There is strong evidence that a good relationship between therapist and client is associated with positive outcomes after all types of psychological therapy. There is also strong evidence that computer-guided cognitive behaviour therapy (CCBT), in which there may be little or no face-to-face contact, is associated with outcomes that are as good as outcomes after conventional therapy. These two sets of findings can be reconciled by reference to the common factors debate, in that common factors may be as important in CCBT as in conventional therapy; and by reconstruing the therapist-client relationship as a channel through which common and specific factors are brought into play.