Summary: <p>Etherapy Clinical Principles & Treatment Modalities<br> Instructor: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes<br> Podcast Host: Counselor Toolbox and Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery<br> Objectives<br> ~ Review the different modalities and most common usages in counseling<br> ~ Identify potential clinical and ethical issues<br> ~ Learn about at least 3 unique ideas for doing online counseling<br> ~ Define Treatment Structure<br> Text Reading<br> ~ Review Online Counseling: A Handbook for Mental Health Professionals<br> ~ http://www.netlingo.com/<br> Modalities<br> ~ Emails<br> ~ Blogs<br> ~ Secure Forms<br> ~ Forums<br> ~ Chat rooms<br> ~ IM/Tweets<br> ~ Video Chat<br> ~ Second Life<br> ~ Good ole telephone<br> Tweets<br> ~ This is a great way to push out positive thoughts for the day.<br> ~ I have used this for morning focus meditations and evening roundup meditations.<br> ~ It is NOT secure, so no PHI here. This includes graduation announcements or congrats.<br> ~ Good way to get the word out about you and your approach.<br> ~ This is not a therapy approach.</p> <p>Emails<br> ~ Technical<br> ~ Use a secure service.<br> ~ If you are not using a secure service, then make sure your email address does not give away who you are.<br> ~ Services offering Secure Email: Hushmail, ZixMail,<br> ~ Are considered part of the clinical record and can be subponeaed just like progress notes.<br> ~ Provide clients with a response time frame<br> ~ Benefits<br> ~ Can provide a running “diary” of progress<br> ~ Are excellent for people who like to write and ponder. (Introverts and Reflective learners)</p> <p>Email Cont…<br> ~ Drawbacks<br> ~ Can miss a lot when you do not see the rate of responding (increase in rate or errors in typing etc)<br> ~ Gives patients time to go back and edit which may remove some of the underlying meanings<br> ~ Not appropriate for patients in crisis<br> ~ Formats<br> ~ Diary—freeform<br> ~ Diary—Structured<br> ~ Worksheet completion (i.e. CBT, relapse prevention)<br> ~ Questions to ponder (i.e. Miracle Question)<br> ~ Activities to do (digital collage)</p> <p>Blogs<br> ~ Provide information to people<br> ~ Not secure or HIPAA compliant unless you make them that way<br> ~ A secure blog can be a good place for clients to journal as an option to daily emails.<br> ~ Excellent activity to inform patients about conditions, new treatments and new programs<br> ~ Excellent for patients who have something to say to the world—Awareness/Advocacy Campaigns</p> <p>Blogs cont…<br> ~ Secure Blog Formats<br> ~ Video Blog:<br> ~ Can be used for daily check-ins for clients—excellent for addictions, eating disorders and major depression<br> ~ Blog with pictures<br> ~ Can be used to as a means of creative and therapeutic expression for some clients<br> ~ Can also be created like an online scrap-book with pages for: What means the most to me, My Goals, My accomplishments, About Me (Best with teens)<br> ~ Text Blog<br> ~ Can be used as a running diary<br> ~ Blogs must be regularly checked<br> ~ Rules for appropriate use of blogs must be set forth</p> <p>Forums<br> ~ Forums are a good place to ask a question to a group and let them provide answers<br> ~ Forums must be moderated<br> ~ Appropriate forum behavior must be communicated and maintained<br> ~ Group members can see each others responses and comment and/or learn<br> ~ More than some other modalities, it is imperative to be clear about appropriate behavior in the forums.<br> ~ If you do not have something nice or constructive to say, don’t say anything at all<br> ~ This is not a place for Borderline behavior<br> Secure Forms & Worksheets<br> ~ Useful to get information quickly such as intakes, client’s week in review and CBT or DBT worksheets<br> ~ Can be created as fillable PDFs and securely emailed to you.<br> ~ Used as an adjunct to therapy for people who like </p>
