Online Therapy

Online Therapy

Patricia White

BSHS/352

February 14, 2011

Dr. Don Lliff

Introduction

While online therapy is not for everyone for some individuals it is a life saver. Many people view counseling as a form of weakness. Many men feel intimidated, embarrass and cannot bare the thought of telling an outside individual that he has a problem. This sort of feeling is because men are taught at a very young age that he should not cry, show emotions and is suppose to take on the role as the bread winner and man of the house. In this paper I will be discussing the different sites that offer online counseling and how professional and state regulatory boards view online counseling. I will also be discussing some related ethical, informed consent and confidentiality concerns with online counseling.

One of the online therapy sites I found was a site called Serenity online. The type of service they provide are online counseling: Chat Therapy and Email Counseling. The facility is run by Carl Bendedict, a Licensed Clinical Professional (LCPC). Carl office is located in the state of Maryland. On Carl’s website you can check his credentials by clicking on, my counseling credentials which gives you his credential status. Carl’s website helps individuals suffering from depression, anxiety, addiction, grief, and other mix emotions.

Carl’s philosophy for internet counseling is that through active listening and he strives to understand individual’s life from the inside out. Carl basis his philosophy on the development of emotional intelligence. Carl states that he is ethically and legally bound to his client’s confidentiality. Client’s records are kept in a secured place according to professional guidelines. For clients using the online sessions Serenity has a Paypal Security Services for confidential information and for the privacy act he they used AIM Pro that is controlled by using a password. This service is controlled by a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol...