Kate Anthony

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

   

OTI Graduate wins BACP New Researcher Award!

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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!

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

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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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Our new Resource Guides!

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DeeAnna and I took a bit of a leap this week after a brainstorming session!  As we’ve blogged over at Online Therapy Institute, we get a lot of emails from people worldwide who  haven’t got the time right now or the funds to take that all important CPD training, yet do have a burning question they need an answer to as they think about developing their online services.  Or perhaps the idea of offering a blended service of using their traditional skills and newer technological tools is just a faint idea, and they need to have the pertinent information within their grasp in order to make an informed decision about going down that road before committing to it.e learning

So we wanted to do something new to meet those needs!

Those of you who are aware of our work at the Institute know that it is our mission to ensure as many practitioners are armed with what we know about working online before embarking upon doing so with those often vulnerable clients.  One of my prouder moments was a graduate of mine who was able to say to me after investing in training that it was the best money she ever spent, as it told her that she was totally unsuited to the work and was so glad to have found that out beforehand.  This is something we trainers should pay more attention to, I feel – knowing that sometimes when a training doesn’t work out for an individual, it isn’t a failure on our part or theirs – simply that not all tools and methods are suited to everybody.  I remember during my core training being told I should sit with my wrist upwards and exposed as this indicated openness to the client.  I just felt I was offering up my wrists to be slit, and the congruent me quickly abandoned that nugget of expert advice…

So we asked ourselves “how can we reach more people unprepared for using their skills in a digital environment, but who don’t want a full credential or can’t find the time and money to invest in this field as part of their continuing professional development? We can’t give it away – we’re not a charity, a library or a government entity. But we do have a mission that has been burning within us for well over 15 years now to help counsellors and coaches keep skills up to date in light of technological development and the changes in society that the Internet has brought, and TILT Magazine can only go part of the way in doing that.”

(To be honest, the discussion wasn’t as neatly put as that, and I may be paraphrasing somewhat…)

Anyway, what we have come up with is consolidating the knowledge and expertise we offer through our introductory courses into neat little resource guides!  If you choose these, you’ll still be part of our community at our forum and Facebook groups for co-learning with our current and past students – and as an added bonus, if you decide that the time is right for you to take the course itself and be fully mentored by me or DeeAnna as you learn, you can simply upgrade! Woot!  All this for under 50 quid!

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Courses offered as both a credential and a resource guide: 

Certified Cyber Therapist

Certified Cyber Coach

Certified Aroma Coach

Certified Intuitive Practitioner

On Being A Columnist

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I’ve been thinking about both my contributors to TILT Magazine and my own role as a columnist recently.  This was inspired by the departure of my good colleague Anne Stokes over at TILT Towers, who has been with us from the inaugural issue right up to the present day – that’s 20 columns submitted for our readers pleasure and education (or, to look at it differently, nearly a whopping 20,000 words!).  Anne’s topic was CyberSupervision, and I doubt we could have found a better UK expert to offer her words of wisdom (not to mention her being a pleasure to work with and her ability to meet deadlines like no other author I have come across in my time as Editor!).

Anne is handing her baton to another of our dear colleagues after the Winter 2014 issue of TILT to Cedric Speyer, another fine example of a CyberSupervisor we are very lucky to have on board, and perhaps with a very different style and passion – so while I am sad to say farewell to Anne, I’m also excited to welcome Cedric.

Our columnists receive no financial gain from their contributions, and nor have I over my years contributing regular columns for other editors.  I do try to be a regular columnist for only one publication at a time because of this (otherwise I can’t afford to feed the cat), but what is it about contributing our expertise to a wider audience that keeps us doing it for free?

Here are some thoughts:

We reach new audiencesCAW

My current regular column is with the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy’s Workplace Division ( download it now! 13559_cyberwork CAW Autumn 2014). Not only does my work on Cyberculture and the impact of online services reach a new audience by doing this, I reach people who actively pay for a subscription and so are invested in reading the Journal.  Sure, they may skip over my part in it, but I am sure that the topic will surface in some part of their work one day and cause them to think “oh! I can find out more about this can’t I? – my journal covers it in every edition!”  I also receive a .pdf for my own distribution, as do all our columnists in TILT.

We receive new areas in which to market

Every columnist with a good editor will have a chance to provide the context in which they work in return for their wise words.  My by-line contains details of who I am, what I offer (and where), and how to get hold of me.  Readers of the journal are those involved in or contributing to the emotional and psychological health of people in organisations, including workplace counsellors, trainers, team leaders and welfare staff, occupational psychologists, HR managers and those with an interest in employee counselling services and skills.  How else could I each these people without investing in financial ways of marketing? And if your column makes it to the online version of the journal – as mine does – then that’s a whole new way of increasing your SEO!

We add to our publication lists

We all have a Curriculum Vitae or Résumé to maintain and our columns do just that.  Keep your links fresh from your up-to-date list of publications online and you have a handy resource to disseminate your work without resorting to a scanner or – dare I say it – a photocopier (that is SO 2008!).

Finally – you keep the Editors of the world very happy!

Really you do!  My role as co-Managing Editor of TILT Magazine is a labour of love, for all the reasons I outlined in an earlier post – and my regular columnists make my job 100 times better just by being willing and able to contribute with a cheery email when sending their work.   I am terrible with deadlines, and yet I rarely hear a peep of complaint about that!  So thank you to you all – past, present and future – for keeping me and my readers happier in our work!

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