Online Therapist?
There was a link on this site, "I need therapy" and a section that says :
"About Free Listeners on 7 Cups of Tea
7 Cups of Tea offers free, anonymous, trained active listeners and online therapists. Whether you are going through challening times at home, work, school, or in your relationship, we have an active listener or online counselor ready for you to share your problems in a safe and anonymous way. Learn more by checking outour homepageor connecting to a listener below."
I can find listeners, but I haven't found out how to specifically find an online counselor. Am I missing something?
@bluecinnamon
Nope, it's defintiely not you that's missing something! The Terms of Service are a little outdated, as has been noted at various times, and hopefully they'll be updated soon.
All listeners here are trained active listeners, which is a different discipline to counselling or therapy.However, we do count some trained professionals among our ranks, but those listeners cannot practice their disciplines here, or offer any kind of diagnosis, even if they do so in their professional lives.
I was about to tell you how to select listeners by organisation, but that function seems to have disappeared! I'm sorry I couldn't have been of more help to you
Thanks for clearing that up. I just hope that they change the wording on the site so as not to confuse other people.
There used to be a forum thread with a loose collection of social workers, counselors and other mental health professionals that moonlight as active listeners here, but I'm not sure if it still exists or it is available to members. I think the intention was more as a peer support and social network amongst ourselves rather than outreach (precisely for the reasons Lyra astutely notes above).
Not to complicate matters, but although we cannot give to professional advice or diagnosis relating the the situation of individual listeners, we can provide members with the benefit of our perspectivethrough the respective professional lenses of some of the tools we are trained in. This sounds confusing.
Explained another way: I cannot give you professional counseling, but I can sharemy insights as a therapist without advising you as such.I cannot diagnose, but I can make general statements about the differences between certain diagnoses based on my knowledge of the DSM. And if you present as suicidal, I must refer you out just the same as any other listener. And bear in mind, some professional here advertisetheir credentials as such, but do not want to be treated as such (which seems odd to me).
I am happy to discuss my profession with members, describe my scope of practice, and speak on those conditions on which I have training or experience in order to better empower members make to their own health decisions--but I, nor anyone else--can make those decisions for you.
So, you could provide information in general terms, but not to a specific person's situation, or maybe suggest available resources?
That's right. Absolutely.
What about getting a second opinion on something a professional counsellor has said, to determine if you should continue working with that one or find a new one, knowing full well that there are many different styles of therapists?
I have some thoughts about that. See below:
Sorry I couldn't make this easier but it won't let me cut/copy the link. Go to the forums, search for "occupational therapy" Click the link and scroll down untill you see the heading "what does it mean to be a good therapist?" I also have a podcast on the same topic. Cheers!
This is the post that E-Dude made about what makes a good therapist
This is his podcast on the same matter
And this is another of my favourite of his podcasts, just because I always like giving them the recognition they deserve
(It's a good thing one of us knows how touse the forums, babe)
Oh dear! That's what I love about you, Miss Lyra. You make things ten times simpler than I ever good! Thank you.