Will I seek professional help online?
In this Digital World, technology is no longer a luxury but now a necessity for individuals or groups of people. Most of them are exposed and have access to internet. A lot of information they need are just one click away. If you want to know where the people are, go online.
In the world of guidance counseling and psychology, providing mental health services through online to address the needs of their clients is rising and rapidly growing. It even attracted several helping professionals, practitioners, and researchers from different parts of the world.
Numerous scholarly articles are now exploring the power of online counseling. Asian countries like China, Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam have positive attitude toward online counseling, They are carefully addressing the ethical issues involve in this method.
Online Counseling is defined as a strategic method of providing assistance or services to address the needs, resolve issues and concerns of the client and prevent them from happening through online or use of technology.
Speyer and Zack (2010) stated that online counseling is appropriate and best for people who are capable of sustained introspection, value written self-expression and have a creative independence it takes to hold up their end of the written dialogue.
In this article, you will learn about the benefits and risks of online counseling.
Benefits
If you are a potential or current client, online counseling can provide you the following benefits:
1. You can select and choose your licensed/registered counselor locally and internationally.
2. You can stay at home while sharing your thoughts, opinion, problems or concerns to the counselor.
3. You can review the conversation between you and your counselor.
4. You can easily identity unanswered problems or concerns and ask your counselor to address them.
5. You can reach out with other people with similar situation.
6. You can spend more time to know and assess whether your counselor can help you or not .
Risks
However, there are risks that you need to consider when using online counseling. In this article, there will be one important risk that any client should know.
1. The information (e.g. personal information and current and sensitive issues) that you will disclose to your counselor can be hacked by any computer expert. Thus, your confidentiality and privacy will be at risk.
Online counseling can be very innovative and creative way to address psychological issues and improve mental health services. A counselor and a client should work together and collaborate to achieve the goals of the therapy session.
Will you seek professional help online? Think before you decide.
References
Bolton, J. 2017. Ethical Issues Which Must Be Addressed In Online Counseling. Retrieved from http://www.acrjournal.com.au/resources/assets/journals/Volume-11-Issue-1-2017/Ethical_issues_in_Online_Counselling_1-15.pdf
Chetty, R. 2017. How Safe Is Your Digital Therapy Session? A Review Of Ethical Considerations For Online Counseling. Retrieved from https://repository.cityu.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.11803/701/RulishaChettyThesis2017.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
Cook, Lei, and Chiang. 2010. Counseling in China: Implication for Counselor Education Preparation and Distance Learning Instruction. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a9f8/ff1dff10cfef389a5ff9fc73aef5d0d37ec7.pdf
Kato, Shiono, Goto and Tsuchida. 2011. Development of Online Counseling System and Usability Evaluation. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267700202_Development_of_Online_Counseling_System_and_Usability_Evaluation
Kit, Teo, Tan and Park. 2017. Singaporean Counsellors' Online Counselling Experiences with Children: An Exploratory Qualitative Study. Retrieved from https://www.dqinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Phey-Ling-Kit-et-al_NIE-e-Counselling.pdf
Psychological Association of the Philippines. 2009. Code of Ethics for Philippine Psychologists. Retrieved from https://www.pap.org.ph/sites/default/files/code_of_ethics_pdf.pdf
Silva, Siegmund, and Bredemeier. 2015. Crisis Intervention in Online Psychological Counseling. Retrieved from http://www.scielo.br/pdf/trends/v37n4/2237-6089-trends-37-04-00171.pdf
Sobowale, Nguyen, Weiss, Hai Van and Trung. 2016. Acceptability of Internet Intervention for Youth Mental Health in Vietnam. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5454795/pdf/S2054425116000182a.pdf
Teh, Acosta, Hechanova, Garabiles, and Alianan Jr. 2014. Attitudes of Psychology Graduate Students Toward Face-to-Face and Online Counseling. Retrieved from https://www.pap.org.ph/sites/default/files/upload/pjp2014-47-2-pp65-97-tehacostahechanovagarabilesalianan-attitudes_of_psychology_graduate_students_toward_face-to-face_and_online_counseling.pdf
Zamani, Nasir, and Yusooff. 2010. Perception towards Online Couseling among Counselors in Malaysia. Retrieved from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82549415.pdf
In this Digital World, technology is no longer a luxury but now a necessity for individuals or groups of people. Most of them are exposed and have access to internet. A lot of information they need are just one click away. If you want to know where the people are, go online.
