The August issue of Counseling Today explores how computer-related technology and the World Wide Web has influenced, altered and enhanced the helping professions. CT asked several American Counseling Association members from across the professional spectrum to discuss the ways in which technology is affecting their professional lives. Here are their replies in a “web exclusive” supplement to the August cover feature.
Erin Mason
Assistant Professor, DePaul University
13 years in the profession
What tech tools do you find most helpful?
I’m constantly impressed with colleagues’ creativity regarding technology. Websites, podcasts, Webcast, listservs, hybrid courses, multi-media presentations, software, etc. assist in making the counseling world more accessible on a number of levels.
As a former school counselor I especially enjoyed technologies that allowed me to easily organize data and present to students and staff. The School Counseling Accountability and Task Analysis Program (SCAATAP) by Kim Holloway and Dave Dresser, SurveyMonkey.com, Excel and Tim Poynton’s EZAnalyze were daily tools in my school counseling practice and I regularly recommend them to others. Dr. Russell Sabella has a fantastic site devoted to technology for school counselors; SchoolCounselor.com is a must for staying current on software tips, presentation ideas, cyber safety and much, much more.
What do counselors need to know about technology to be “in touch” with certain segments of the population?
Counselors working with children and adolescents should be at least familiar with commonly used websites and communication tools such as MySpace, Facebook, instant messaging, blogging and texting. Technology in the younger generation goes way beyond email and evolves at exponential rates. Even if counselors don’t use such tools themselves, it is important to know the lingo so as to help clients. Most children and teens are happy to provide explanations to less tech-savvy adults!
What are some multicultural implications related to technology?
The main multicultural implications related to technology rest on economic disparity. Despite the pervasiveness of technology, there are many clients who do not have access to technological devices or services. Whether it is finding resources for schools projects, locating pertinent career or medical information, staying connected to overseas loved ones or dealing with a broken down car, inequities of technology continue.
Anything else you would like to add?
Being savvy is essential when it comes to technology. We are in the information age and technology permeates our daily lives as well as those of our clients. The real challenge is in keeping up; one can be savvy one day and an amateur the next.
Sally Gelardin
Counselor Educator, University of San Francisco
13 years in the profession
What tech tools do you find most helpful?
Open source web platforms, such as http://www.lifeworkps.com/sallyg (for setting up personal e-profile, e-communities, blogging, e-networking, hyperlinks, setting up and teaching eCDF curriculum), Mindjet MindManager, Wikis, Wikipedia, online dictionaries and online encyclopedias,
What are your thoughts about online counseling?
You have to be meticulous about confidentiality and building trust with client. Client needs to be able to be comfortable with online assessment tools and communicating by distance. Counselors need to be very specific in correspondence and must be able to “listen” to clients by reading what they write.
Anything else you would like to add?
Marilyn Harryman and I wrote an article for Jackie Allen’s upcoming book on 21st Century School Counseling (CAPs Press, will be published in 2008). Our chapter was on “Using Cybertools To Reach More Students.” It’s loaded with valuable information for counselor educators who teach K-12 school counselors.
Timothy Baker
School Counselor, Levy County, Florida
3 years in the profession
How has technology impacted your professional life?
Technology makes it possible for school counselors to act more autonomously. When school counselors are less reliant on administrative and clerical staff for day-to-day operations, they have much more freedom and flexibility to plan a developmental guidance program and to pursue school counseling duties. Effective use of technology lets school counselors interact directly with electronic information resources (for example, teacher gradebooks and students’ academic records) thus eliminating the need for a middle broker, freeing up guidance resources for high-priority tasks.
I think it would have been very difficult for me to have accomplished much counseling in the school setting had I not been able to access these information resources directly.
How important is it for counselors to be “tech savvy”?
School counselors who are savvy with the world-wide web are also more likely to locate community support resources that serve students and families. At other times, the ability to advocate for specific student populations, such as students with disabilities, may hinge on the counselor’s direct access to the language of state laws and administrative code, which often is available on-line. The ability to cite specific statutes and precedents is a tremendous asset to a school counselor who, while working within the system, envisions change.
How are counselors and/or counselor educators using technology to their advantage?
It varies… There seems to be a lot of emphasis on rote skill performance, with only a few individuals in the flock going on to apply the concepts in new and appropriate ways. When we talk about “counselors using technology to their advantage,” I suspect that most counselors are forced to use some technology applications that bring few actual benefits, such as filling out a form on a web site instead of having the option to mail in a paper form. For change to be accepted, there must be tangible benefits. Rather than know how many counselors are using e-mail or IM, for example, I would rather want to know how the cost-to-benefit ratio of technology is being perceived. Frankly, if our computer applications don’t do something we’ve always wanted and that we can’t live without, then we probably should quit using them and try something different.
What tech tools do you find most helpful (any specific programs or ways of communicating, teaching)?
I use spreadsheets for analysis of student performance data. Most of what I use are products from the Microsoft Office Professional suite, though that is largely because of the organization’s IT policy which emphasizes security and reliability at the cost of somewhat restricting availability to software alternatives.
Max Hines
Mental Health Consultant, Nursing Homes in Minneapolis-St. Paul areas
More than 30 years in the profession
How has technology impacted your professional life?
I have taught and learned through on line counseling courses. I use technology to consult regularly with other providers for my clients. My billings are completed electronically. I use the telephone to involve family members in clients’ therapy. There are examples of how technology enriches my professional life as a mental health counselor.
