Author Archives: Dawn Schell

Wildflowers Mindfulness

Posted by: Dawn Schell on mai 9, 2016 10:28 am

Need another app to help you meditate?

No?

Well you might want to reconsider when you see the new Wildflowers Mindfulness app from Mobio Interactive.[1] This beautifully designed new app was released on May 2, 2016 and is free for the first month.

The aim of Wildflowers Mindfulness is to assist individuals with developing a mindfulness practice. Research has shown that practicing mindfulness can improve both physical and mental health. It takes practice to really become comfortable with it and make it work for you. Given how busy our lives can be it isn’t always easy to make the time to practice. It’s like lots of things that we know are good for us and that we “should” do. Sometimes a little help is needed! That’s where an app like Wildflowers can come in handy.

There are interactive lessons on mindfulness, a library of meditations, and a journal to track your progress. The creators of this app have also designed a feature that makes meditation suggestions based on your mood. The page lists a number of different feelings and you can pick the one that is the closest fit and the app will suggest a variety of meditations for you to try.

One of the really fun features is you can use the camera on your mobile device to calculate your heart rate. That’s right. I said, the camera! You can use this feature to calculate your heart rate both before and after a meditation and see how well you were able to relax.

Give it a try today and as the creators say, “Make friends with your mind”.

***

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate of Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

[1] http://www.wildflowersmindfulness.com/#home

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Changing how you feel with technology

Posted by: Dawn Schell on avril 18, 2016 3:57 pm

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Wearable technology gets more interesting all the time. I’ve talked about all sorts of devices from ones we can wear that track our fitness/health goals to ones that show us our mood state. Next up for discussion is wearable technology that can change our mood.

Yup. That’s right. Don’t like how you are feeling? Press this button and change it.

Okay – it’s not actually that simple. Nor do these technological devices cover the whole range of human emotion. What they do alter is our feelings of alertness/energy and calm.

doppel [1] is not yet on the market though it has been in development for the past three years. doppel makers say the device “works with your body’s natural response to rhythm to change how you feel”. It looks like a watch and the principle is you will feel a vibration or pulse against your wrist that then can change your emotional state.

This level of vibration is set by you. The doppel wristband is connected to an app that allows you to monitor your resting heart rate and then you control whether you want the heart-beat like vibration on doppel to go faster or slower. “A fast rhythm helps you to feel more alert and a slower rhythm helps you to feel calm”.

A study of the effects of doppel on alertness was done by Royal Holloway, University of London.[2] The investigators state “Overall, the observed results suggest that doppel use may have a tangible effect on behavioral performance as well as subjective experience during task performance”. Interesting. I look forward to seeing more research on this.

The creators say that doppel is the next step in wearable technology. “By working with your body to change how you feel, instead of simply monitoring, doppel brings together well-being, mindfulness and technology”.

Thync[3] is similar to doppel in principle though you wear it on your head. The creators of Thync say that it “works by signaling nerves on the head and neck to act on the brain’s adrenaline system. These nerves then activate your body’s natural state of energy or calm”. This device uses what they refer to as “vibes”, which are “low energy waveforms that stimulate nerves on your head and neck”. You can choose Energy or Calm vibes.

Thync says their team of neuroscientists and engineers have done years of clinical research on this process. You can also read reviews from Thync users on their website. Should you wish to check it out you can purchase one for $200US.

As with all other wearable technologies I can see many potential uses for our clients and I also have many questions about them. For example, is there a benefit to clients if they learn to meditate and calm their own minds rather than rely on a device to send signals to their body? Or does it make any difference if the outcome is that people feel calmer, less anxious?

Lots to think about here!

[1] http://www.doppel.london/

[2]http://static1.squarespace.com/static/54aff119e4b0a7c65b7a4750/t/568ed5954bf118d869797323/1452201370648/Investigating+the+Effect+of+doppel+on+Alertness+%282%29.pdf

[3] http://www.thync.com/

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate counsellor with Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

It’s Back! The Long-awaited sequel of The Psychology of the Internet

Posted by: Dawn Schell on avril 5, 2016 12:36 pm

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Think back. Way back to the early days of the Internet. Can you remember back that far? Think about squealing dial-up modem sounds, forum discussions and your first email account. A lot has changed since then (which is perhaps the hugest understatement I have ever made).

