CyberSupervision – Updates and Revamps (or what the inside of my head looks like!)

September 17, 2014 by Kate Anthony

One of the things that DeeAnna and I joke about being at the top of our technology development wish list is a USB adapter for our brains. When we plan a course – from one of our smaller special interest modules right up to our 60-hour Specialist Certificates – one of us generally has the entire basic structure and content in our head right from the start.

Of course, then we have to extract that course from our brains and into our training platform, JigsawBox, before we can offer it to our students! And one of the beauties of the platform is that we can edit the course once finished, meaning that the moment a new resource or updated information about any aspect of the content turns up, we can add it or amend the course within seconds – ensuring that our students only get the most up-to-date information available. Any course that involves the use of technology needs to have that functionality – the days of emailing out handouts and lessons are long gone.

I’ve just completed the overhaul of our Online Supervision Specialist Certificate: checking links; replacing out of date articles; adding new videos; designing new written assignments… the list of blended technologies we employ in our courses reflect the Online Therapy Institute ethos of blending technologies to better meet the needs of the clients we serve. Along the way, I’ve restructured the 30 hours to flow better from the introductory definitions, through the ethical considerations, on to the clinical aspects of supervising online, and ending at advanced readings encompassing private practice, internships, one-off supervision models and using avatars in virtual worlds as part of a supervision service.

Sometimes when finishing up a course, I wonder how it got from the inside of my head to the training platform. And then I realise I am generally staring at one sheet of A4 that shows me. Look!

What a mess, huh? And yet every scribble on that one piece of paper (and I only EVER need one piece of paper) links to everything else in my head around that specific topic, from random thoughts to newspaper articles to online jokes to the academic papers that Google Scholar throws at me every morning.

Sometimes the human brain just stuns me. As Einstein said, “Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination.” Of course, he also said that technology has exceeded our humanity, but that’s a point I disagree with anyway 😉

I love technology. That’s not a secret. I also love my profession. Slamming those two things together in a coherent and ethically delivered way – not only educating others to advance confidently into the CyberCulture we now live and work in but also mentoring the innovators of the future to ensure the helping professions remain current and relevant in society – is my life’s work.

And if all you need is a pen and a sheet of paper like I often do, with no plug socket or wire in sight, remember that you are still using technology. Douglas Adams taught me to think that way about chairs back in 1999. And in my world, you don’t get a better teacher than him.

🙂

Certified Cyber Therapist – new approach, new course!

September 11, 2014 by Kate Anthony

At the Online Therapy Institute, our mission is to get as many trained online practitioners out there as possible, to protect the practitioner, the profession, and of course the potentially vulnerable client at the other end of the process. This is in common with my fellow trainers here in the UK and internationally – we don’t mind which training you choose, as long as you seek training in being an online practitioner!

The classic phrase we all hear from our trainees is “I just didn’t know how much I didn’t know!”

But we also hear how practitioners – who let’s face it have already invested probably a lot of money in their core training – also feel that Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a never-ending sink hole of expenditure. We empathise with that entirely – as practitioners ourselves, we know that our learning doesn’t end when we graduate with our counselling qualification.

Transferring your offline skills to an online environment isn’t just about knowing how to use electronic forms of communication. For most of us, that is second nature now – and for the future therapists and clients it’s pretty much going to be in their blood from birth, metaphorically speaking. I recently wrote an article on this, outlining how that tipping point hasn’t quite happened yet, but isn’t all that far off.

The point is, whether you want to practice online or not, your clients live in a digital world and deserve to have a therapist that is immersed in that world – understanding Cyberculture is the new first step to being an empathic practitioner (click here for an empathy-based in-joke).

But post-graduate training and CPD costs time and money 🙁

If you are thinking about investing in your ongoing development as a practitioner, and want to be an effective therapist in a fast-changing technology driven client world, you have probably seen our full BACP Endorsed trainings as a Certified Cyber Faci OTI_CertifiedCyberTherapist_Cover_v1 (1)_001 litator (CCF) at the Institute. But what if you are just not sure if the financial outlay is going to give you what you need?

DeeAnna and I have thought about this long and hard, and as a result have introduced a new introductory course called our Certified Cyber Therapist (CCT) course. This cut-down version of our full training still gives you the one-to-one mentoring at every step that we are known for, but at a quarter of the both the cost and time needed. If you are in the United States, you will have come to know the Distance Credentialed Counselor (DCC) certification as the ‘gold standard’- and OTI has been proud to have written the DCC curriculum, training thousands of practitioners. Now we bring you the absolute latest information through our own credential with our CCT course.

What’s more – if you take the introductory 15 hour CCT course – we’ll discount the money from the full CCF or PGCert training when you are ready for it! It’s a win-win! Many of our students pick up additional courses from us as and when time and money allow – and in between they get all the benefits of ongoing resources from us, as well as free subscription to TILT Magazine and now free access to the video library of our awesome colleagues at OnlinEvents!

Read more about the CCT here, and we look forward to mentoring you on your journey to being an effective and ethical online practitioner at whatever training cost suits you!

🙂

Meeting Lara Croft! The BACPC Birmingham Networking Meeting

April 8, 2014 by Kate Anthony

Meeting Lara Croft!

By Elizabeth Barclay, BACP Coaching Division Member

At the Birmingham BACP meeting on Tuesday 1 April it was both illuminating and informative to meet the ‘Lara Croft’ of online coaching and therapy (aka Dr Kate Anthony).

We were taken on our ‘initiation’ journey and I have to confess my own reservations at the outset. I am a hesitant ‘net’ user except for the basics and contacting my family and friends! Having worked in the NHS for many years and coming from a medical family, I am and always have been very concerned with confidentiality and boundaries.

Kate talked us through the cyber journey and it’s complexities (of which there are many) as well as the responsibilities involved for any practitioner engaged in working in the cyber world. Kate has been involved in working with BACP to develop specific guidelines for online working and she believes BACP are very forward thinking in their approach to the online world.

There was much discussion as the evening progressed and whilst many of the processes of the face to face world apply in the cyber world. For example: ethics, codes of practice, competency, contracting, boundaries, supervision, assessment, safety, containment, crisis intervention,security & endings.

There are areas that require more thought when the relationship isn’t face to face ie with two bodies inhabiting the same physical space in the room. The practitioner is required to have a good understanding, training and competency in the technology involved and all the mediums one might offer to work within.

There are many potential interface options: forums, blogs, chatrooms, apps, VoIP, video, email, text, instagrms, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, holograms, virtual reality to name some. No doubt I have omitted some due to being a ‘technological immigrant’ or in simple words an older person who was not brought up with the technology!

Consideration would need to be given to preferences of working mediums and possibilities and difficulties this might create for oneself and clients.

An awareness of the permanence of the digital footprint of technology is required. This includes a foot print of one’s work in written, audio or verbal context, hence the importance of using safe and secure sites. I learnt that certain sites are unsecure and Kate considers them inappropriate for client material.

Skype for example, own the record of your data and retains the right to publish your data at any time if it chooses to do so. An alternative is VSEE.com which is reportedly much safer [Note from Kate: check out PlusGuidance for a full e-practice service!].

Implications for one’s own responsible networking, professional and personal digital footprint: Kate reports that prospective clients will ‘google’ us. Remember the 6 degrees of separation? Well according to Kate that is now only 4.7 in the light of social media! She makes the valid point that if you are out partying and a client can access this information then the client might interpret it as you are ‘not holding them in mind’. One does not know how one’s digital footprint will be accessed and interpreted so worth bearing in mind! To quote Kate “someone will know someone and someone might be identified.” And none of us would want to be identified if we were a client so the possibility of dual relationships needs to be addressed at the outset.

Practitioner websites need to be clear in what policies they are offering including the cyber methods of working, security, competency, formal assessment, supervision, client safety, crisis intervention and plan B if/when the technology might fail. What are the protocols?

Contracting is always important but with online working I think it would be even more important to discuss expectations of response times. Given the nature of the cyberworld is that it is instantaneous what are the implications for working practice?

Disinhibition Effect (Suler 2004, referred to by Kate): This is important to be aware of as behaviour can change when there is a ‘distance’ between the two parties and people can reveal much more in the cyber world. This can apply to the coach/therapist as well as the client. Despite this, Kate believes the positives outweigh the negatives.

Abuse / bullying is an ongoing problem encountered in the cyberworld and the impact is severe. Protection of oneself as a coach/therapist is an important consideration. Clients need to be aware of the process they are engaging in and Kate suggests time is spent in preparation/ discussion with the client before commencing any work. They need to be aware of the permanence of the digital footprint, safety and the best cyber medium for themselves.

There is much to reflect upon after the evening, including meeting our clients in the world they operate in, and accepting the possibilities that cyber working offers greater access to services for a greater number of people who might otherwise be trapped on a waiting list for face to face work.

So in summary, an entertaining evening but also practical and there is much support out there for those who wish to pursue this work or if they already do so. Kate offers training – PG certificate Cyberculture for Therapeutic Purposes, peer support, 1-1 tuition, 1-1 mentoring.

I will have missed some information being human and with my own selective processes but is the challenge as a coach/therapist to consider embracing the new whilst maintaining one’s integrity, professionalism and skills. Perhaps it is not an ‘either/or’ situation but a ‘both/and’ possibility?

So many thanks to Kate.

Kate’s website/footprint:

www.kateanthony.net
kate@onlinetherapyinstitute.com
www.onlinetherapymagazine.com – TILT magazine

« Previous Page