Perspectives - Vol. 5, No. 4 - Webcounseling, Webtherapy: Reaching A Connected CommunityRon Huxley, LMFT Updated: Sep 1st 2000Try as they might, researchers and trend spotters will never discover the future of online WebTherapy and WebCounseling by analyzing it in their heads. The true direction of online WebTherapy and WebCounseling will be discerned by listening to our hearts or, more precisely, by listening to the hearts of the online consumer. This doesn't mean that we should throw ethical or legal standards for online WebTherapy and WebCounseling to the winds. On the contrary, these issues will have an important role to play in the future of WebTherapy and WebCounseling if the need of the consumer is to be well-served. A Harris poll stated recently that 60 million people searched for health information in 1999 and the ten most sought-after topics were mental-health information. Even the most conservative prediction suggests that millions more people will go online looking for the help they need but will not or cannot access through traditional means. The Surgeon General's office (1999) revealed that one in five Americans experience mental health problems every year. Additionally, 22 percent of the population has a diagnosable mental-health disorder and two-thirds of this group will never seek traditional help due to cost, social stigma, and inability to access resources. We can argue, using our intellectual powers, whether WebTherapy and WebCounseling is truly "relationship-based" and if it is legal to provide therapy for someone who lives outside the clinician's state of licensure. But let us not lose sight, in our debates, that we have an ethical obligation to the online consumer, now and in the near future, to meet his or her mental-Health needs. A story that illustrates this point is the Biblical parable of the "Good Samaritan": A man traveling along a highway, was robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the side of the road. A priest and a Levite came by (we would consider them professionals in our time) saw the man and refused to help. Then a Samaritan (whom we would consider a non-professional) came by, had mercy on the man and proceeded to heal and care for his wounds. This story is told in response to a question asked by an "expert in the law" who wanted to win his way to heaven based on his knowledge of the law rather than "loving his neighbor." To the legal expert, the wounded man was a subject to debate. To the robbers, the man was someone to use and exploit. To the religious leaders, he was a problem to be avoided. But to the Samaritan, the man on the highway was a human being in need of help. "Good Samaritans" are already online. Many people are already participating in online support groups, searching mental health information sites, and giving advice to one another based on personal experiences with mental health issues. This is what we would call the first generation of mental health services on the web. Both the parable and the statistics demonstrate that online counseling is an inevitable part of the future. It is up to us, with our offline knowledge and our skills, to provide the counseling, support and guidance to wounded people on the side of the information superhighway where they reside! Toward this end, we must act now, while we still have the ability to shape the standards for online counseling. We must put our heads together and develop a code of online behaviors and procedures for practicing WebTherapy and WebCounseling. Join us now in moving forward toward providing the knowledge, the skills and resources to this ever expanding "human" population. Ron Huxley, LMFT
Director, Professional Standards, sharingVillage, LLC
rehuxley@sharingvillage.com
http://sharingvillage.com Reference
Huxley, Ron (2000). Webcounseling, Webtherapy: Reaching A Connected Community. [Online]. Perspectives. [2000, July 1]. | 