First written in 1999, The Psychology of the Internet[1] relied on classic studies in social science to inform our understanding of how the digital environment might affect human behaviour. The author, Patricia Wallace, wrote the original edition in an era of Internet pioneering. She was aware that cyberspace was “already having fundamental effects on human behaviour” and she wanted to better understand the hows and whys.

The original edition was a classic in its own right and has formed the basis for a great deal of the research and understanding we have of the Internet and human behaviour.

Wallace states that while these classic studies she relied on in the original edition are still relevant the research into the psychological aspects of the Internet has grown exponentially since 1999. The new edition, released this year, discusses, in a balanced way, “what we actually know from research about the psychology of the Internet, citing both positives and negatives and raising many new questions”.

Given that cyberspace is still a relatively new human environment it behooves us to do our best to understand it. Wallace shares research about how“… different kinds of human behaviour unfold in many corners of cyberspace, and why online environments can affect us in surprising ways.”

This well written, highly informative book includes topics such as: online persona; group dynamics; online aggression; interpersonal attraction; altruism; gaming; growing up online and much more.

I think this book is a must read given how much the Internet has become a part of all our lives. As Wallace says, “we need knowledge about how this technology affects us and how we can, in turn, affect it.”

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate of Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

[1] Wallace, P. (2016). The Psychology of the Internet Second edition. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

The New “Mood Rings”

Posted by: Dawn Schell on mars 4, 2016 2:09 pm

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Remember Mood rings in the 70s? Okay, maybe you don’t. It was a long time ago after all. The idea behind a mood ring was that the “gem” would change colour depending on your mood. The change in colour was actually dependent on temperature. For those of us with cold hands our mood ring always indicated we were “anxious or stressed”. Suffice it to say they were kinda fun for a while but didn’t really indicate how we were feeling.

While the mood ring fad faded decades ago the idea of being able to detect our emotions using biometric data hasn’t changed. There are numerous devices on the market today that say they can detect your emotional state through your breathing, heart rate, etc. and the aim of all of these devices is to help you be less stressed.

Here’s a few:

Spire[1] is a beautifully designed tracking device that is meant to be unobtrusive. The purpose? As their website says, “by monitoring your breathing, Spire figures out when you’re calm, focused, or tense, and provides you with guidance and exercises when it matters most”. Linked with your mobile devices when Spire senses tension it sends reminders to breathe and calm oneself.

Being[2] is a watch-like device that “maps your moods, activities and sleep”. The creators say Being “provides health and stress insights for more mindful living” and also teaches ways to “transform bad stress into good stress”.

What’s missing for me is the contextual information about physical symptoms. What’s going on when one’s breathing or heart rate is increasing or temperature is dropping? What am I thinking or doing? Who am I with? Where am I?

This next device, Feel[3] is not yet available. The designers call it “the first wristband that recognizes and tracks human emotions throughout the day”. Feel is linked to your mobile phone where it sends the biometric information. What’s different here is Feel tracks your activities, who you meet and environmental conditions. Feel also says they offer a “range of recommendations” to improve your emotional wellbeing – both short and long term.

Finally, let me introduce the new mood ring- Moodmetric[4]. Moodmetric is called “smart jewelry for emotional wellbeing”. It’s way more attractive than the old mood rings. The designers state, “the Moodmetric ring measures the autonomous nervous system signals that can be used to understand emotional reactions and improve quality of life.” Like the other devices there are options within the associate app for calming one’s mind and interacting with and learning from one’s patterns of emotional levels.

Do I really need wearable technology to tell me how I am feeling or to serve as a reminder to pause, breathe, relax? Well, no. However, I can see how useful these devices could be to help people pay more attention to physical signs of stress and to learn ways to reduce tension in the moment. I would hope that it would also help people learn to spot those signs of rising tension earlier and empower them to pay attention to their bodies, minds and emotions without the aid of a device.

As I consider all of these devices I must admit I am equal parts curious and skeptical. Which means I will be paying close attention to the research and reviews.

