Archive for the ‘Second Life’ Category

Thursday, September 9th!

Join Kate Anthony, DeeAnna Merz Nagel and John Wilson as they host a VIRTUAL TOWN HALL MEETING ABOUT THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY AND MENTAL HEALTH AND ALL THAT IS ONLINE THERAPY!

We will discuss efforts of three of the leading organizations representing online mental health and we will offer information about upcoming conferences, continuing education opportunities and publications. This is a great opportunity for a brief introduction followed by a Q&A session.

You can join us in Second Life at the Online Therapy Institute Conference Centre, alternatively you can view this event from the OnlinEvents website and you will be able to communicate with us using the chat room on our Live Video page.

There is no charge for this event!

Check out the time of the event in your time zone:

San Francisco: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
New York: 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM
London: 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Sydney: 5:00 AM – 6:00 AM

For more information visit www.onlinevents.co.uk

Kate and DeeAnna are presenting at 2VCC in Second Life! We will be facilitating a Q&A with  Jason Spingarn-Koff, director of the movie, Life 2.0. Our topic, Demonstrating Cyberculture through Film: Life 2.0 discusses how Jason’s documentary about Second Life can increase cultural competency among counselors, psychologists and other helping professionals. See full conference information and schedule below! Be sure to catch our session on Wednesday 9/15/2010 @ 3pm EST.

2nd Virtual Conference on Counseling (2VCC)
September 15-18, 2010

http://sl.counseloreducation.org

The 2VCC will cover 4 days with over 40 presentations on issues related to counseling, counselor education, supervision and the use of technology (particularly Second Life) in counseling practice and training.

The conference is FREE and available to interested professionals. Reregistering for the conference on this website will assure that you will get information notecards and a program booklet emailed to you for this conference.

You can attend the conference in Second Life starting at the Counselor Education in Second Life center SLURL Marina Del Rey 102, 70, 27. The schedule of presentations will be available through this website.

You can also watch a live stream of the conference provided by http://www.onlinevents.co.uk The live stream is a great opportunity to show portions of the conference to your whole class without the burden of having to manipulate your avatar into Second Life.

2nd Virtual Conference on Counseling (2VCC)
All times are Eastern Time Zone (GMT -5)
Sessions will occur at CESL in Second Life (SLURL Marina Del Rey 102, 70, 27)
Portions of 2VCC will be web-streamed through Onlinevents.co.uk at http://onlinevents.co.uk
Attendance is free – Continuing education contact hours are free and available

9/15/2010 Wednesday

10:00 AM
1. Opening Session: Marty Jencius and Debra London

11:00 AM
2. Keynote session: Sexualized Role Play in Second Life and Beyond: Meaning and Implications. David Delmonico

12:00 PM
3. Technologically Mediated Relationship Changes, Katherine Herman and Courtney Holmes

1:00 PM
4. Counseling in GenderLand: A guide for you and your transgendered clients, Niela Miller

2:00 PM
5. Immersive Simulations in Counselor Education, David Stone and Deborha Patten

3:00 PM
6. Demonstrating Cyberculture through Film: Life 2.0 Questions and Answers, DeeAnna Merz Nagel, Kate Anthony and Jason Spingarn-Koff

4:00 PM
7. Second Life as a Pedagogical Tool: Comparing the Learning Styles and Perceptions of Counselor Education Students of Second Life, Leslie O’Ryan and Jacob Glazier

5:00 PM
8. Evaluating Student Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor Learning During Patient Interviewing and Diagnosis Activities, Victoria Walker and Jason Baker

6:00 PM
9. Counseling Internet and Online Issues, Paul Silverman

7:00 PM
10. The Effectiveness of Art Therapy, Nicole Brickell

8:00 PM
11. Project Pathways: Interactive Technology in the Counseling Classroom, Joseph Davis

9:00 PM
12. Training Play Therapists in a Virtual World, Julie Robinson, Jill Packman, Maria Devine Ogino

10:00 PM
Mixer / Entertainment

9/16/2010 Thursday

11:00 AM
13. Competencies in Addressing the Christian Client’s Worldview, Cheryl Durham

12:00 PM
14. Can I trust you? Can you really help me?, Brandon Browning

1:00 PM
15. CACREP Goes International with IRCEP: The International Registry of Counselor Education Programs, Carol Bobby and Rebecca Stanard

2:00 PM
16. Using Arts Processes as Psychological Tools in Second Life, Niela Miller (Note 90 minute presentation held at Niela’s SL Location)

