{"id":5411,"date":"2012-02-21T16:03:50","date_gmt":"2012-02-21T21:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ccpa.scottbuckingham.ca\/blog\/?p=1815"},"modified":"2015-07-03T16:02:31","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T20:02:31","slug":"from-a-to-z-online-support-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/from-a-to-z-online-support-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"From A to Z: Online Support Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you google the phrase \u201conline support groups\u201d you will find over 60 million hits. And you can find an online support group for everything from Abstinence to Zellweger Syndrome [yes, literally A to Z].\u00a0 There are mutual help groups (peer to peer) and groups that are moderated by mental health professionals or trained volunteers.\u00a0 How to select from amongst them? First, we need to educate ourselves and then we need to educate our clients.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At times I have referred clients to online support groups.\u00a0 In order to make an informed referral I search for and review the groups.\u00a0\u00a0 Questions I have asked as I am researching support groups:<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>How long has it been around?\u00a0 What do people say about it?<\/p>\n<p>Who started it and who maintains it? Is it affiliated with a reputable mental health organization?<\/p>\n<p>Is this peer-to-peer or is there a trained moderator?<\/p>\n<p>What is the level of support\/advice that is given?<\/p>\n<p>Security?<\/p>\n<p>Anonymity?<\/p>\n<p>How are \u2018flamers\u2019 dealt with?<\/p>\n<p>Clients tell me they have found these groups to be helpful to them in a variety of ways.\u00a0 Some have told me the members of the support group understand their issues better than anyone else can. Research from an online suicide prevention community states, \u201cHelp-seekers\u2026emphasised the importance of expressing their thoughts and feelings to a community who understood, suggesting the online community context created the opportunity for help-seekers to seek and receive social support they would not have otherwise..<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/blog\/wp-admin\/post-new.php#_ftn1\">[1]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We, as clinicians, ought not to simply refer to online support groups. It\u2019s important for us to provide clients with information about how to make the best use of an online support community.\u00a0 For a good example on how to do this check out this article from PsychCentral &#8211;\u00a0 7 tips for Making the Most of Online Support Groups. <a href=\"http:\/\/psychcentral.com\/blog\/archives\/2010\/01\/28\/7-tips-for-making-the-most-of-online-support-groups\/\">http:\/\/psychcentral.com\/blog\/archives\/2010\/01\/28\/7-tips-for-making-the-most-of-online-support-groups\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It also behooves us to keep the dialogue open with our clients as they make use of these sites.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the latest issue of the Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy there is an article on \u2018Self-Injury Groups on Facebook\u2019.\u00a0 The authors make excellent points about our role as counsellors when it comes to online support groups.\u00a0 They say, \u201c\u2026counsellors should ask questions about their clients\u2019 involvement, including questions about the frequency with which they are using the site(s), their level of interaction (whether they are making posts or just observing), and the perceived benefits or downfalls of these interactions. Clinicians should assist their clients in becoming more mindful of the personal effects of their group involvement as well\u2026.Counsellors can aid clients in assessing how they are using these online relationships and how their involvement may impact recovery. Clinicians should promote awareness of the personal impact of group involvement and educate their clients about potentially damaging interactions on such sites.\u201d<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/blog\/wp-admin\/post-new.php#_ftn2\">[2]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a vast array of online support groups out there.\u00a0 Let\u2019s keep ourselves informed and teach our clients how to use these tools wisely.<\/p>\n<p>Dawn Schell, MA, CCC is an affiliate of Worldwide Therapy Online Inc.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.therapyonline.ca\/\">http:\/\/www.therapyonline.ca<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<hr size=\"1\" \/>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/blog\/wp-admin\/post-new.php#_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a> Greidanus, E. &amp; Everall, R. D. (2010). Helper therapy in an online suicide prevention community.<em> <\/em>\u00a0<em>British Journal of Guidance &amp; Counselling<\/em>, 38 (2), 191 \u2013 204.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/blog\/wp-admin\/post-new.php#_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> Niwa, K. &amp; Mandrusiak, M. N. (2012). Self-Injury Groups on Facebook. <em>Canadian Journal of Counselling and Psychotherapy<\/em>, 46 (1), 1 \u2013 20.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you google the phrase \u201conline support groups\u201d you will find over 60 million hits. And you can find an online support group for everything from Abstinence to Zellweger Syndrome [yes, literally A to Z].\u00a0 There are mutual help groups (peer to peer) and groups that are moderated by mental health professionals or trained volunteers.\u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001008,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-online-counselling"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>From A to Z: Online Support Groups - L&#039;Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ccpa-accp.ca\/fr\/from-a-to-z-online-support-groups\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From A to Z: Online Support Groups - L&#039;Association canadienne de counseling et de psychoth\u00e9rapie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you google the phrase \u201conline support groups\u201d you will find over 60 million hits. 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