MP01 OCco – ONLINE COUNSELLING
Judith Hewitson
Judith Hewitson has received international recognition and awards for establishing Cicada.net.au as an incubator for the development of online software and programs for training, social marketing and developing community wellbeing. Her partnerships include working with Queensland University of Technology to develop a visual and text based, Online Counselling Program.
Background: Queensland University of Technology undertook an Australian Research Council project in collaboration with Australia's largest youth telephone counselling service, Kids Helpline (KHL). This practice-led research designed creative solutions for the development of synchronous online counselling. The development undertook the design of visual counselling and communication tools along with associated self-help activities.
Aim: The provision of anonymous access to online counselling to address issues of easy access; loss of face; privacy; client empowerment; low literacy; cultural diversity; and isolation due to medical conditions. The program addresses multi-literacies and provides greater cognitive and expressive communication. It offers a hight level of client engagement in the problem solving process.
Method: The project's development was informed by psychiatry, psychology and the creative industries with ongoing collaboration with KHL Counsellors.
Results: The program is called “OCco”. Due to the initial brief being to develop the tool for one specific client, “OCco” is currently undergoing customisation to address technical, functional and design requirements for different clients, such as school counsellors and employee assistance personnel. It is also being considered for Indigenous communities and has potential as a crisis response tool within a global context.
Conclusion: Although continuous development is required, ‘OCco's’ unique visual and text based counselling framework and programs, look to provide a new engagement for counsellors within an online environment. The challenge presented by changing technology, will further the need for this development. The program, however has intrinsic value to the professional practice of online counselling and is one way to meet the growing need of clients from all cultures, to access help via the internet.
MP02 INTERGENERATIONAL FAMILY ABUSE: A DOCUMENTARY FILM
Barry Herman
Objective: Unique media forms have the ability to stimulate discussion about intergenerational family abuse, its etiology and treatment, and attendant social and public policy issues.
Method: The feature documentary film, IF I COULD, provides attendees with a unique time-arc perspective, and offers an unprecedented look at a family deeply affected by trauma over the course of two decades. Narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Sally Field, this true story follows the life of Tracy, a young woman facing the ghosts of her troubled past in a fight to keep her son from falling prey to the same demons that nearly destroyed her.
Conclusion: The film IF I COULD demonstrates that trauma is a multi-factorial, biopsychosocial phenomenon, and treatment often requires a long-term commitment by service providers, payers, and social agencies. The film can be used as a vehicle for both public and professional discussion to promote an understanding of myriad clinical and public policy issues related to family abuse and violence.