3:00 PM
17. Developing and Implementing Online Supervision in Counselor Education: Strategies to get Started, Jonathan Lent and Paula Britton

4:00 PM
18. Teaching, Learning and Living in SL: A year in the Life of a Newbie, Chadwick Royal

5:00 PM
19. Age Cohorts: Preparing a Young Counseling Workforce for an Aging Generation, Nicki Nance

6:00 PM
20. Power and Control: When Counselors Abuse, Paul Fornell

7:00 PM
21. The Top 5 Mistakes Therapists Make in Building a Successful Therapy Practice, Laura Dessauer

8:00 PM
22. Factors Related to Severity and Prognosis in Mood Disorders, Todd Finnerty

9:00 PM
23. Counseling Stand UP Comedy Tour: Ludwig Wiigenstein and the Telling of Second-Order Truth Through Humor, Brian Mistler

10:00 PM
Mixer / Entertainment

9/17/2010 Friday

10:00 AM
24. Directives in Art Therapy, Nicole Brickell

11:00 AM
25. The Fourth Dimension: 4-D Communications with Adolescents, William Scott

12:00 PM
26. Collaborative Approach to High School to College Transition Programs, Annette Albrecht and Dennis Jones

1:00 PM
27. Facilitating Second Lives in Real Life, Tom Blume, Joel Lane, and Keolegobile Semphadie

2:00 PM
28. Service Learning with Online Graduate Students. Kylie Dotson-Blake

3:00 PM
29. Counselors-in-training Implement the ASCA National Model, Aaron Oberman

4:00 PM
30. Suicide Assessment using SIMPLE STEPS, Jason McGlothlin

5:00 PM
31. Teaching Supervision to Counselors using the Discrimination Model, Clarrice Rapisarda, Kimberly Desmond, and Jill Nelson

6:00 PM
32. Public Relations and School Counseling: Learning to Promote the Counseling Program, Kimberly Desmond, Clarrice Rapisarda, and Jill Nelson

7:00 PM
33. My Client’s Don’t Know I am LGBT Friendly: Helping School and Mental health Counselors Meet the needs of LGBT Youth, Rachel Vitale, Harry Warner, Julie Krause, and Amanda Cole

8:00 PM
34. Eating Disorder Recovery in a “War on Obesity” World, Shannon Cutts

9:00 PM
Mixer / Entertainment

9/18/2010 Saturday

10:00 AM
35. Q Methodology as a Tool for Agenda Setting. Klara Overland

11:00 AM
36. Digital Story Telling in a Multicultural Counseling Course, Diana VanWinkle, Marty Jencius

12:00 PM
37. Innovation, Avatars, and Virtual Counseling, Dick Dillon

1:00 PM
38. Publishing Your Book in Counselor Education, John Blando

39. Discovering Callings and Contributing to Community: Where Spirituality and career Development Converge, Edward Colozzi

2:00 PM
40. Artificial Neural Networks: An Introduction to Their uses in Statistical Modeling and Comparison of Predictive Power versus Multiple Regressions, Brian Mistler

3:00 PM
41. Counselor TV: Creating and Running a Streaming Television Channel, Michael Baltimore

4:00 PM
42. Closing Session

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We are working hard on putting together our new OTI magazine, TILT (Therapeutic Innovations in Light of Technology).

The magazine will be online and free, and launched in September 2010. It will be a blend of news, innovations, member profiles, articles, features, marketing toolboxes, news on textbooks, and advertisements of interest. We will have more news on this very soon as the first issue comes together.

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Each issue will include the following:

· Editors introduction and contents (Kate Anthony & DeeAnna Merz Nagel)
· News from the cyberstreet (tweets members, what is at OTI blog, new research news)
· New Breakthroughs column
· Online Therapist column (A Day In The Life)
· Online Supervisor column
· Ethical Dilemmas column
· Feature article 4000-6000 words
· Other article(s) – about 1500 words
· Marketing toolbox column
· Featured Verified website
· Letters/reader comments
· Book descriptions of 3 books per issue
· Advertising and conferences

If you have an article of up to 1500 words that you are burning to get out of your system on any topic related to innovative delivery of therapeutic services via technology (including coaching), please do submit it no earlier than August 1st and no later than August 20th to editor@onlinetherapymagazine.com

We’re very excited at this new development at the Online Therapy Institute and will let you know even more about the content soon!

We look forward to reading your article!

