Cybercounselling: Personal and Professional Reflections on an Emergent Practice

By Rob Straby

I have a passion for continuous learning in order to provide better career outcomes for the clients and students I serve. It was never my intention to become a “cybercounsellor” (e.g. work that I do with others that involves being in separate locations using some form of Internet communications), I have evolved in this direction while pursuing my passion.

The primary goal driving the development of my work is educational. It is my belief that individuals need to become self-sufficient career managers across the lifespan. Whereas I draw on a range of counselling, coaching, advising and motivating competencies, the outcome is learning. I don’t give my clients “fish”; I seek to teach them how to “fish”. To help me accomplish this, I have gradually introduced what I believe to be appropriate technology into my career services.

I started both my client and counsellor educator work in face-to-face settings. Even in the early days of my career, I found that there was a need to enhance the services by the use of telephones and computer databases. As I developed my skills with these approaches, it became easier to support my clients and made our face-to-face time more effective. The advent of email, web sites and web-based forums enabled the communications to be even more effective. Over time, Internet-based voice and video communications have evolved to a high level of sophistication, both in the quality of the calls as well as the security of the system.

What has allowed this evolution to be successful is twofold. First, I have maintained openness to experiment with technology to find out what works and does not work. Second, I have continuously developed the skills to support this evolution. There are many skills required to be effective in cybercounselling (e.g. handling client confidentiality, writing effective e-communication, managing technology, etc.). For the purposes of this piece, let’s consider one of my favourite areas, the ability to focus on clients’ spoken words, how they say them and what they mean.

I have noticed that many of my colleagues perceive a need to “see” their clients’ body language in order to believe they understand their clients. I have found, however, that a persons’ use of voice tone, tempo, pitch and word content reveals as much about what a person means. Whether I am working with someone on the phone, Skype or a full webinar platform, this method of communication has proven highly effective over the years.

It is important to note that I was never a “natural” for understanding this mode. I felt it was important to develop this ability and have therefore chosen to focus my learning on this area over many years. Hundreds of hours of practice have been invested in listening effectively to clients. Today, it does feel like a natural process to me. It is important to note that I have done this in other skill areas (such as online written communication), however, the evolution of the auditory mode has been my favourite. The key success of developing this ability is that it has enabled me to evolve my work beyond face-to-face relations and embrace sophisticated web technologies that enable me to effectively help others, regardless of where they live.

My invitation to you is to allow yourself to be open to learning appropriate technologies and then commit to develop the skills that will enhance your clients’ success!

Rob Straby has pursued his passion for career development since 1986 working with thousands of clients in multiple settings. He is a professor in the Career Development Practitioner program at Conestoga College where he delivers innovative distance education to professionals across Canada.