All rights reserved. Cybertherapy Social work practitioners engaged in clinical practice are hearing more and more about online counseling, e-therapy or cybertherapy. While these early adapters are primarily private practitioners, a few agencies are experimenting with using interactive web pages to provide at least psycho-educational feedback to their website visitors.
Clients can email a question to the agency and get a reply from the agency staff member.
These clients naturally turn to the technology itself to find solutions for these computer generated problems. Many professionals, generally psychologists and counselors, are making services available to assist these clients in need. More that a few uncredentialed quacks are practicing online too. As the technology pioneers encourage all social workers to recognize and embrace the potential benefits of online services, and as more and more clients seek out such services, social workers need to explore how and when cyberspace can be used effectively in meeting client needs for service. Advocates point out that social workers have long used the telephone to provide long distance service reaching clients in remote areas and the homebound.