If you have other inquiries about the magazine including advertising options please email info@onlinetherapyinstitute.com

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On Tuesday, May 11th I had the pleasure of attending the screening of Life 2.0, a documentary about Second Life, at ICF Theatre’s  Stranger Than Fiction. Director Jason Spingarn-Koff follows people for a period of over a year or more as they maneuver life lived in a mixed reality.

The scenarios include two people, each married to someone else,  involved in a cyberaffair, complete with hook-ups in Second Life to using webcam technology for face-to-face encounters. Their love affair takes them out of cyberspace for several in-person encounters. Emotions are high and limerence, that state of intense romantic desire for another person, is clearly evident. This is an affair of great proportions~ emotional, cerebral and physical~ filled with the excitement and consequences of infidelity.

An intimate look  into the lives of several people who are brave enough to share their stories continues. Another young adult who is engaged to be married logs into Second Life and soon he has created an alter~ an 11 year-old girl who he describes is a part of himself. This story line is rich and psychodynamic offering a glimpse into the impact of virtual worlds on the lives of people who have experienced childhood trauma. The vulnerabilities of the adult male, his alter child female, his “real life” fiance and other avatars the child befriends in Second Life are all laid out across the screen in a disturbing yet expected fashion.

A woman searching for meaning in her vocation  discovers that she can merge her love of gaming with her talent for design. She also explains that she has been dealing with several health issues so working from home is a plus for her. She starts a business creating a line of clothing and accessories as well as designer homes and landscapes. She manages to turn her hobby into a profitable enterprise. As with any entrepreneur, she applies focused concentration and long hours.

It is the stuff of life that therapists have been dealing with for years, or is it?

Enter the ability to create an alternate digital reality and these life struggles become magnified. Online disinhibition means that people do and say things in cyberspace they might not be able or willing to do or say in their “real life.”  Quotations are purposeful here because the underlying message is that these cyber experiences ARE real- as real as what I had for breakfast this morning.

So what does this documentary offer those of us in the helping professions? How about a new chapter in multiculturalism? Cyberculture is rich, full, real and impactful. Our clients don’t just go to soccer games, or movies or to Paris or Walt Disney. They don’t just have clandestine affairs at work or deal with historical issues of abuse in the therapist’s consultation room. They go to Second Life, another destination rendering the thrill of decadent and clandestine meetings, corporate enterprise, vocational fulfillment and the ability to create a new beginning, reconstruct a past event or extend parts of oneself into another reality.

If you have the opportunity to view Life 2.0, don’t miss it.  Your understanding of cyberspace will grow beyond measure.

Stay tuned for more about Life 2.0. We will regularly post notes of interest to our readers.

DeeAnna

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The Online Counselling and Therapy in Action (OCTIA – see www.octia.org.uk) conference (now in its second year), took place in Manchester, England  and online this March 2010  through chat rooms, live video and my own presentation taking place in Second Life with its own chat.

The photograph below shows me presenting to the room of delegates at the OCTIA conference venue, with my own laptop in front of me.  Behind me on the screen is the view from my laptop perspective into Second Life, where I was joined by colleagues from all over the world represented as avatars, who had their own chat facility with me via my laptop and the delegates in the room who were also in Second Life as avatars (hence the laptops in the audience).  The screen on the wall to my right is where I was shown live from the perspective of one of the other delegates in the room in Second Life, with the official OCTIA chatroom being scrolled to the right of the video, where I was also taking part via audio and my laptop via text.

If that description sounds confusing, the point is that I was present in five different realities simultaneously, presenting worldwide.  This groundbreaking event reached four continents – Europe, the USA/Canada, South America and Australia – bringing them together to discuss the use of virtual and mixed realities in counselling and psychotherapy experientially.  To ensure the delegates watching in the physical room and online were truly able to understand what working in mixed realities is like, I wore the same clothes that my avatar is based upon, clearer in the photograph below (with my virtual self centre-front of the screen (from my perspective, hence the back view)).

You can also view a video by John Wilson of OnlinEvents and pics of the event. Jokay, founder of Jokaydia where our OTI office and conference center is located,  took some great pics while inworld. We are ever so grateful for her design expertise and professional support.

The Islands of jokaydia is a virtual worlds community of practice facilitated by Jo Kay aka jokay Wollongong. We are exploring the use of virtual worlds and games for education, arts and social change. You can find us in Second Life, Reaction Grid and our new virtual worlds presence – the jokaydia Grid!

