Online therapy refers to a wide range of therapy services that are provided by therapists to clients that are sometimes thousands of kilometers apart, thanks to the power of the Internet.
But online therapy is a potential minefield with lots of ethical issues that can arise with practitioners that are providing online therapy without specific training or knowledge of this field.
So we spoke to Dr Kate Anthony, co-founder of the Online Therapy Institute about the promises and pitfalls of online therapy.
In this interview Kate shares:
- what is considered online therapy today
- how far has online therapy come in the last 5 years?
- some of the most common approaches to online therapy
- what is Omnichannelled Therapy and why it’s good for clients
- her thoughts on how secure Skype is as an online therapy delivery platform
- which platform she now recommends therapists use when delivering online therapy
- the importance of clear therapist boundaries in online therapy
- what is the ‘online disinhibition effect’
- what should therapists do when things go wrong with online therapy
- training she recommends for mental health practitioners wanting to become provide online therapy
Links and resources mentioned in this episode:
- Online Therapy Institute
- PlusGuidance.com – free and secure platform for delivery of online therapy
- Choose a platform for your work – Kate’s view
-
Anthony, K. & Nagel, D. (2010). Therapy Online [A Practical Guide]. Sage Publishing.
- Online Therapy Institute on Facebook
- Kate Anthony on Twitter
- Deeanna Merz Nagel on Twitter
- Email Dr Kate Anthony
- Reference for the forthcoming book in 2016: Goss, S., Anthony, K., Stretch, L. & Nagel, D. (in press) Technology in Mental Health: Applications in Practice, Supervision and Training. CCThomas Publishing.
About Kate Anthony
Kate Anthony, DPsych, FBACP, is a psychotherapist, coach, consultant and international expert regarding online therapy and the impact of technology on mental health and coaching. She co-edited Technology in Counselling and Psychotherapy: A Practitioner’s Guide with Stephen Goss in 2003, coauthored Therapy Online [a practical guide] with DeeAnna Merz Nagel in 2010, co-edited The Use of Technology in Mental Health 1st Edition in 2010 and 2nd Edition due for publication early 2016, and coauthored all three editions of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s Guidelines for Online Counselling and Psychotherapy. As co-founder of the Online Therapy Institute, she has trained thousands of professionals in the fields of mental health and coaching to use technology safely and ethically within practice.
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