ONLINE COUNSELING
By Legesse Dana
“Where there is no guidance, a
people falls, but in an abundance of
counselors there is safety.”
Proverbs 11:14
ONLINE COUNSELING
• Online Counseling, being a communication with
a qualified, professional counselor/therapist by
email or chat through a computer, has already
received relatively successful reception in
foreign countries; however, this development is
new within the Filipino society.
• In the Philippine setting, utilization of online
counseling services is being used by some
schools.
• Online Counseling as defined by Sunrise Counseling (2002) is
the communication of a patient-clientele with a qualified,
professional, counselor/ therapist through electronic mail (e-
mail) or instant messaging.
• This may also involve the use of microphones and web
cameras as enhancements. While the online counseling
system has already received successful reception in foreign
countries, the trend is not fully accepted in the Filipino
society.
• Through research, it was confirmed that these “socializations”
gave the online users a sense of therapeutic well-being.
• The 90’s saw the strong and swift
development of the Internet in its current
form. From simple support to socialization,
the system evolved into an advice-giving
forum.
• In order to efficiently address the large
numbers of students in need of counseling
services in the University level, universities
started opening online advice giving
through open computers with anonymous
usernames.
CHALLENGES OF
ONLINE
COUNSELING
• Maintaining the therapeutic relationship in
spite of the ease of leaving therapy online;
• Dealing with glitches without discouraging
the client;
• Balancing the client’s need for anonymity
and the therapist’s practical and ethical
need for identifying and contact information;
• Developing text-based communication skills
that foster the therapeutic relationship; and
• Adapting to the flexibility and range of
communication that are among the
Internet’s greatest assets.
PHILIPPINES ONLINE COUNSELING
• In the Philippine setting, utilization of online
counseling services is being used by only a few
schools such as University of the Philippines in
Diliman, Quezon City, Mapua Institute of
Technology, and Colegio de San Juan de Letran.
• Services are employed to intensify the
implementation of counseling services by
using the most of their institution’s resources
and facilities.
• Unlike in other countries, online counseling in
the Philippines provides only information but
lacks the usual structure of a therapeutic
relationship.
COUNSELOR
QUALIFICATION
• A counselor using online counseling needs to have
knowledge of Internet fundamentals. Such
understanding will help the online counselors best
take advantage of technology’s many possibilities
while also addressing and coping with its limits.
Glitches are inevitable and must be worked around.
• Hence, any online counseling must be done within
the framework of the technical platform which will be
used to deliver services. At the very least, the
2021 therapist needs to know how to operate the modality
they’ll be using: email, text-chat, videoconferencing,
etc.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BASICS OF
ONLINE COUNSELING?
• To begin with, a counselor needs a
computer, or access to one.
• They also need an internet connection
and a web browser.
• Other additional options include an
email program, a chat program, a video
conferencing program, webcam, a
website, a domain name, a web-hosting
account,
• and security software/hardware.
CAN ALL COUNSELORS
BE A CANDIDATE FOR
ONLINE COUNSELING?
• Firstly, online practice is for those who
are comfortable with it.
• Secondly, to be an online therapist, one
must be comfortable with the Internet
and reasonably skilled in typing, unless
he/she already has voice recognition
software that is used effectively.
• Thirdly, flexibility is also
essential. If a therapist can
only work in a single way
or if they believe strongly
in a single approach by
virtue of their training and
experience, then they will
not be able to adapt to
online work
SERVICE
OFFERED
• Surely, there will be roadblocks in the
development of online services and more
research is needed to accurately judge the
limits of treatments that could be offered.
• It also provides practitioners with a
revolutionary vehicle through which methods
of assessment are for therapeutic purposes,
appraising a person’s suitability for a study
program or a job, and for self-exploration.
ETHICAL
STANDARDS
• Licensed clinicians (regardless of training),
theoretical background, personal
philosophies, cultural or religious beliefs, are
obligated to follow laws and regulations that
govern their profession in order to avoid
potential professional violations and
assuming legal risks.
• A number of organizations in United States
and United Kingdom have produced ethical
guidelines regarding working on the
Internet. The American Psychological
Association’s guidelines were quite basic
(APA, 1997) and cautioned the practitioner to
exercise care in this new medium.
ISSUES OF SECURITY:
THE IDENTITY OF THE
THERAPIST
• A key area of difficulty for the client
obtaining counseling on the Internet is the
establishment of identity and credentials of
the person providing the service. These
problems also exist in the “real” world, but
in the cyberworld, they are made ever more
complex.
• If a client uses a counselor from another
country, then this problem is exacerbated.
