Postgraduate Course: Online Counselling: Practice and Process (CNST11091)
Course Outline
| School | School of Health in Social Science |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course aim is to invite students to critically engage with the practice of online counselling. It will encourage them to consider how and in what ways online counselling is distinct from face to face counselling, will provide opportunities to practice listening skills online, and will prepare students to engage ethically in considering the scope and potential limits of online counselling in different settings. It will provide opportunities to revisit themes of boundaries, transference, the therapeutic relationship, and contracting specifically as they pertain to online counselling.
|
| Course description |
The aim is to invite students to critically engage with the practice of online counselling in relation to relationally oriented modalities of practice such as person-centred and psychodynamic perspectives. It will encourage students to consider how and in what ways online counselling is distinct from face to face counselling. It will provide opportunities to practise listening skills online, and will prepare students to engage ethically in considering the scope and potential limits of online counselling in different settings. The course will provide opportunities to revisit themes of boundaries, transference, the therapeutic relationship, and contracting specifically as they pertain to online counselling.
With the proliferation of technology in all areas of life, therapy and counselling are increasingly being made available through online media . This course seeks to critically engage with contemporary debates about online therapy. It draws on the work of Sherry Turkle and other psychodynamically informed authors to critically examine the impact of technology on human relating and draws on contemporary psychodynamic literature to consider the scope, limits and differences between online and face to face therapy .
The course will cover themes of technology and cyber-psychology, contracting, boundaries, therapeutic scope and limits, ethical considerations, embodiment, transitions and endings. Students will be invited to critically engage with how far and to what extent relationally oriented therapeutic work can be effectively offered and experienced through remote working.
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Online Activities 24,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Reflective essay, 4000 words plus transcript (100%) |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Students will be able to engage critically with research exploring the specific impact of technology and online relating on human development and behavior
- Students will be able to critically reflect on and make use of their own experience of listening to another online
- Students will be able to consider the ethical dimension of online relating as it pertains to counselling with relationally orients models of therapy
- Students will develop the capacity to contract appropriately and within the limits of their competency in online relationships
|
Reading List
Amichai-Hamburger, Y., Klomek, AB, Friedman, D., Zuckerman, O., Shani-Sherman, T. (2014) The future of online therapy. In computers in Human Behaviour, December 2014, Vol 41, pp 288-294
Bondi, L. (2014) Understanding feelings: Engaging with unconscious communication and embodied knowledge. Emotion, Space and Society, Vol 10: 44-54
Gendlin, E.T. (1978) Focusing
Isaacs Russell, G. (2015). What Happens in the Consulting Room. Screen Relations: The Limits of Computer-Mediated Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy. London, Karnac: 69-78.
Lemma, A. (2017). Digital transference and the therapist's anonymity. The Digital Age on the Couch: Psychoanalytic Practice and New Media. London, Routledge: 114-134.
Stadter, M. (2013). The influence of social media and communications technology on self and relationships. Psychoanalysis online. J. Savege-Scharff. London, Karnac Books: 3-13.
Suler, J. (2004). The online disinhibition effect. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7, 321-326.
Turkle, S. (1984) The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit
Turkle, S. (1995) Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet
Turkle, S. (2011) Alone Together, Basic Books
Turkle, S. (2015) Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, Penguin Press (2015).
Winnicott, D. W. (1958) Transitional Objects and Transitional Phenomena. In Playing and Reality (1971) London: Tavistock. pp 1-25.
|
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
- Self-awareness, critical self-reflection to advance learning
- Independent study skills
- Online skills to undertake online study and group work |
| Keywords | online counselling,psychodynamic counselling,person-centered counselling,online therapy |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Tanya Richardson
Tel: (0131 6)51 6671
Email: tanya.richardson@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Cecilia Malmberg
Tel: (0131 6)50 3890
Email: cecilia.malmberg@ed.ac.uk |
|
|
University Homepage