Using Technology in Counseling

Technology is being used throughout our daily lives. It is used at home, at work, and in schools. A growing trend is the use of technology in the field of counseling. So much so, that the 2005 ACA Code of Ethics was updated to include a greatly expanded section about the ethical use of technology in counseling (Kaplan, 2006). According to Kaplan (2006), the section about ethical use of technology in counseling is now the largest section in the 2005 ACA Code of Ethics.

With that being said, counselors must begin to understand the variety of ways that technology can be utilized throughout the therapeutic process. We must become aware of the advantages of technology, as well as the possible pitfalls of using technology with clients.

According to Casey (1992), technology can be beneficial to counselors working with “At-Risk” students in the areas of “relationship building needs assessment and intervention”. This generation of children has been brought up in the digital age and technology provides an arena where they feel comfortable. When attempting to build relationships, playing video games together, or working on a web based project could ease the progression of building rapport with the child.

Once the relationship has be established and the child feels comfortable enough to proceed with counseling, technology can then be applied to helping the counselor assess the students areas of greatest need and then come up with an appropriate strategy for intervention. If applicable, technology can even be used as the intervention.

McLellan (1999, as cited by Van Horn & Myrick, 2001) notes that technology can be used not only with the students, but also with parents, and other counselors. A variety of technology applications were noted by Van Horn & Myrick (2001), including, but not limited to the use of e-mail, web-pages, video conferencing, and the use of online journals and distance education for professional development.

Counselors can offer immediate, or at least quicker, responses to other counselors and parents through e-mail. Web pages can be set up by counselors as a reference guide for parents and students to stay informed about what is going on in the school, community, and world and counselors can refer parents to sites that might be able to provide them with some information for understanding what their child might be going through.

Although technology has a place in counseling today, we must remember possible pitfalls that may be encountered due to the use of technology. In my opinion, one of the greatest potential problems, as noted by Casey (1992), is the possibility for counselors to become overly dependent on the use of technology and allow the therapeutic process to become depersonalized. As counselors, we must remember that each and every person we work with is an individual and requires individualized goals and interventions.

No matter how we decide to use technology as counselors, we must first and foremost think about the needs of the client. We must always keep in mind our obligation to comply with the 2005 ACA Code of Ethics. Technology has since been added to the code and we need to familiarize ourselves with this section to best serve our clients in the most ethical manner possible.

References

Casey, J. A. (1992, December). Counseling using technology with at-risk youth. eric digest. . Retrieved from http://www.ericdigests.org/1992-3/risk.htm

Kaplan, D. (2006, October 01). Counseling today online: ethics update. Retrieved from http://www.counseling.org/Publications/CounselingTodayArticles.aspx?AGuid=421e99b9-ec6c-4f46-a6c4-4f8b6101275a

Van Horn, S. M., & Myrick, R. D. (2001). Computer technology and the 21st century school counselor. Professional School Counseling, Retrieved from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KOC/is_2_5/ai_84152032




Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Using Technology In Counseling

View more presentations from Hardym4892.