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate counsellor with Worldwide Therapy Online http://www.therapyonline.ca

[1] https://www.spire.io/

[2] https://www.zensorium.com/being#introduction

[3] http://www.myfeel.co/

[4] http://www.moodmetric.com/

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

One Step at a Time

Posted by: Dawn Schell on février 16, 2016 1:36 pm

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From smartwatches to fitness tracking devices wearable technology has come a long way. You can buy glucose detecting contact lens, clothes that correct your posture, running shorts that give you real time audio feedback, leggings that measure your shape and make clothes shopping easier, heated trousers that warm up your muscles, and all manner of clothing and devices that track biometric information. You can learn how many calories you’ve burned, how well (or not) you slept last night, where, how far and how fast you ran/walked/cycled/swam. The list goes on and new items are being created even as we speak.

I have a lot of questions about wearable technologies, especially the ones designed to improve our fitness and health. Do they actually work? Are people becoming fitter? Are they motivating?

An article in Scientific American[1] states, “These devices are succeeding not because of their scientific qualities but because of their motivational ones…What the fitness bands do is to keep these issues front-of-mind. There it is, every time you turn on your phone: the latest stats on your progress. Most also show the results of friends who wear the same brand; it’s fitness through humiliation”.

Well, the last part of that certainly rings true when I think of my friends who own these devices. The competition can be fierce when it comes to step counting!

There is some contradictory research about these devices. Some researchers claim that pedometers are as motivating as fancy fitness trackers while others claim the opposite. Some claim that people stop using the devices in a relatively short period of time while other researchers find that users like and keep using them. Are there long term effects? Do the behaviours these devices are designed to encourage stick long after we stop wearing the device? There are also questions about the privacy and security of the data that is collected.

It’s worth it to keep asking ourselves these questions and to think about ways in which we, as counsellors, may be able to use these technologies in our work with clients.

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate of Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

[1] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fitness-trackers-are-everywhere-but-do-they-work/

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Making Team Work Easier – Virtual Meetings

Posted by: Dawn Schell on janvier 29, 2016 2:08 pm

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Please tell me I’m not the only one who remembers what a big deal it was in the 90s to host a virtual meeting. I can remember a provincial meeting that was scheduled months in advance, a room full of thick wires and cables and much crossing of fingers hoping the technology would work and we would be able to see and hear each other. I also remember feeling very excited about how this technology could change our ability to work with each other over distances. The expense though was prohibitive. Though we could meet and collaborate virtually we didn’t often get to do so.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago. There was one virtual meeting platform I piloted for use with groups that regularly crashed. There were other problems too. We would be able to see some of the participants but not others. We could hear some people and not others. The longer we were online the more the difficulties piled up. Fussing with the technological issues took way too much of our time together. We rapidly gave up on that system and decided the timing wasn’t right yet for online group meetings. The concept was there but the technology did not yet meet our needs.

More recently, I have been experimenting with two different systems for virtual meetings.

Wiggio.com is a free online toolkit designed to “make it easy to work in groups”. The Desire2Learn company created this website based on their own frustrations with working in groups.

In Wiggio you can host virtual meetings conference calls, upload files, create polls and to-do lists as well as send email, text and voice messages to your group. It’s straight-forward and doesn’t require you to be super tech-savvy. The company reports that over 150,000 groups are using their website. Businesses, sports teams, event planners, and non-profits are examples of groups that have made great use of this site.

Now, that doesn’t mean it’s a perfect system yet. There are still some technical issues that arise. However Wiggio has a lot going for it in terms of virtual meeting space.

VSee.com is another virtual group meeting option I have been exploring. VSee, the world’s largest telemedicine platform, ” was created by a team of Stanford University human computer interaction scientists and network experts in order to overcome the limitations of traditional videoconference tools”. They wanted to create a platform that would “work over any network, and require minimal training”. The applications that it is being used for in terms of telemedicine are amazing.

In terms of my own use I stick to the basic free option for secure video chat. Though it’s not relevant in the context I am using VSee for at the moment it is worth noting that VSee is HIPAA compliant. [1] You can check out more about their data privacy here – https://vsee.com/hipaa

Once again when we have been meeting in VSee there have been technical issues at times and so one group has chosen to use the back up of a teleconference at the same time as being able to see each other via this website.

Of course these days there are multiple options for hosting meetings. They certainly are easier to use than they used to be and less expensive too! What I appreciate most about these is the opportunity to connect and collaborate with colleagues from across Canada.

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate of Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

[1] HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a US law that provides privacy standards for health information and records.

