your side, test the camera, microphone and connection a few minutes before the start.

The plan B

Agree at the first remote session on what happens if the connection drops. The simplest option is to agree that you will call the patient back on their phone, using an up-to-date number. If the call does not work either, say in advance how the session will be rescheduled and whether it will be charged.

You can also note in the file the information that would help in an emergency, such as the address where the patient is during sessions and, if they agree to give it, the number of someone close to them.

Taking notes during a video session

On video, your notes follow the same rules as in the practice. Article 23 of the code asks you to file and archive them in a way that protects the patient's privacy and professional secrecy. Here are a few practical tips specific to video.

• State in the note that the session took place remotely.
• Note any technical incident, such as a drop-out or a shortened session, and what was agreed afterwards.
• If you take notes during the session, tell the patient. On screen, they cannot see what you are doing when you look away.
• Do not leave notes in the video tool's chat or in an unprotected file on your computer.

If you use an AI note-taking tool, inform the patient and obtain their agreement, just as in the practice. Our articles on patient consent for AI note-taking and on professional secrecy and AI set out the rules. The guide AI note-taking in therapy sessions explains how these tools work.

How Delta works

Delta is the clinical assistant for mental health and allied health professionals. You can take your notes in two ways. During the session, Delta transcribes what is said. Or, after the session, you dictate your observations. You can also add written notes.

Delta then generates the session report, with a short summary, a detailed summary and topics for the next session. It takes your profession into account and updates the patient file, with a summary of the follow-up and the goals being tracked. You can find the whole follow-up and how it has evolved in one place. Delta also drafts letters, certificates and assessment reports.

Data is hosted in France by an HDS-certified provider, and AI processing takes place in France. The patient's name and identifying information are pseudonymised before the AI. No audio file is kept, as the audio is only used during the session to produce the transcript. Data is never used to train a model, and it is encrypted in transit and at rest.

Delta works in the browser, with a Mac and Windows app recommended during sessions. It does not handle your diary or invoicing, and works alongside your practice software. The trial lasts 14 days, with no credit card. Find out more on the Delta page for psychologists.

Sources

• Code of ethics for psychologists (France), 2021 version, Articles 6, 9, 23 and 24, codededeontologiedespsychologues.fr
• Assurance Maladie, Mon soutien psy, FAQ for psychologists (page dated 25 March 2025), ameli.fr
• Haute Autorité de santé, Teleconsultation and tele-expertise, implementation (factsheet, May 2019), has-sante.fr
• CNIL, Advice on using video conferencing tools (April 2020), cnil.fr
• INAMI, First-line psychological care reimbursed through mental health networks, inami.fgov.be