Archive for June, 2008

The construction is complete!! We thank Jo kay for all of her work, vision and motivation with this project! She created a wonderful space that captures the essence of Online Therapy Institute and we now have a place to grow, think and educate! Please visit Online Therapy Institute on the Islands of Jokaydia. The direct link is http://slurl.com/secondlife/jokaydia%20II/147/45/24. If you are not a member of Second Life you can join for free.

If you want to know more about Jo Kay aka jokay Wollongong in Second Life, specializing in Virtual Worlds Design and Facilitation, visit her website at http://jokaydia.com/.

A little more about Jo:

Jo has interests in online culture and social networking and the impacts both are having in the education sector, but also on society in general. Her current research is around virtual worlds, with a particular focus on Second Life and the possibilities that it offers for education, communication and collaboration. Jo is owner and manager of the Islands of jokaydia and supports a vibrant community of educators and Institutions on the Island. For more information visit: http://jokay.com.au/ or http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/.

She does fabulous work as you will see.

So, now that Kate and DeeAnna have a place to perch inworld, we will be creating new ways to reach out to clients/consumers and professionals about online counseling! We plan to provide discussions and workshops to members on a regular basis after the completion of our book projects. So when you visit us, please join the Online Therapy Institute group!!

See you inworld!

The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (www.bacp.co.uk) Innovation Award is awarded for any facet of work demonstrating new ideas or techniques that are likely to have lasting effects on the evolution of counselling and psychotherapy.

OTI is pleased to announce that www.onlinecounsellors.co.uk, provided by Kate Anthony, is nominated in 2008 for its work in the field of training and research on online counselling and psychotherapy.

Yay!

Earlier this week I attended the Second Annual Summit on Behavioral Telehealth at Harvard Medical School’s Joseph B. Martin Conference Center. I had the privilege of attending last year and again this year.  My role at the conference was as an ISMHO (International Society for Mental Health Online) exhibit booth representative.  The Summit offers workshops on Disease Management and ways in which the medical community is using technology in various forms for prevention and intervention strategies.  While there were no specific offerings related to online counseling and supervision, I was intrigued by two sessions in particular:  Virtual Worlds and Social Networking.  John Lester (Pathfinder Linden) of Linden Labs spoke of various ways people are utilizing Second Life to enhance mental health and quality of life and John Grohol of PsychCentral moderated a panel discussion about health-related social networking websites.

The attendance this year and last was made up primarily of physicians but I did note that this year the summit offered continuing education credits to psychologists and social workers in addition to CME credits. Hopefully the yearly event will become more inclusive of all mental health practitioners in the future.

I plan to attend future summits so stay tuned for my summary next year!

DeeAnna