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Welcoming the New Year

Posted by: Dawn Schell on janvier 13, 2016 12:18 pm

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It’s a new year and that often means people are making resolutions, setting goals and planning ahead. Each time the calendar rolls around to January ‘hope springs eternal’ as Alexander Pope said. We want to get focused and clear. We want to make changes in our lives. We want to dream new dreams. How long those resolutions, goals and plans last is another issue altogether!

In the spirit of hope I would like to share some fabulous online tools that one can use to reflect on the year that was and plan for the year to come.

One tool I have used for a number of years is choosing a ‘Word-of-the-Year’. It’s not a resolution or a goal – more of an intention for the year or a way to explore the year ahead or a guide for the year ahead. If you haven’t yet tried this approach you can find numerous examples in the ‘blog-o-sphere’, Facebook groups or on Pinterest. Just search for “word of the year” and you will find amazingly creative ideas for showcasing one’s word of the year as well as reflections on what the word means to individuals.

There are a myriad of methods to finding and using a word for the year.

Christine Kane, a business coach, offers a Word-of-the-Year discovery tool for free. There is an introduction to the idea, an idea generator and worksheet to guide you through the process of choosing a word for the year and, of course, an action planner. Cause it’s more useful when you identify steps you can take!

Sometimes it’s harder to choose a word than others. But each time I have chosen one I have found it to be both personally and professionally useful. As Ms. Kane says, “Your word is meant to teach you about you.” The tool is easy to use. The clients I have recommended it to find it to be helpful as they begin a new year. Just FYI – you do have to enter your email address to get this tool.

http://christinekane.com/wordoftheyear

On a similar note Susannah Conway, author/photographer/teacher, offers a helpful free resource titled “Unravelling the Year Ahead 2016”. Her Unravelling e-workbook has thought-provoking questions about the year that was and provides reflecting exercises for the year ahead. Having used this workbook with individual and group clients the feedback is overwhelmingly positive.

http://www.susannahconway.com/2015/12/were-coming-for-you-2016/

Finally, there is Leonie Dawson’s ‘Guide to creating your shining year’. Leonie Dawson is an entrepreneur and coach based in Australia. She guides you through a series of questions and reflections on the previous year and her creative questions about the coming year allow you to explore a number of different areas of life and set goals for each of these areas (e.g. physical, spiritual, financial). For a small cost you can download her e-workbooks or order hard copies.

http://leoniedawson.com/

As with many goals/resolutions/intentions the keys to actually doing what one says one is going to do are:

Be accountable to someone – share your goals, hopes, dreams, intentions
Take small steps
Regularly review your progress
Celebrate your successes
Be gentle, kind and compassionate with yourself
2016 – ready or not – here we come!

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate counsellor with Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Teaching a black dog to do new tricks – Digital Dog

Posted by: Dawn Schell on décembre 8, 2015 2:38 pm

As the field of e-Mental Health continues to evolve it’s critical that we do research to keep expanding our understanding of how, why and for whom it works. Fortunately, there is a great deal of excellent research being done all over the world.
More recently I came across these researchers based in Australia. Launched in March 2015, Digital Dog is a “research group…working to use technology to solve mental health problems”. You can find a linke here – http://digitaldog.org.au. Digital Dog is a branch of world leader in mood disorders Black Dog Institute’s research programming. Check them out here http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au

Their definition of eMental Health (eMH)? eMH “refers to services that target common mental health problems and are delivered through online and mobile interactive websites, apps, sensor-based monitoring devices and computers as well as telephone and online crisis support lines.” Sounds comprehensive to me.

So what kind of research are they doing?

Building and testing online interventions to lower depression, lower suicide risk and promote wellbeing (websites or apps)

Establishing the validity of social media as an indicator of mental health risk

Using the technology built into Mobile phones to measure mental health and social connectivity

Harnessing technology to deliver preventative mental health programming in schools (games, apps, websites, and much more)

Publishing papers to promote the usefulness and cost-effectiveness of e-health technologies

Whether it’s a positive psychology app based on values (SPARK) or determining whether people or computers can reliably detect suicidally “concerning” tweets or testing the effectiveness of web based self help programs the aim is to deliver evidence-based treatment.

And that means better resources for practitioners and clients.

You can’t go wrong with that.

