Archive for the ‘Resources and other items of interest’ 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

I’m a big fan of Eddie Izzard – his acting, comedy and extreme marathon running (43 full marathons in 51 days!). Recently while visiting New York, DeeAnna and I had a chance to see him in the new Mamet play Race at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway.

Izzard plays Jack Lawson, a lawyer at a successful firm who is called upon, alongside his black colleagues, to represent a white client (Richard Thomas) accused of raping a black woman. As Mamet explains, “In my play a firm made up of three lawyers, two black and one white, is offered the chance to defend a white man charged with a crime against a black young woman. It is a play about lies…All drama is about lies. When the lie is exposed, the play is over.”

At first glance this appears to be a mystery play about a simple lie by witnesses around where the sequins are from the red dress worn by the accuser in the hotel room where the alleged attack took place. But as their planned case comes together in light of the accused’s blundering press release, issues of racism and sex come to the fore as internal assumptions around what is right and wrong between races and gender clash both within and outwith the lawyer’s office. Essentially, Mamet illustrates a world where there is nothing a white person can say to a black person without feelings of being patronized, upset or simply wrong being incurred. He also demonstrates how this happens between men and women.

So how can online therapists, in relation to not necessarily knowing the colour of their client’s skin, ensure that their internal assumptions and biases around cultures and races (born of upbringing and social environment) do not infect the therapeutic work, either by self-reflection or in Supervision? The written word with clients can often seem stark without tone-of-voice and gesture, so how easy is it to misunderstand a remark made in innocence that a person of a different culture misunderstands as being racist? If the remark is deemed as racist by the client, is this the case? Or is it the case that the therapist is telling himself or herself lies about their attitude to differences in culture, as is the case in Mamet’s play with Lawson’s self-assurance? How important is it to examine and challenge one’s own internal racism in light of not knowing the clients race?

So, Mamet’s play brings a lot of questions about society’s attitudes to difference of race and gender. As well as being very witty in parts and challenging in others, I recommend it as a thought-provoking piece of theatre, as a therapist, an theatre goer, or even as just an Izzard fan!

Kate

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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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Our colleague, David P. Diana has authored a new book just out!  Marketing for the Mental Health Professional: An Innovative Guide for Practitioners is a book about success within all areas of the profession, offering practical and powerful strategies that lead to growth and opportunity you may never have imagined possible.

Diana has teamed up with Online Therapy Institute and several others to offer unique resources and discounts for people who purchase his book.  OTI is offering a 50% discount on our Get Verified program.

For more information on the book and corresponding offers, check out Diana’s recent blog post announcing the book launch and partners!

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Get Verified!

Do you have a website that offers information, services or products related to mental health?

Online Therapy Institute verifies websites so that individuals and businesses can demonstrate to their audience that their website is in compliance with what OTI considers to be “best practice” and in accordance with OTI’s Ethical Frameworks.

Getting OTI Verified means whether you offer website development and marketing services, you are an individual practitioner in private practice or you own an e-clinic or you represent a charity or educational organization you can indicate to the public that you understand the ethical implications of delivering mental health information and services online.

Website Categories

• Client Services (therapy, counselling. counseling, coaching)
• Therapist/Coach Directory
• Social Network
• Blog
• Peer Support
• Self Help
• Practice Building/Marketing
• Supervision/Consultation
• Education/Professional Development
• Crisis Intervention

You may have a website that fits into more than one category. Or you may have two websites under the same business name. For instance, some people have a private practice website and a separate blog site. We will offer an OTI Verified Seal that you can use on all of your sites. By implementing the items on our checklist that apply to your website categories, you can Get Verified .

• Your seal will be a choice of two styles.
• Each seal carries your company name and the current date.
• The seal cannot be replicated onto another site.
• The cost is $99.99 for the first year and $49.99 renewal each year following.

Instructions

You must have Adobe Reader to Download the following files

OTI Get Verified Checklist ….. OTI Get Verified Notes

• Compare your website to our checklist to be sure your website is ready for verification.
• Read through the notes that offer clarification for items on the checklist.
• Once you are sure you meet the criteria, click Google Buy Now button below.
• Following the completion of the payment process, you will be directed to the application.
• You will be contacted within 10 business days with your OTI Verified Seal.
• Should your website not meet the OTI Verified criteria, we will make recommendations.