Questions arose: Is the person I am
consulting registered with the professional
body in his own country? What is the
professional accrediting body of that
country?
ISSUES OF SECURITY:
THE IDENTITY OF
THE CLIENT
• Just as the client-seeking treatment
needs to have reservations about
his or her therapist, the therapist
must have reservations about the
identity of his or her client too.
• There is no guarantee that the
person involved in therapy is the
client himself / herself, then there
is a risk of a child posing as an
adult, a male passing themselves
off as female, and other forms of
identification fraud.
ISSUES OF SAFETY: PROTECTION AND
REDNESS OF GRIEVANCE
• In a face-to-face transaction, or with an Internet
transaction with a therapist within the same country,
the client has legal procedures to protect them in case
of suspected professional misconduct. There is usually
an employer or professional organization with whom to
lodge a complaint, and the client has to resort legal
action. This legal protection largely disappear
• rs with international Internet transactions. Many sites
state that their service is conducted under the laws of
the country in which they are based. However, in
practice, it would be difficult to enforce any legislation
across international boundaries.
ISSUES OF CONFIDENTIALITY
• In times of emergency or a threat to a person’s well-being, online communications are an insufficient treatment for intervention.
•Following are some situations in which online consultation are not recommended:
• if a client has thoughts of hurting or killing him/herself;
• if a client has thoughts of hurting or killing another;
• if a client is in a life-threatening or emergency situation of any kind;
• if a client has a recent history of suicidal, violent, or abusive behavior;
• if a client holds what others may consider unrealistic beliefs (delusions);
• if a client sees or hears things that others don’t (hallucinations); and
• if a client is actively abusing alcohol or drugs
ISSUES OF
MULTICULTURAL
COMPETENCE
• It is reasonable to expect an
online counselor that he or
she will consider the
implications of working with
clients with different cultural
backgrounds, as well as the
competencies he or she
needs to provide an adequate
service for the clients.
• Online counseling has been largely new to the
researchers. For one, those of involved in the
study have not experienced going online to hold a
counseling session either as counselors or as
clients. The research provides insight on how
online counseling started as well as some of the
challenges that counselors face in cyber-
counseling.
• In the Philippines, whenever people hear about
online counseling, their first concern is
confidentiality. Certainly, there is nothing
inappropriate in that fear since even if it is not
online, confidentiality should be kept. It seems
though that the tension is doubled when it comes to
computer-based testing and counseling.
• In relation to Testing, one main concern is
with regards to the use of accurate materials.
We found out that some materials are not
licensed in an online form; as such they
cannot be administered at a distance.
• Finally, the study also uncovered that it is
hard to evaluate online counseling programs
because most of the time, it is still the online
counselor who would be seeing the clients’
assessment of the relationship.
• Lastly, there is a need for the existence of
cyber-counseling. It shows that the world is
big and that space should not limit the helping
profession.
• Moreover, the preference of the clients’ count
and that online counseling is sometimes a
solution to specific client concerns. It provides
the researcher with the insight about a
seemingly insurmountable problem which
eventually will reach a solution in the long
run.
THE FOLLOWING MEASURES CAN BE TAKEN TO
BETTER ADDRESS CONCERNS IN ONLINE
COUNSELING:
• That in order to be a good cyber-counselor, one must
also practices being a client online. This would give
the counselor an insight on the needs and
apprehensions of a client, seeking help online. This
would also enable the counselor to practice / pace
themselves in the use of various computer
paraphernalia and computer language.
• That a special training / educational program for those
intending to do their counseling practice online be
established.
• That security codes and encryptions be used in
keeping confidentiality.
• That a widespread information campaign be
carried out to make people aware that an
exchange of information online is fairly safe
and remains confidential.
• That all clients of online counseling should
physically meet their counselors at least twice.
Once, in the diagnosis part and once before
termination. This will address testing concerns
as well as other issues in evaluation.
References
American Counseling Association (1999). ACA Code of ethics.
Retrieved from [Link]
Gazley, J. (2005). Surf into my office. Retrieved from
[Link] [Link].
Grohol, J. (2003). Online counseling: A handbook for mental health professionals. New York: Elsevier
Academic Press.
Ingersoll, R., & McCluskie, K. (2001). Becoming a 21st century agency counselor: A personal and professional
explorations. Canada: Brookes and Cole.
Munro, K. (2006). Online counseling. Retrieved from
[Link]
Piussi, L. P. (n.d.). Advantages and disadvantages of online counseling. Retrieved from
[Link] advantages-and-disadvantages-of-online-counseling 09w65nr66a. html