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate counsellor with Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Compulsive Texting

Posted by: Dawn Schell on novembre 4, 2015 2:52 pm

It started out innocently enough. A teacher asking students to put their phones away and focus on what was happening in the class. One of the students said she felt “anxious” about not having access to her phone. Other students echoed her sentiment. The teacher was flexible enough to engage in the conversation and ask them to explain. The conclusion – some students said not being able to text at any given moment or to check their messages left them feeling nervous, anxious, worried. Naturally this concerned the teacher.

Now I don’t mean this to come across as yet another adult shaking her finger at the younger generation and saying they have it all wrong. When someone says NOT doing something leaves them feeling anxious I think it merits further exploration.

A recent study published in the Psychology of Popular Media Culture journal (http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ppm-ppm0000100.pdf) looked at the role “compulsive texting behaviour” plays in students’ academic functioning. The research focused on assessing what counts as “compulsive texting” as well as three components of academic functioning (grades, social bonding and perceived academic competence). While the study was conducted with a relatively small number of Grade 8 & 11 students (n=403) and is based on self-reporting it’s worth having a closer look at their results.

The first step was to create a measure for compulsive texting that is similar to one used for Compulsive Internet Use (Young, K.S. 1998). They wanted to assess for: interference with tasks, cognitive preoccupation and concealment, all potential indicators of compulsivity. Their research showed a high internal consistency for their Compulsive Texting Scale.

The authors measured frequency of texting, compulsive texting, academic adjustment, and gender differences. They found:

Females had higher levels of compulsive texting than males (12% vs. 3%)
“It appears it is the compulsive nature of texting – not the sheer frequency – that is problematic”
There is a relationship between compulsive texting and poorer academic functioning for females and not for males

Hmm. Now that is interesting!

The authors go on to speculate about potential explanations for females being more susceptible to compulsive texting behaviour. They point to research that indicates “females are more likely than males to engage in rumination or obsessive, preoccupied thinking” (see study for details). They also are “more likely to focus their intimacy in interpersonal relationships than males”. Which may mean the content of their texts may be more “distracting or interfering than the texts males receive”.

The researchers discuss the limitations of their study and conclude with a reminder that texting can have potential benefits as well. It’s like anything really – when the use becomes compulsive that’s when we need to find ways to address it.

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is an affiliate of Worldwide Therapy Online, Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA

Pinterest Strikes again

Posted by: Dawn Schell on octobre 26, 2015 5:00 am

Picture this. There are four teams of three eleven year olds each gathered around a table. Each team has a piece of paper with four parallel lines, a plastic knife and a tube of toothpaste. Their mission? In 20 seconds squeeze as much toothpaste as possible out of the tube to cover the lines.

Thirty other students are there to watch and cheerlead.

The excitement of having a “squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube to cover the lines” contest was superseded only by the second instruction – “Now put the toothpaste back in the tube with the plastic knife”. I heard one of them say, “You’ve got to be kidding”.

What could possibly go wrong?

If you don’t count the students who ate the toothpaste it all went well.

There was a point to this. And I’m sure, thanks to the viral nature of social networking, that you already know what it is.

When we speak it’s like squeezing out the toothpaste. Our words are out there and, like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube, words are hard to take back once they’ve been spoken.

Moments later I was blowing up a balloon – a breath into the balloon for each negative way to resolve a conflict that a child could think of. Of course the inevitable happened. There was a huge noise as the balloon popped and lots of delighted laughter. As I blew up another balloon and let out air each time the students named a positive way to resolve a conflict everyone was paying attention. No mean feat in a room full of 44 eleven year olds.

Why would I be doing these types of activities? Well, this is where Pinterest came to the rescue again. I needed lessons for grade five students about treating each other well and finding ways to resolve their issues more peacefully. As I have mentioned previously on this blog, I follow a number of other counsellors on Pinterest and they never fail to inspire me with wonderfully engaging activities that made serious points.

It’s not just activities. It’s ideas for group sessions, ways to organize my files, communicate with parents, and fabulous ideas for promoting positive mental health on campus. Whether it’s the elementary school or the university I work at.

Next up on my list?

Erasing Meanness.

http://www.erasemeanness.org/the-lesson.html

I can’t wait to see how that one turns out.

Dawn M. Schell, MA, CCC, CCDP is a school counsellor and an affiliate of Worldwide Therapy Online Inc. http://www.therapyonline.ca

*The views expressed by our authors are personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the CCPA