Get Verified!

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.

Hi Everyone!

I invite you to join me and over 10 other expert speakers for a complementary Therapist Resource Telesummit. Over three days, you will have access to some incredible information on how to create an authentic and profitable therapy business, helping many more clients. I will be discussing online therapy and I am thrilled to be joining such a dynamic group of speakers!

See details here:
Therapists Resource FREE Telesummit March 12 – 14

You’ll discover:

* How to stop giving your money away to insurance companies and the biggest mistakes therapists make in building a successful fee-for-service therapy business

* How to help your potential clients TALK THEMSELVES into working with you and what you’ll need to know to attract way more clients without compromising your values

* The mindset shift and business model change you need to learn so you can easily double your current income

* How to use coaching to build a fee-for-service practice making six to seven figures a year

* The reason why you may be procrastinating in your business and the biggest gift you can offer your clients

* The marketing approach that helps your community, while growing your practice at the same time

* How to expand your practice using text-based therapy: what you need to know about using email and chat with your clients- everything from encryption, client screening, and cyber-cultural awareness

* How to create a signature presentation that leaves your potential clients asking for more

* Practical tools you can use to earn expert status and how to utilize technology and marketing strategies to engage clients, build credibility, and earn loyalty

* Specific ways social media improves your visibility online and how to use directories and google local business center to gain exposure and attract new clients

* How online networking sites and technology can bring therapists, students, and interested professional together in a global web community, maximizing your practice exposure

And so much more!

Join me!

March 12th, 13th and 14th, 2010
Register and see details here:
Therapists Resource FREE Telesummit March 12 – 14

Wishing everyone the best!

DeeAnna

The BACP Guidelines for Online Counselling and Psychotherapy are now in their 3rd Edition (Anthony & Goss, 2009 – see also Goss et al., 2001; Anthony & Jamieson, 2005) and now the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy have revised and amended the main Ethical Framework to reflect this (the full link is below, with references).

This embraces the importance of recognising online therapy – and indeed the function of technology in general –  as a vital component of the profession.

The new Ethical Framework states:

Variations in client needs and the diversity of settings within which counselling and psychotherapyservices are delivered have also been carefully considered. Clients vary in their requirements in order tocommunicate effectively and to gain access to services. Ethically aware services strive to meet theseneeds and to avoid excluding someone from receiving a service or lowering the quality of that servicesolely on the grounds of a client’s learning difficulty or physical disability. Services may be provided bythe independent practitioner working alone, one or more practitioners working to provide a service withinan agency or large organisation, specialists working in multidisciplinary teams, and by specialist teamsof counsellors and psychotherapists. Most work is undertaken face to face but there are also a growingnumber of telephone and online services. Some practitioners are moving between these different settingsand modes of delivery during the course of their work and are therefore required to consider whatconstitutes good practice in different settings. All practitioners encounter the challenge of responding tothe diversity of their clients and finding ways of working effectively with them. This statement thereforeresponds to the complexity of delivering counselling and psychotherapy services in contemporary societyby directing attention to significant issues that practitioners ought to consider and resolve in the specificcircumstances of their work.

The Online Therapy Institute embraces this amendment, as the work of BACP remains the basis of part of our own Ethical Framework for the Use of Technology in Mental Health (http://www.onlinetherapyinstitute.com/ethical-training/).

Kate

http://www.bacp.co.uk/ethical_framework/

Goss, S., Anthony, K., Jamieson, A. and Palmer, S. (2001) Guidelines for Online Counselling and Psychotherapy. Rugby: BACP.

Anthony, K. &  Jamieson, A. (2005) Guidelines for Online Counselling and Psychotherapy 2^nd Edition, including Guidelines for Online Supervision. Rugby: BACP.

Anthony, K. &  Goss, S. (2009) Guidelines for Online Counselling and Psychotherapy ^3rd Edition, including Guidelines for Online Supervision. Rugby: BACP.

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)