Kate Anthony

OTI Europe Ltd | Consultancy, Personal Training and Research for Online Therapeutic Services

   
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Cautionary Tales in Using Social Media

April 29, 2015 by Kate Anthony

I saw this story from my news source Naked Security this morning, and it set me thinking about just how important our social media presence is as professionals who have a client base.

In brief, a judge (yes, an actual County Judge) overseeing a troubling case about a man who allegedly imprisoned his 9-year old son as a punishment took to Facebook to comment on what was going on inside the courtroom.  Her status updates included comments on items of evidence being submitted and links to news stories about the case. By doing so, she cast “reasonable doubt” on her own impartiality, and the defence team moved to have her struck from the case (successfully).

Now, without getting into a discussion about what her rights are under the USA First Amendment itself (which I don’t think any of us have time for at the moment), this story does give us an important reminder about the responsibilities we have to preserve the confidentiality of our clients, whatever our profession.

computer and social media icons blue backgrounds

When you, as a professional, see something on the internet go viral, consider what the impact would be on your client if the same thing happened to your post, however well intentioned it was and however much you had thought you had disguised the client information.  The nature of social media is in the title!  It’s designed to be “social”.  Therefore, what you post on social media isn’t meant to be a private observation about something – and if it can be shared, it runs the risk of being shared to people who know your client and can identify them.  That’s the first consideration of confidentiality gone out of the window straight away.

I’ve seen colleagues on Facebook express relief in a status post when a “difficult” client cancels, and I’ve seen them note being late hitting the road to a client appointment the “morning after the night before!” These posts may be done flippantly, or even intended not to be taken entirely seriously (the second example included a winky, btw).  But before you post anything to the unforgiving (and permanent) internet, remember what it will look like out of context and before a client complaints panel by your professional organisation. If you are in any doubt at all about the implications of what you are about to post – just don’t post it.

All our trainees taking our Certified Cyber Facilitator or Certified Cyber Therapist course get training in using social media as a mental health professional. If the story about the Texas Judge makes alarm bells ring about what you are putting out there on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN or any of the other social networks, please do consider joining them!

🙂

Mindfulness at Work

April 15, 2015 by Kate Anthony

I wrote recently about my regular column for the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s Counselling at Work Journal, and I’m pleased to share the Winter 2014 column on being mindful in the workplace.

We can learn lessons from the huge companies that surround us on a daily basis, and I was particularly taken with how Google appointed their own Head of Mindfulness to ensure employees pay attention to their emotional wellbeing.  While we can’t all afford such luxurious appointments in our team of employees, we can take heed that being mindful is as important as our physical fitness, and intentionally seek to counter the continual bombardment of information that the technologically enhanced world gives us through our devices.  These counter-measures need not be huge – we don’t have to find time in our days to ponder vast seas or climb huge mountains – we can find small ways of ensuring that at least part of our day includes fresh air, a nice view, and a physically healthy pursuit.

loch

Some days I feel tied to my laptop!  It’s true I am here at the Lenovo-face pretty much all day and the vast majority of the evening, and if I didn’t feel strongly about ensuring I include some form of screen break intentionally I probably would have developed those square eyes our parents warned us about.  So my own way of connecting to the world outside is to ignore online news sources and walk to the local newsagents each day for a paper (dead-tree!) copy of my newspaper, and weather permitting, sit in the garden to read it. I’m lucky to live near Linlithgow Palace and Loch, so each day I can admire the beautiful historical building and nod to the swans and other wildlife.  My main news sources may be 24 hours out of date, but at least I can feel connected to life without a modem for a while!

Read my article on the importance of mindfulness in the workplace by downloading it from the BACP Workplace Journal website, and remember to look up from your device during your work day when you can!

OTI Graduate wins BACP New Researcher Award!

April 2, 2015 by Kate Anthony

I’m very pleased to share the great news that our graduate Jeanette Hennigan is the deserving winneJHr of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s (BACP) New Researcher Award for her pioneering study “’UK secondary school therapists communication with with their pupils and their future intentions”.

You may have read about Jeanette’s work in the Autumn edition of TILT Magazine, where she shared more about the study with our Associate Editor for Research, Dr Stephen Goss as part of our regular Research Review column.  Her final study will form the backbone of her being awarded her Doctorate in Psychotherapy by Professional Studies with the Metanoia Institute.

Jeanette invested in her continuing professional development in online work by successfully completing our BACP endorsed Certified Cyber Facilitator training. We take great pride in every one of our students at OTI, and so it is with immense pleasure that we see a graduate getting the recognition deserved in wider accolade of such a ground breaking study!

Jeanette’s award presentation will take place at the BACP Research Conference in May in Nottingham at 10am on the Saturday, and you can also take advantage of Dr Stephen Goss being there to find out more about the Metanoia DPsych programme.  Look out for his poster “Developing Counselling as a Practitioner-Researcher: The Experience of Undertaking the “Research Journey” for Mid-Career Practitioners in Counselling and Psychotherapy” and chat with him about how you can take your budding doctoral ideas forward.  He will also be talking about his new book “Making Research Matter”, which features a chapter from me about my own journey on my doctoral award with Metanoia Institute!

Congratulations again Jeanette – we all raise a glass to you!

🙂

Online Learning – throw in your own buffet and it’s just like being there!

March 30, 2015 by Kate Anthony

I recently co-wrote an article with John Wilson of OnlinEvents in TILT Magazine (see page 13) about the subtleties of attending online conferences and how, if you ignore the lack of a decent buffet, the learning experience can be just as rich and fulfilling as being actually at the conference centre.  A big part of this is the delegate chat room being fully functional to allow like-minded people to connect, network, have fun, and discuss the learning points as they are taught. I’ve been to countless online webinars and other events, and rarely come away disappointed. I’ve even remotely been at a stable in Chesterfield to learn and discuss Equine Therapy!Cover TinyTake

Our students attend many online events as part of their learning, and so I am really pleased to blog about the upcoming interview with Jane Fahy, who is not only a graduate of our Certified Cyber Facilitator Course but who is also now an OTI Tutor, having written our course about using blended technologies (i.e online and offline sources) to help those with a gambling addiction.

Having got bored with world of finance seven years ago, Jane retrained as a counsellor and has been specialising in working with problem gamblers ever since as Clinical Services Manager for GamblingTherapy.org, heading up the online support services. As her initial work with the organisation was as a face-to-face counsellor in their residential services, she has seen both sides of the treatment coin!

I put Jane in touch with John at OnlinEvents and now I can share details of the upcoming FREE webinar on the 17th April at 7.30pm UK time. So if you have an interest in learning more about online support and counselling – and how that works on the global stage – make sure you sign up for the event here!

And why not treat yourself and put on a complete buffet selection? That way you’ll have the full conference experience!

🙂

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