The internet and me – Jacqui Atkinson – Supporting students as they return to the online classroom.

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Jacqui Atkinson – on being the OLT campus counsellor

Hello, it is my privilege to be the online counsellor for OLT. Students can have five sessions online with me paid for by OLT. They can chose which way we work, email, skype instant messaging or skype video. Some students choose to try a mix as we work so that they can experience the differences and similarities. One of the key differences when we work is that the pace can be variable, there are not set times and deadlines as there are with the course tasks.

When I was a student with OLT I decided to have some counselling online so that I could ‘feel’ what it was really like versus the role-plays of coursework. As I worked with my counsellor I was able to access something from childhood that had not emerged in face to face counselling. That was wonderful – I was hooked. This has led me to here as part of my work nowadays.

As I feel sure you know when as adults we go back into a learning situation we can feel very de-skilled and vulnerable. Past ‘stuff’ comes up just when we don’t want it to as we are so busy with the demands of the course on top of the rest of our lives. This coupled with the challenges of the course tasks and portfolio can seem overwhelming.

Working with students in this place, being alongside them when they feel for example ‘I cannot do this’, ‘I’m not good enough’ and helping them to regain their confidence is very rewarding.

I work in an integrative way, and love exploring the different ways each client likes to work, using visualisations, drawings, pictures metaphors as appropriate. Gestalt two chair work can be very effective online too. It is lovely when we end our work to have students say they are now more grounded and have gained new insights through our work. One even went as far as to say ‘I have had lots of f2f counselling but this has been the only counselling that has really helped’. For some the five sessions is enough, others choose to continue working with me and paying privately.

As a firm believer that to be able to work with others effectively we need to look after ourselves, self-care is often central to our work which of course is confidential. The only time I give any information to course leaders is when YOU ask me to confirm how many sessions we have had for your portfolio.

Warm wishes

Jacqui

OCTIA through the eyes of one of our tutors

OCTIA – Saturday 5^th 2014

Wow – what a day! For the first time, I was able to attend an OCTIA conference (I attended  the last two  conferences online). I must admit that I was exhausted when I got back home on the Saturday but only for good reasons: The conference was held at “The Watershed” – a lovely building with a great atmosphere, on Bristol’s waterside. As delegates we were looked after from the start with hot beverages followed by a good lunch and pastries at tea time – Avoiding eating too much for fear of becoming sleepy for the afternoon speakers was not easy!

Our delegate pack listed our speakers for the day, and we weren’t going to be disappointed – It looked to be a stimulating event.

The theme for this year’s conference was “Safety Online” – On one level we were treated to a presentation by Jacqui Atkinson on “Personal First Aid Kits”, where we had time to think about ourselves and  time to produce a self-care tool ;  I hadn’t realised just how many interests and coping strategies  I had “let go” over the years. I now have a new and refreshed personal tool kit and am grateful to Jacqui. As we know, our own self care is important if we want to be safe and effective counsellors – It is the knowing and then the doing!

On another level we heard Tim Bond talk about “Counselling futures: ethical opportunities or threats from working online”. It was interesting to see just how many members in the chat room said that they found Tim’s talk “frightening”. I found it quite the opposite. Tim’s information and advice on technological changes in online counselling, its potential dangers and pitfalls, provided a good update with a balanced to “be cautiously aware” approach. As Tim, and other speakers suggested, there may further changes and challenges provided by the online platform, between one OCTIA conference and the next. To put this all into perspective, a delegate and myself had a discussion about how clients can become very wary when they hear voices from the next door room during face to face counselling –“ if I can hear them, can they hear me?”  So, in reality, how much safer is face to face counselling than online counselling?

The day provided a great chance for networking – I met a number of interesting people who shared my passion for young people and online counselling and have been able to make a connection with them on Linkedin since my return home.

A Facebook Page for those attending the conference was opened on the day too (this is a closed group) – It will be interesting to see the development of this page over the next few months and through to next year’s conference.

No doubt, OCTIA 2015 will be as good as this year’s – we now wait to hear about next year’s theme.