By Lawrence Murphy and Dawn Schell

A recent international research report, commissioned by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, suggests that “changes in technology have the potential to increase the efficiency of service delivery within the career support market, to enhance existing services, and to develop new paradigms of career support”.1 This report cites a plethora of research supporting the idea that the whole range of career services can be effectively offered in an online format.

In terms of Canadian career development, the Canadian Council for Career Development (CCCD), in its work to revitalize the Canadian Standards & Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners, identified two main priorities. The first is to ensure the standards and guidelines reflect “the massive influx of technology by including competencies for the infusion of technology into practice.” 2

The question often arises, though, whether we need training on how to do career development work online. Some feel no training is needed, yet there are important ethical considerations, since this is a developing field. Digital communication technologies are continuously evolving. There are technological aspects involved in online work no matter what one’s theoretical orientation or specialization is. Knowing how to integrate technology into our work is critical.

We also need to learn online relationship skills. Email relationships are different from those face-to-face. We need to be clear on confidentiality and privacy issues. Using insecure software is akin to doing counselling in the mall. And, we need to understand the legalities: laws, jurisdiction, certification and insurance is always evolving.

In addition, research shows clients behave differently online. If clients behave differently online, don’t we too? What about our “online persona”? Training can provide an opportunity to understand our own online actions and reactions, and learn skills for managing our online behaviour.

Training options are limited but they do exist. Here in Canada, Worldwide Therapy Online has been offering training in cybercounselling for more than a decade. The training ranges from in-person workshops for agencies to comprehensive 12-week online Cybercounselling Level 1 and 2 certificate courses. The certificate courses are designed to provide qualified professionals with the skills necessary to provide ethical professional counselling and support services to their clients through text. They are delivered collaboratively by Therapy Online and the University of Toronto Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work.

Level 1 covers ethical, technological and practical considerations when delivering online counselling. The course also delves into clinical issues when working in text and provides ample opportunities to practice text-based techniques. The courses are highly interactive and designed so the process reflects the content. Participants thus experience the impact and intimacy of online engagement.

One very compelling aspect of the courses is the use of what Therapy Online’s Research Institute refers to as presence techniques. These text-based counselling techniques are used to compensate for the absence of tone of voice and non-verbals in text. They also serve to draw clients and counsellors into the presence of one another.

Therapy Online’s Research Institute is involved in ongoing research into cybercounselling which feeds back into the training. The same is true of the experiences of counsellors. The integration of training, research and practice ensures the approach stays cutting edge. Training ensures we are able to offer services to our clients through modalities they desire, with the ethics and professionalism both they and we expect.

 

Lawrence Murphy is a co-founder and Instructional Supervisor with Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. and regularly gives presentations at international conferences and workshops on the topic of online counselling.

Dawn Schell is an affiliate counsellor with Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. and a regular blogger for the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (CCPA).

1 Hooley, T., Hutchinson, J., & Watts, A.G. (2010).  Enhancing choice? The role of technology in the career support market. iCeGS: Creative Solutions for the Careers Sector, Retrieved 22 March 2011, from http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110218181351/ http://www.ukces.org.uk/commenting/enhancing-choice-the-role-of-technology-in-the-career-support-market

2 Available at http://career-dev-guidelines.org/career_dev/index.php/a-living-document/recent-developments