We hope you will visit us inworld! If you’d like to check out Online Therapy Square, and the OTI Headquarters visit: http://slurl.com/secondlife/jokaydia%20II/110/68/24.

Please join Kate Anthony and colleagues for an hour in Second Life!

Kate is presenting at the Online Counselling and Therapy in Action (OCTIA) conference on the 20^th March 2010 at 4.10pm (GMT).  Kate will conduct a live tour of professional, therapeutic and educational environments in Second Life, and discuss some of the benefits and pitfalls

of conducting therapy in virtual environments.  Environments will include the offices of the Online Therapy Institute (offices, conference centre, breakout rooms and skybox for therapeutic sessions – www.onlinetherapyinstitute.com) and OnlineEvents.com 9the technical arm of OCTIA).

The location is http://slurl.com/secondlife/jokaydia%20II/147/45/24

Participation in this workshop is free.  Tickets for the main conference (online and offline) are available from http://www.octia.org.uk/OCTIA/Home.html

Kate and DeeAnna met with Jokay today in Second Life to discuss new builds and additions to Online Therapy Institute’s virtual office. Currently, OTI has an office space that has an open concept. The office is used primarily as a place to gather more information about OTI. The space has been used for consultations and media interviews as well. (see The Coaching Commons:  Quick Video: A Voyage into the World of Virtual Coaching and InnerWorld Magazine Online Therapy Institute).

Now OTI is expanding inworld with a SkyBox build. The SkyBox will be located above the original office and will offer a therapy room, a small group room and a classroom.  A SkyBox location allows for more security so that others inworld cannot simply “drop in” at will. When conducting avatar therapy inworld, other measures will be utilized to ensure confidentiality such as encrypted chat and voice. Platforms like Skype can be used in conjunction with Second Life.

Jokay founded the Islands of Jokaydia where the OTI office is located. All of the residents of Jokaydia focus on education in one form or another so OTI found it to be a natural fit. Across the square from the OTI office is the office of OnlinEvents. John Wilson who owns OnlinEvents is also a therapist inworld. OTI and OnlinEvents collaborate frequently on projects and our new SkyBox will allow for even more diverse collaboration! Between the two offices will be the newly named “Therapy Square” offering resources for passersby.

Today Jokay showed Kate and DeeAnna a SkyBox space she has created for Charles Sturt School of Information Studies (also located inworld at Jokaydian Islands). This picture is at Charles Sturt’s space in Second Life.

The meet up with Jokay was great fun- it was like meeting with the builder and the decorator all at the same time! Kate and DeeAnna will keep you posted on the developments. In the meantime, visit us inworld!

The direct link is http://slurl.com/secondlife/jokaydia%20II/147/45/24.

Regards from the virtual world!

 

Be sure to follow all of us on twitter as well! @TherapyOnline @KateAnthony @jokay @OnlinEvents

OTI has been remiss in offering regular blog posts these past couple of months but with good cause and great outcomes!

So what’s in store for 2010? Our authored book, Therapy Online: A Practical Guide was just released and we have another edited book, The Use of Technology in Mental Health: Applications, Ethics and Practice due out this summer. This book has 30 chapters with a total of 47 contributing authors from across the globe.

As promised, we are offering online training about online therapy. We have launched the first 6 workshops with more to come. Each workshop is the equivalent of 5 clock hours of instruction. The workshops are online and self-paced.  The cost per workshop is $119.00/70.00 £.

• Introduction to Cyberspace: A Primer for Helping Professionals
• Relationships in Cyberspace: An Introduction for Helping Professionals
• The Online Therapeutic Relationship: Theoretical Considerations
• Ethical Considerations of Online Therapy
• Working Therapeutically Using Asynchronous Email
• Working Therapeutically Using Synchronous Chat

The workshop details can be accessed at our training portal. We have partnered with DigitalChalk to bring you a user-friendly yet state-of-the-art experience. Continuing Education credits for U.S. psychologists, social workers and counselors will be available very soon.

www.onlinetherapyinstitute.digitalchalk.com.

Just create an account and peruse our catalog! Your account will remain active should you decide to return to take a course.

We are giving our website a facelift so resources are easier to navigate.

We will soon offer an Online Therapy Institute ~verified~ seal that will provide a way for online helping professionals to indicate to the public that their site meets standards of best practice.

We will be facilitating groups and workshops as well as co-sponsoring conferences online and at our Second Life location.

We are collaborating with others to add to our Ethical Framework resources.

