As I mentioned in my last posting I am sharing a number of studies or projects where text messaging is being used in counselling.

One interesting application was Project O, based in Singapore.  This project was designed for students doing their “O” level exams and was launched to 40,000 O-level students through 163 secondary schools. The aim of the project was to assist students in coping with exam anxiety.   Social Workers and educational psychologists provided email counselling and an SMS buddy support service.   As students were preparing for their exams they could send text message to Project O and receive immediate support.  

Youthline, a New Zealand helpline for young people, starting using text-based counselling in December 2004.  As mobile phones and text-messaging became more widely accepted they found youth increasingly requesting text-messaging as an option for discussing their concerns. Early on Youthline’s suggestion to counsellors was to encourage youth to phone in after 5-6 text message exchanges.   These are a few of the responses from youth.

Cn I jus txt, coz I don wan 2b heard
Can u plz jst txt me s0 i d0nt feel al0ne
Il neva b abl 2 talk bwt it. S0ri 4 bthrn u
Im sori i dnt thnk i cn cal. i jst feel 2 stupid[1]

Youthline reports their service has grown and has been reshaped based on what youth said they wanted.  

In Australia a youth mental health outreach team undertook an observational study to address concerns that providing clients with direct mobile phone access to their therapists would open therapists to “excessive and inappropriate levels of client contact”.  The observed 7 months worth of text messages between therapists and youth.   Contrary to expectations only 2% were considered inappropriate. The study showed “therapists have reported that it has helped improve initial engagement and retention, provided a less confrontational way to monitor clients between contacts, and is particularly useful for scheduling contacts such as telephone calls, home visits, and appointments.”[2]

In Ireland[3] the use of text-messaging was proposed as a means of lowering barriers to help-seeking in students with depression.  A parenting intervention program ran a pilot study that incorporated text-messaging in between sessions.  The messages focussed on tips and support for completing the ‘homework’.  A Danish harm-reduction program sent pre-programmed messages to client’s phones twice a day.  Again, the client’s received tips, information and support as they worked on reducing their drug usage.

Finally, a CBT depression program ran a pilot program on using text-messaging as an adjunct to therapy.  One of their conclusions was, “The use of text messaging as part of mental health care may help maximize the resources needed to provide services in a cost-effective manner.”[4]

Text messaging has potential.  As the observational study in Australia concluded that using text messaging “could play a role in connecting with youth in a more accessible and responsive way”.   

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What work needs to be done?
Drafting policies for use of SMS in clinical practice
Determining how to deal with issues of privacy and confidentiality
Further study into how SMS could potentially enhance the process of engagement and communication with clients

What do you think?

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

 

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