lecture 10 on cybertherapy

Week 10's lecture on Cybertherapy was taken by Debra Beattie. She spoke about things like kids helpline, and how they now operate over the internet. Kids can log into kids helpline chatrooms and have internet conversations with counsellors. Debra said that they were fairly controversial and had been subject to criticism. However, I think they are a great idea, and there was plenty of things said in the lecture that proves their success. As the internet is generally a less-personal approach, I think kids, and people in general, would feel so much more comfortable talking in a chat room. That way, they wouldn't be nervous to say things that are harder to say to an actual voice, or if they were worried they would start crying over the phone, that wouldn't be a concern for them on the net. Debra has researched this, and found facts that support why these services are good. For example, the counselled felt safer online and were more likely to stay on the net and talk than the phone. Also, there's a whole lot of things on the net that can be done that can't be done on the phone. Things like e-messages can be sent from the counsellor to the counselled, of affirmations and things like that, so it's not as if they just had one conversation then the counselled is on their own. Debra also introduced the concept of art therapy, where the counselled draw how they feel, which also allows the counsellor to see what the counselled's issue is, sooner than when on the phone. The example was a picture someone had drawn of her and her mum on one side, then her dad alone on the other side. That's pretty insightful and helpful to the counsellor. I think if it helps people, which it obviously does, then it's definitely worth doing.

We also watched a film by Debra called 'The Wrong Crowd,' which I thought was interesting. It had narration throughout it, of the character in it, and it was about Debra's life, I think. It explored themes like police corruption and brutality, and was set in Brisbane from I think the 1950's or so onwards. Anyway, I enjoyed it.