We have created:

• Ethical Framework for the Use of Technology in Mental Health
• Ethical Framework for the Use of Technology for Career and School Guidance

Coming Soon:

• Ethical Framework for the Use of Technology in Professional Coaching
• Ethical Framework for the Use of Technology in Crisis, Disaster and Critical Incident Interventions
  

We are offering a directory listing to everyone who joins our social network at www.onlinetherapysocialnetwork.com and your listing will be posted at www.onlinetherapydirectory.net.

For OTI members who practice online, a website listing in the OTI Web Directory (online counseling category) will be added provided the following standards are met:

1. Offer encrypted services for email, chat and web conferencing.
2. List level of education, schools attended and dates graduated.
3. List certifications and licenses if applicable with verification web links.
4. List crisis information or a link on the website’s home page.
5. List therapist’s alternate contact information in addition to email.

Mostly, we will continue to encourage dialogue among our members and friends at Online Therapy Institute so that we can all learn and grow together!

Kate and DeeAnna

Ethical Implications Online: Working and Socializing in Cyberspace
Presented by: DeeAnna Nagel, LPC, DCC
Dallas, Texas EAPA Pre-Conference Training
Co-Founder of the Online Therapy Institute

The Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) invites you to
Register For This Full-Day Ethics Course
Ethical Implications Online: Working and Socializing in Cyberspace
Tuesday, October 20 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM; 7.5 PDH/CE contact hours

This full-day workshop will discuss best practice with regard to communicating online with potential and existing clients, business associates, friends and other therapists. With the advent of Web 2.0 and Social Media, counselors and psychotherapists now must understand the boundaries of working and socializing in cyberspace. Topics to be covered include communicating confidentially with existing clients, how to handle the email inquiry from a potential client, the basics of ethical online counseling and the slippery slope of marketing your practice on the internet via social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Special OTI Discounted Price: $295
(You Save $60!)

Add This Full-Day Business-Building Course
For Just $100 More!

Essential Sales Skills for the Non-Sales Professional
Wednesday, October 21 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM; 7.5 PDH/CE contact hours

Presented by: Shelley Plemons MS, LCDC
President/CEO, Strategic Sales Solutions

The economy is poor and the behavioral health marketplace is increasingly competitive. As a mental health professional, you may be faced with the challenge of maintaining your current work-load while becoming more involved in sales efforts. You want to increase your client base and land business, but sales is not your first profession, and feels daunting. What do you do?

First, don’t panic! Second, participate in this unique full-day training session! This is the only sales training program for non-sales professionals, written and presented by a fellow clinician, and targeted to building the sales capacity of mental health and employee assistance professionals and their programs. Shelley will introduce you to the principles and skills of consultative selling. It’s a logical, non-manipulative approach that focuses on being responsive to the needs of your prospective client and matching them to your products or services. Enhance your confidence by using your personality and skills in consultation, relationship building, and communication to build business!

Total OTI Discounted Price for Both Courses: $395
(You Save $315!)

Offer Expires September 30, 2009!

Don’t Wait ‘Til It’s Too Late!
Use This Special Form to Register Today!

Learn more about EAPA’s 2009 Annual World EAP conference or download the conference preview book.
PDH/CE credit hours provided by:
Employee Assistance Certification Commission (EACC)
National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)
California Board of Behavioral Sciences
National Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors (NAADAC)

This is to announce a conference that will be held in Second Life Sep 16-18 and starts today at 12pm EST!

This conference is free and offers CE through NBCC.

The conference is coordinated by Dr. Marty Jencius, Assistant Professor and Counselor Educator at Kent State as well as founder and list manager for CESNET-L, a professional listserv for counselor educators and co-founding editor of The Journal of Technology in Counseling, a web-based, peer reviewed journal.

Kate Anthony and DeeAnna Merz Nagel will be co-presenting a Keynote entitled: Online Therapy in Second Life and the Online Therapy Institute.

Other colleagues are joining us with great content.

General Information:

http://sl.counseloreducation.org/Conference/conference.html

Conference Schedule:

http://sl.counseloreducation.org/vccschedule/vccschedule.html

Registration:

http://sl.counseloreducation.org/Registration/registration.php

If you do not have the Second Life platform downloaded but still want to view the conference, you may register and view the conference via John Wilson’s Online Events website. http://www.eventbrite.com/event/433929896/fbnews

Real-time conference updates and information can be read and sent through Twitter  http://twitter.com/ceinsl   hashtag #ceinsl

PDF of Progam: cesl-conference-program

Hope to see you inworld!