In the world of guidance counseling and psychology, providing mental health services through online to address the needs of their clients is rising and rapidly growing. It even attracted several helping professionals, practitioners, and researchers from different parts of the world.
Online Counseling is defined as a strategic method of providing assistance or services to address the needs, resolve issues and concerns of the client and prevent them from happening through online or use of technology.
Speyer and Zack (2010) stated that online counseling is appropriate and best for people who are capable of sustained introspection, value written self-expression and have a creative independence it takes to hold up their end of the written dialogue.
In this article, you will learn about the benefits and risks of online counseling.
Benefits
If you are a potential or current client, online counseling can provide you the following benefits:
1. You can select and choose your licensed/registered counselor locally and internationally.
2. You can stay at home while sharing your thoughts, opinion, problems or concerns to the counselor.
3. You can review the conversation between you and your counselor.
4. You can easily identity unanswered problems or concerns and ask your counselor to address them.
5. You can reach out with other people with similar situation.
6. You can spend more time to know and assess whether your counselor can help you or not .
Risks
However, there are risks that you need to consider when using online counseling. In this article, there will be one important risk that any client should know.
1. The information (e.g. personal information and current and sensitive issues) that you will disclose to your counselor can be hacked by any computer expert. Thus, your confidentiality and privacy will be at risk.
Online counseling can be very innovative and creative way to address psychological issues and improve mental health services. A counselor and a client should work together and collaborate to achieve the goals of the therapy session.
Will you seek professional help online? Think before you decide.
References
Bolton, J. 2017. Ethical Issues Which Must Be Addressed In Online Counseling. Retrieved from http://www.acrjournal.com.au/resources/assets/journals/Volume-11-Issue-1-2017/Ethical_issues_in_Online_Counselling_1-15.pdf
Chetty, R. 2017. How Safe Is Your Digital Therapy Session? A Review Of Ethical Considerations For Online Counseling. Retrieved from https://repository.cityu.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.11803/701/RulishaChettyThesis2017.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
Cook, Lei, and Chiang. 2010. Counseling in China: Implication for Counselor Education Preparation and Distance Learning Instruction. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a9f8/ff1dff10cfef389a5ff9fc73aef5d0d37ec7.pdf
Kato, Shiono, Goto and Tsuchida. 2011. Development of Online Counseling System and Usability Evaluation. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267700202_Development_of_Online_Counseling_System_and_Usability_Evaluation
Kit, Teo, Tan and Park. 2017. Singaporean Counsellors' Online Counselling Experiences with Children: An Exploratory Qualitative Study. Retrieved from https://www.dqinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Phey-Ling-Kit-et-al_NIE-e-Counselling.pdf
Psychological Association of the Philippines. 2009. Code of Ethics for Philippine Psychologists. Retrieved from https://www.pap.org.ph/sites/default/files/code_of_ethics_pdf.pdf
Silva, Siegmund, and Bredemeier. 2015. Crisis Intervention in Online Psychological Counseling. Retrieved from http://www.scielo.br/pdf/trends/v37n4/2237-6089-trends-37-04-00171.pdf
Sobowale, Nguyen, Weiss, Hai Van and Trung. 2016. Acceptability of Internet Intervention for Youth Mental Health in Vietnam. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5454795/pdf/S2054425116000182a.pdf
Teh, Acosta, Hechanova, Garabiles, and Alianan Jr. 2014. Attitudes of Psychology Graduate Students Toward Face-to-Face and Online Counseling. Retrieved from https://www.pap.org.ph/sites/default/files/upload/pjp2014-47-2-pp65-97-tehacostahechanovagarabilesalianan-attitudes_of_psychology_graduate_students_toward_face-to-face_and_online_counseling.pdf
Zamani, Nasir, and Yusooff. 2010. Perception towards Online Couseling among Counselors in Malaysia. Retrieved from https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82549415.pdf
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