How important is it for counselors to be “tech savvy”?
It keeps me from becoming antiquated, both practically and symbolically. I find that younger clients connect with me better if they’re tech savvy and find that I am, too.
What are your thoughts about online counseling?
I think this can be a very useful supplement to in person sessions and can be a medium for meaningful sessions for persons unable to have in person sessions due to geographic distance, immobility, etc, especially if the client is someone who engages meaningfully through the written (email) or spoken (telephonic) word. Of course, confidentiality is an important issue. Secure email, scrambled (then unscrambled) messages, and land line telephones help address confidentiality. The ethical consideration involves addressing the best interests of the client, balancing the pros vs. the cons when considering online counseling sessions.
What client issues are counselors seeing that are a direct or indirect result of living in a technological age, and have you had any experience counseling clients struggling with those issues?
Over time, we are becoming more and more connected to one another through technology. At the same time, technology breaks down the contextual connections between us–creating a medium devoid of time, place, and shared experiences.
What do counselors need to know about technology to be “in touch” with certain segments of the population? It’s helpful if counselors are familiar with and conversant in the mediums in which their clients communicate.
Anything else you would like to add?
Live audio-video teleconferencing is available in most corporations. If we embrace live audio-video in our private lives, it’s a whole new world with possibilities for live counseling at a distance. This has much potential for counseling services becoming more available in rural and remote areas, as well as providing an alternative for clients who want to see a counselor with a specialty not available in their area.
Norm Dasenbrook and Bob Walsh
Private Practice in Chicago, ACA Private Practice Columnists
30 years in the profession
How has technology impacted your professional life?
Increased communication, billing, websites, advertising, information sharing and gathering for counselors and clients.
How important is it for counselors to be “tech savvy”?
Counseling is a profession where one can get by with little or no “tech savvy”. However, technology can enhance one’s practice and will be a necessity in the near future for electronic exchange of information.
How are counselors and/or counselor educators using technology to their advantage?
As mentioned above in terms of information, billing, advertising and marketing and networking with colleagues and professional counseling organizations.
What tech tools do you find most helpful?
Software such as Quicken, billing programs with electronic billing feature, listservs, etc.
What are your thoughts about online counseling?
While it is growing and will continue to grow…great for rural areas and clients who travel extensively, but we are not big fans. We prefer to see clients in a traditional office setting.
J. Barry Mascari,
Assistant Professor/Chair, Counselor Education Department
Project Director, NJ Center for the Advancement of School Counseling
28 years in the profession
How are counselors and/or counselor educators using technology to their advantage?
I think we are not quite there yet in terms of using technology to our advantage. I could envision a time when the professional disclosure and informed consent will be delivered in a video format so the prospective client can meet the counselor without scheduling the first session and if they like what they see, make an appointment. This will be part of the virtual marketplace that seems to be more predominant in services other than counseling. Again, if you go on the internet and shop for counselors now you will discover a lot of unlicensed people writing clever ads that the public do not see as deceptive. There are various types of predators on the Internet, not all just connected to child exploitation – some relate to counseling services. In the AASCB brochure we said, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Unfortunately, people are vulnerable to exploitation.
Another area is the email – clients sending brief communications to counselors. Again, these are filled with pitfalls – they could become time consuming counseling sessions in a chat format so the counselor needs to set some clear boundaries.The pager is virtually dead, between cell phone and handheld communication devices – text, voicemail, phone calls all allow contact.
What tech tools do you find most helpful?
Actually email is great. Since I purchased a Blackberry I find myself texting more since you can chat without disrupting some events by sending a message quickly. SMS connects from a different server. In planning to do disaster response work my son reminded me that the SMS system may be operating, as it did on 9/11 when the phones were not working. The “why” is over my head but it makes having a multifunction device more important. I like the Blackberry, and maybe one day it may be an iPhone, because it was getting really difficult to carry around a cell, a Palm and the laptop for email communication; now, they are merged into one and the office is mobile. I can sit on a train and read and respond to email, find someone’s information in my address book, and Google (the new verb) something. I also have a GPS on the handheld – one more device so when I am lost going to some training I can find it.
What are your thoughts about online counseling?
I have some serious concerns about online counseling because in many ways it is the frontier without any real law enforcement in town. As a former president of AASCB I collected data that demonstrated many states are “thinking about regulating online counseling” but most currently have nothing currently in place. One of my early roles with AASCB was leading the SubCommission that developed the “Best Practices” for Internet counseling as a brochure for use by clients and counselors. I suspect there are some places in the country where exclusively online counseling might be necessary. I also think that online counseling needs to use a video camera since there are all kinds of identity problems, and we all know seeing the client face-to-face has benefits in terms of the human connection. A colleague and I have done some literature reviews and many of the studies are about client satisfaction or studies that used no comparison groups; we will keep looking. In the mean time I don’t think we can say for certain that when using Internet counseling there are specific evidence-based practices; as professionals we are in uncharted waters.
What are some multicultural implications related to technology?
One of my biggest concerns is the affordability of technology and the possibility of a technology gap. Until the $100 lap top project comes to a neighborhood near you. Many students, particularly new immigrants and their families, are left out of the Internet revolution. When I worked in a city district we used some grant funds to add extra computers to the public library so our students and parents could access the Internet for scholarship and college search. We probably need to reach out to parents to help them know where these facilities are available. Also, parents who are struggling with English now have another area of concern – what are their kids looking at or saying over the Internet?