the various duties of an OLT director

This week I spent an interesting day in London, being one of the counsellors and supervisors for a series of vignettes which will be used to illustrate issues and dilemmas in the 4^th edition of Tim Bond’sStandards and Ethics for Counselling in Action (due to be published by Sage next Spring).

In the book there will be links to the online vignettes, which is a really exciting idea. Obviously it was a bit nerve wracking doing the filming, hoping that I didn’t make any absolutely dreadful interventions, and that we covered the issues which Tim needs to illustrate the dilemmas and issues. However, once I got over that, I really enjoyed the day. It was fascinating to watch how the needs of the film crew and those of the profession were balanced, so that the final result will hopefully be seamless and useful!

Those of you who know me will be amused that my first lot of earrings caused problems – surprisingly not because they ‘dangled’ too much, but because the noise from them moving was picked up by the sound tracking! I wore more discreet ones for the other scenes.

We filmed between 10 and 15 minutes for each scenario, but it will eventually be just a few minutes. It was frustrating to be about to give a response which seemed to encapsulate what we were about, when the filming was cut, but of course the idea is not to actually do a whole session. There was a ‘proper’ actor for some of the scenes, and another counsellor too. They were both great to work with.

What with the changes of clothes for each scenario, the extremely helpful and professional film crew, and Tim’s input, it felt as if I had hit the high life for a short time! I bet when I eventually see the vignettes, I will think ‘They cut my best lines’……. But that’s probably true for Maggie Smith too, one of my favourite actors! Seriously, it was a great experience and if you ever get a chance to do the same, grab it both hands. I am so grateful to Tim and Sage for inviting me to be involved. It made me reflect on my work and think again about a number of important issues.

By Anne Stokes OLT director

OLT experiences at the UKCP Psychotherapy 2.0 conference

There was a large OLT presence at the UKCP conference about psychotherapy and technology in London on June 27th. So we have asked those who were there to share with you their experience of the day. It is well worth to attend these conferences either online or at the venue.

 

Gill Jones – OLT director

“Immediately I was inside I could feel a warm friendly atmosphere. Everyone was very welcoming and the administrator, Lydia, deserves a medal for meeting my ‘needs’ and checking to see everything was going smoothly.  Also great to meet OLTers (current and past) and to hand them our little button badge logos to wear.  Warmth and friendship sum up the day for me.”

Olivia Djouadi – Student

Online counselling has now made a strong appearance within the UKCP circle with its recent conference called Psychotherapy 2.0: Where psychotherapy and technology meet. Many of the speakers and attendees both in person and online were part of the OLT – Online Training for Counsellors Ltd group. Some of those from OLT had been in contact for years but were meeting in person for the first time. Anne Stokes, who presented many of the online programmes, spoke passionately about online work with a variety of speakers throughout the day. Mieke Havemann did an exemplary job of helping the segments of the day to run smoothly. Gill Jones assisted in running one of the Parallel workshops enlightening and discussing with the group that attended. The people that attended were either familiar with online work or were interested in learning how it can be used therapeutically.

There were also a number of short introductions in connection to online counselling; three OLT students spoke of their experiences and possibilities with online work Philippa Weitz, who was also conference chair, gave a talk on confidentiality and also introduced her new book called Psychotherapy 2.0 with many of the chapters written by some of those that attended. Jo Sharpen introduced her work with teenage survivors of abusive situations. I, Olivia Djouadi presented on chronic illness and online work so those that can’t attend in person can still get counselling.

As well as a strong OLT presence at the conference we had Dr. Susan Simpson introducing many areas of online therapy with her work in the UK. She also introduced another online counsellor who assists in counselling a national sports team. Janet Weitz, who is chair of the UKCP, gave the closing remarks as well as assisting throughout the day. It was an amazing day with many sharing their experiences so we could all learn from each other. As the day continued it was as if a whole hallway of doors had opened up each with huge possibilities with online work.

Mieke Haveman – Diploma course tutor

There was a lovely atmosphere present on the day. Everyone on the organising committee had worked really hard to make this a great day. What I loved was that the people watching online had not been forgotten. When the people at the venue were off doing workshops, there was a parallel program for the online people with various interviews. For me the day flew by and all the speakers had something interesting to say. I was lucky to manage the chat room so I could speak with both the people at the venue and those online. A great day meeting new people and old friends.

Phillippa Weitz – OLT student and conference organiser

“I spent two years preparing for this day It was one of the proudest days of my life Of course it was team work and none of this would have happened without the team.

The heart of the conference was the online therapeutic alliance and Susan Simpson has provided us with a feast …. It will take me a long time to digest this but this talk alone is enough to provide any doubter with evidence that working online therapeutically works, and maybe even better than F2F!

We also made good headway with looking at security and confidentiality …. Without some of the previous hysteria. We were able to work from facts provided by both Microsoft and the Information Commissioner’s Office. I hope to continue working on this subject and turn it into some useful principles of good practice.

I loved the inspiration and dedication of everyone involved in the day …. And we were so lucky to have so many OLTers with us,  and I’m wearing my badge with pride alongside my Rotary badge!”

Anne Stokes – OLT Director

Working all day in a studio with someone you have never met before could have been a huge challenge! However, I was very fortunate that my co-host was Aaron Balick, author of ‘The Psychodynamics of Social Networking’.  We had such an interesting day, texting with the online delegates and interviewing a number of people on a wide range of areas of concern about working online. These ranged from the Online Therapeutic Relationship to the practical areas of legal and indemnity issues. It was fun, and exhausting in equal parts.