course Archives - Kate Anthony

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.

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!

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Our new Resource Guides!

February 24, 2015 by Kate Anthony

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

First Steps to Training!

January 2, 2015 by Kate Anthony

OK, the decorations are down, the fireworks are burnt out, and the new year resolutions are under way for the forseeable future at least. But have you thought of your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) needs as we charge into 2015? Do those needs include a feeling of how you really (really) ought to take your skills into the digital world that your clients inhabit but that you just haven’t been able to get around to yet? Would you like some guidance as to how easy this is even at an introductory level?

We’ve revisited our small courses about the world of Cyberspace and Online Therapy, and now offer them at a two-tier price level depending on just how much mentoring you desire from the experts in the field! We don’t pretend these are full trainings (see our wealth of that sort of thing here!), but they are there in case you want to know more about a specific technology, more about an area of Cyberspace you are unsure of, or even in case you want to dip your toes into our teaching methods and see how we roll!

These short courses can be taken with full lesson-by-lesson mentoring for just £150, or with no mentoring at all for just £75! You get full access to our resources and your CPD Certificate either way – we just want to be sure we meet all needs and all budgets!

And if you are ready to take your learning a step further at some point down the line, you can deduct the cost of these courses from our full CCF or PGCert trainings once completed if paying in full!

Start by checking out the list of small courses here, give Kate a shout if you have any questions at kate@onlinetherapyinstitute.com, and start 2015 by taking that first step into the world of online therapy!

Fostering the Spark – How Our Students Become Pioneers

October 9, 2014 by Kate Anthony

One of the most enjoyable aspects of tutoring our courses are the live “vivas” – a chance for DeeAnna and I to talk individually to each of our students. These talks, held over the telephone, through a videolink, or in a chat room, take place twice during our larger trainings – once at the end of the Foundational Course in CyberCulture and then again on completion of the written work in the Specialist Certificate portion.

We used to call them “oral examinations”, but that seemed very formal for what is essentially a check-in to ensure the learning is being taken on board, to clear up any misunderstandings about the work, and to clarify any parts that may be unclear or need further unpicking. It is also a chance for us to exemplify our message that communication is at the heart of all we do – whether in a learning environment or working with the clients we serve. To truly model our belief that communication is communication whatever technology we use (including those chairs Douglas Adams talked about), moving away from the written feedback we give at the end of every lesson towards the live conversation and back again allows the concept of the importance of blending technologies to emerge.

But what I really love about these conversations is hearing how the learning is being applied to each student’s work environment – whether a therapist, coach, support worker or other human wellbeing professional. This gives us a chance to drill down into how the student can take the learning forward, not only for their own ongoing development but for the good of the clients and the wider profession. I can get flavours of this through our ongoing written dialogue throughout the course, where the ideas the student has take hold and start blossoming – but it is the live conversation that allows not just the brainstorming part between two people, but also the infectious enthusiasm we both get as those ideas start to be fleshed out. There is nothing more satisfying than to hear the course content come to life when the student finds their niche – recent examples have been around how to reach and serve the suicidal client better, the use of blogging for co-education for senior Supervisors, the creation of a virtual gallery for those interested in showcasing art therapy techniques, and how best to de-stigmatise mental health services for children and young people.

The students on our courses are the pioneers of the profession. Sure, we give them the tools to work effectively and ethically online, and I honestly applaud any practitioner who seeks the training so necessary to do so (whether they are trained with us and the Online Therapy Institute or not).

But it is hearing the spark igniting the fuse towards meaningful ground breaking online work as each student applies the technology that makes my day during these vivas. Fostering that spark and helping to turn it into a realistically better way to be present for our colleagues and clients in any therapeutic field is intensely satisfying for us as tutors and mentors. It’s simply a privilege to see how our courses can startle a new thought into action for each and every student who joins us.

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