Posted by name on January 29, 2001, at 18:23:05
In reply to Dr. Bob - The posts you were wondering about., posted by shar on January 29, 2001, at 16:59:05
I can understand the concerns about rehashing V's situation in the post at msgs/279.htm. That is why I tried in that post to clarify that I was not discussing the specifics of V's situation, but rather the specifics of violent relationships as an appropriate topic of discussion in an on-line therapeutic milieu.
It is unfortunate that V became the topic of a public discussion about best practices for on-line therapeutic groups, and it is unfortunate that V was put in the situation by the use of V's screen name in an article about on-line self-help groups.
But that violent relationships are an inappropriate topic for on-line therapy is established in the Standards for the Ethical Practice of WebCounseling of the National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc.
Those standards state that:
"WebCounselors shall ...mention at their websites those presenting problems they believe to be inappropriate for WebCounseling. While no conclusive research has been conducted to date, those topics might include: sexual abuse as a primary issue, violent relationships, eating disorders, and psychiatric disorders that involve distortions of reality."The list of ethical standards is posted on NBCC's web site at: http://www.nbcc.org/ethics/wcstandards.htm
Whether inappropriate topics for on-line counseling are also inappropriate topics for on-line self-help groups administered by mental health professionals presents an interesting question.
poster:name
thread:403
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20001124/msgs/409.html