Therapy Online: A Practical Guide

The plethora of online services now available has led to a growing demand for practitioners to look beyond traditional face-to-face therapy and take advantage of the flexibility which email and the Internet can offer them and their clients. This guide gives up-to-the minute information and research, ethical and legal advice, on the practicalities of setting up or joining a service, and the essential therapeutic skills needed to be an effective online therapist. Writing for an international audience, the authors discuss the issues for practitioners using the Internet today, as well as in the future. Basing their study on published empirical research, they address: text-based therapeutic interventions such as email, Internet Relay Chat and forums, from the perspective of different theoretical orientations, illustrated with a full length case study; new Ethical Framework for using Technology in Mental Health; online supervision, online research, group therapy online; the 'business' of setting up in private practice or e-clinics; and, other therapeutic uses of technology including use of video therapy, mobile SMS, telephone therapy, Virtual Reality environments, gaming and computerised CBT. The authoritative guide to all aspects of being an online therapist, this practical text is a vital addition to any therapist's library. It will also be valuable reading for anyone training to be a counsellor or psychotherapist in our increasingly 'electronic' world.