A thought just occurred to me which stopped me in my tracks ……. I’m a mental health therapist and I believe that my success with face to face (f2f) clients is due largely to the relationship I build with them The relationship building process – what is it about me and my client that helps or hinders the process. I’m not sure if there is much research on this aspect of therapy (its pretty qualitative stuff huh ?). My own hunches are that its related to my ability to be “real”, show unconditional positive regard, to be empathic, to listen well, to attend to my clients nuances of body language and tone of voice etc (attunement) …. AND this adds up to my PRESENCE in the room. It would seem that my f2f presence is certainly good enough for the many clients I see. There are some clients obviously where my presence is not a good enough fit for what they are looking for. Thats OK and will always be so.
I’m looking at developing an online practice. Doubtless the relationship building will be just as foundational to therapy as in f2f. So what was this “stopping in the tracks” thought I had?
“I don’t know a thing about what my online presence is like!”
Following on from this is -
- What if …. it’s not good enough ? (to retain clients long enough to do useful work with them)
- How can I determine this? (Before building an online practice and the investment of time and money associated with this ?
- How can I improve my online presence? (Are there any online presence trainers !?)
OK so I need to find out more about this. A few links:
Presence in Cyberspace
http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/textrel.html
http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/showdown.html
http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/emailrel.html
http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/hilucy.html
http://www-usr.rider.edu/~suler/psycyber/texttalk.html
Your shift from LJ to here reflects a growing attunement to issues of online presence and how to create this. Here you have done a great job creating a space that feels calm with the colors and imagery and has a philosophical tone (‘musing’).
Yes I guess that’s right – though the process was only partly “concious” and it reflects my character in that it has a slightly “melancholic” aspect which is very much part of me (:-o)