Cyber-Counselling: Panacea or Can Of Worms?

By Mark Swartz

My prediction is that an increasing number of ‘traditional’ counsellors (both in the career sphere and other areas as well) will try their hand at cyber-counselling. Thus, we’ll see practitioners experimenting with CHAT groups for instantaneous communication; e-mail to respond to more involved questions; phone sessions to deal with immediate issues; and the use of Web-based resources (e.g. self-assessments, career exploration sites, research areas etc.) to assist in the overall delivery of the counselling process. Affordable video-conferencing is just down the road, and may add a whole new wrinkle of its own.

You knew it had to happen. First we started hearing about the ‘information highway’ a few years ago. Now suddenly the Internet is the fastest growing medium of communication in the world (with the possible exception of gossip, which seems to defy space/time constraints in terms of its ability to travel).

So don’t be surprised that there are practitioners out there doing counselling “online”. What that really means, just yet, is anybody’s guess. Must it be restricted to the Internet, with its CHAT groups, Usenet Discussion Areas and Web-based forums? How about Internet telephony, where you hold a conversation with a client half way around the world without paying long distance charges. And those great new CD-ROM’s aimed at the mass market, which cover everything from building the perfect resume, to completing an extensive self-assessment including interest and skills inventories. Where do they fit in?

It’s Here: Let’s Adapt

The truth of the matter is that cyber-counselling began years ago, when practitioners began holding the odd session over the phone, rather than face-to-face. This was the proverbial thin edge of the wedge. Did it destroy the bond between consultant and client? Not really, at least not if used infrequently and professionally.

That brings us to the tricky questions which threaten to unhinge this whole cyber-counselling movement. For example, what privacy guarantees do you have in sending personal e-mail between counsellor and consultant? Can someone be sued for breach of confidentiality if an errant (and potentially damaging) e-mail lands in the unintended hands of some sinister user? Who can be held responsible and what are the potential repercussions? (Hint: make sure that you’ve paid up your premiums on your liability coverage). 🙂

But How Effective Is It?

Let’s forget about the legal implications for a moment and focus on the quality of counselling through electronic means. How effective can your relationship be with your client if you never see their face? (This presumes, of course, that you do not have video-conferencing set up–though some U.S. practitioners do). Think about all the nuances of facial expression and body reactions that you may never catch. Considering the power of non-verbal cues, this could be a real detriment to interpretation and bonding.

As evidence of the growing emphasis on this new area, the American Counseling Association included cyber-counselling as one of its six major threads at its annual world conference last April. Marc Verhoeve covered the highlights in the Fall ’97 issue of OSCA Reports (available online at http://www.osca.ca). He describes the benefits, such as:

• greater freedom in scheduling
• shorter counselling sessions
• complete word for word record of all client interactions
• access to wider base of clients

The downsides (apart from the confidentiality issue discussed above) include:

• impersonal nature of the medium, compared to face to face exchanges
• unequal accessibility of technology to all clients
• unequal ability of clients to articulate true thoughts and feelings electronically

Here’s Who’s Doing It

By now you may be curious as to who is actually practicing career counselling online. I can give you a partial list of websites here to help you start your investigation. Perhaps you’ll discover a method that you can apply in your own practice. Or you might find something so against your own style that you vow to never use it yourself. At any rate, here are some practitioners who have gone the online route, both in Canada and the U.S. (where it’s far more prominent, by the way):

• CareerCoach: Kerry Mahoney from U. Waterloo Career Centre, in private practice with others. www.cecs.uwaterloo.ca/about
• Match Your Personality Profile To a Career Path: Dr. James Sofia (Interest Inventory)
• Deborah Wilson: Career Specialist (U.S.)
• Metanoia Guide to Online therapists and counsellors (U.S.) http://www.metanoia.org/imhs

What’s Next?

My prediction is that an increasing number of ‘traditional’ counsellors (both in the career sphere and other areas as well) will try their hand at cyber-counselling. Thus, we’ll see practitioners experimenting with CHAT groups for instantaneous communication; e-mail to respond to more involved questions; phone sessions to deal with immediate issues; and the use of Web-based resources (e.g. self-assessments, career exploration sites, research areas etc.) to assist in the overall delivery of the counselling process. Affordable video-conferencing is just down the road, and may add a whole new wrinkle of its own.

Is this a good thing? Depending on where you stand, it can either be the dawning of a golden age in counselling, or the death of personalized relationship-based connections. Personally, I’m not sure that we’re at either extreme just yet. The possibilities are, in fact, very exciting–for those who embrace the technologies and use them appropriately. This debate has just begun, and we as practitioners are on the leading edge of something new and potentially wonderful.

About The Writer

Mark Swartz, MBA, MEd (thesis stage) is a Toronto-based Career Consultant, speaker and author of “Get Wired, You’re Hired”: the Canadian Guide to Job Hunting Online (Prentice Hall Canada, 1997). He is also an Associate Consultant with Drake Beam Morin, one of the world’s leading career transition firms. He can be reached at 905 886 8585, or by e-mailing mark@careeractivist.com. Mark’s website is at www.careeractivist.com/.