Practically 'safe': online help to
develop professional skills
Suzie Savvidou, Martha Kelpi,
Efrosini Kalyva & Angelos Rodafinos
Psychology Department,
CITY College
The International Faculty of the University of
Sheffield
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PART A: The rationale
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The need for online counseling at CITY College
• Master students need experience in a safe
mode
• Many of them don’t speak Greek-therefore
cannot practice in a Greek clinical setting
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Online counseling
• Counseling taking place through:
– Emails
– Chat room
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Why people prefer online counseling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zLTfCIcXCM&feature=related
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People choose online vs face to face
counseling
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Geographical reasons:
• They live in remote areas
• They live in less remote areas, but few
counselors are available
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Practical reasons
• Mobility problems
• Responsibility over children or old people
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Emotional reasons
E.g.
• they find it easier to talk about sensitive issues,
when anonymously
• they avoid stigmatization
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Disadvantages
• some problems cannot be resolved online
• confidentiality cannot be guaranteed over the
internet
• online therapy is relatively new - although
writing as a form of support is not new - and
so it's still in its infancy as a form of therapy
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PARTB: The procedures
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The director
Supervisors
Supervisors
Coordinator
The
clients
The
clients
The counselors
The
clients
The
Theclients
clients
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The training
• 6 sessions (2hour) with the basics of online
counseling
• 12 supervised answers to past letters
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The letter cycle
Clients send
a letter
The supervisor(s) correct
the answer
and provide feedback
The coordinator sends
the letter to counselors
The counselors answer
and send the letter
back to the coordinator
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Types of problems
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A real example
• Dear… I saw your E-mail address in a magazine for women and I decided to
write to you. Now I am feeling a bit happier hoping that I will maybe get
the solution to this problem.
.… I am very depressed and desperate because we live
together with mother and brother of my husband. My husband and I have
a daughter and we all live together in a three-room flat. We have been
living together for almost seven years. The problem is the relationship
with brother and mother of my husband. They have never wanted to
accept me and never loved me.... After a week brother-in-law screamed to
me and attacked me when husband was not at home. ... I still think of what
happened and I can not concentrate on my work and I live under
pressure. It is so hard for me to live in this house that I can not
describe. My biggest wish is to move to somewhere else but husband
does not want even to talk about it because of the financial
situation. I think he does not understand me. I think about divorce
since 2002 and I do not have courage and strength to do it although I
would like it most of all. I do not talk to mother and brother of
husband because they are very difficult people and because they hurt
me very much. ... They never wanted to say hello to me or ask me
something. When my family comes to
visit us they do not say hello to them although my parents say Good
Afternoon when entering the room. I feel very guilty about all this.
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• I am frightened here and
I am afraid of living here for brother-in-law is very severe and
violent and I am afraid of him very much.
• I am so much afraid of him
that I dare not to come to kitchen when he is there though I have to
prepare food for a daughter. Husband does not understand me at all and
here is no point talking to him about this.
• I am alone and I can not solve this problem by myself so I decided to
write to you.
• Do you think I should get divorced and move to another place? How do
you think will I be able to live without husband?
I hope you will answer me soon.
Thank you in advance.
Faithfully yours, VS
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Errors in the answers
• Dear VS,
• By what you are telling me, I can see indeed that
your situation is difficult and that you are having a
hard time living with your husband’s mother and
brother. From your letter, I can also deduce that the
effects of this cohabiting are only harmful feelings
like fear, desperation and guilt, all reflecting
negatively on your personal and professional
functioning.
• In deciding what you are going to do, that you think
very well at how your mother –in-law and brother-inlaw affect your life
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Feedback to common errors
• Dear VS,
• Here you should tell her something to warm up the climate. The way you
start though sounds as if you rush going too directly to the problem. You
could instead say something warm instead and then move to assessing
the problem. E.g. Thank you for writing to us…
• By what you are telling me, I can see indeed that your situation is avoid
exaggerating or even being realistic with how difficult the problem is and
focus more on what can be done-expressions like TOO difficult or VERY
should be avoided difficult and that you are having a hard time living with
your husband’s mother and brother. From your letter, I can also deduce
that the effects of this cohabiting are only harmful feelings like fear,
desperation and guilt, all reflecting negatively on your personal and
professional functioning.
• In deciding what you are going to do, Avoid expressions like I WOULD
SUGGEST. It does not fit with your role. You are a counselor but you are
not telling them what to do-you only help them see what would be best
for you-so instead of saying I WOULD SUGGEST you can say ‘I was
wondering if you have appraised the effect of you mother-in law’-. Don’t
sound like in a power position! that you think very well at how your
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mother –in-law and brother-in-law affect your life
• This would allow you to relax and think clear about your
future.
• Another problem that you talk about concerns your husband
I think you should make her think first how the quality of the
relationship with her husband has led things to where they
are-I think that’s where the problems start from: if they face
such problems with the family, what position does the
husband take? Passive? Why is that? Probably the
relationship with him is not good at all, the family members
know about it, and that’s why they treat her like thisassumptions, but you have to explore with indirect
questioning who is indifferent to your pain
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• As for whether you can live without your husband or not, my
answer is yes, concentrate on her and not on your thoughts
by asking what is this that she is getting from him that she
thinks would prevent her from living without him. Is it love?
(I don’t think so) is it dependence? (more possible).
Remember that as a counselor you are likely to come across
not only normal problems but psychopathology too! Explore
whether she has features of a dependent personality. If you
don’t’ remember enough, please get an abnormal
psychology book and read about personality disorders
cluster c (dependent). You may get there an idea of why
many people like to depend on others even when the quality
of the relationship is not good. think you can find the
strength and courage to do so.
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• In saying this, I think about the many cases of
divorced women and single mothers who have made
it on their own, especially if they had the support of
their parents and friends. Rephrase it in a way that
shows how realistic it is to expect coping on your
own when you have people around you to support
you. If this does not make her optimistic then there
is something else which is problematic and you are
not aware of-it might be either parts of the
problems or her pessimistic way of thinkingmotivate her to think about it!
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What ehelp can offer
Our view
• A safe environment to
practice
• Familiarizes students
with the use of
computers on a daily
basis
Students’ view
• Gives them a extra
asset for their CV’s
• Addresses their
motivation and
suitability for
counseling
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Issues to consider
The idea of e-help can be used in other contexts:
• Peer consulting in business, programming,
web related issues etc
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BUT…
• Feedback needs to be smoother than usual and
much more motivating
• Supervision requires continuous learning of several
issues in your own area
• Inadequacy for dealing with a particular case/client
needs to be realized and made explicit
• Promotion needs to be in line with your resources
(demand may increase too sharply if people find it
popular)
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