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Kate Anthony, DPsych, FBACP
Everyday Technology in Counselling and Supervision This transcript is a heavily edited version of a Keynote Speech given at the COSCA (Counselling and Psychotherapy in Scotland) Annual Ethical Seminar in March of 2011. To download the full hour transcript, it is available at http://www.onlinetherapymagazine.com/ articles/. A further version will appear in COSCA’s Counselling in Scotland Journal. Used with permission and with thanks to COSCA.
Welcome Everybody! We are talking today about the use of technology in counselling and supervision. I think we are now at the point where online therapy, although not mainstream, is accepted; certainly it has been accepted from an ethical point of view, although it is always a work in progress not least because of the many different technologies that pop up every day. So, on that note, what I am going to do is to take you through some of the technologies that are used right now. I am sure you are familiar with a variety of different kinds of websites. Static websites, although they do usually have a contact line and contact email address, do not involve any sort of interaction on line. They do sometimes have a telephone help line but that is as far as the communication goes. It is really just an information website. One step up from that is what is known as a Dear Abby website, such as Queendom.com. Here people will come onto the internet, go onto the website and will post their problem or question for experts and psychologists, therapists, counsellors, coaches, to answer them. These are very useful sites because as it is in the public domain, people can find similar problems and see what the experts have done to resolve other peoples’ problems. So it is very public, with nothing confidential about it at all. One step up from the above is on line therapy by email. We recommend Hushmail.com as the best email service provider to provide online therapy. It T I L T MAGAZ I N E J ULY 2 0 1 1
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