How to Use MySpace in Counseling

Social Networking Sites Provide Tool for Mental Health Professionals

Feb 4, 2009

MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking sites provide a great opportunity for counseling professionals to adapt to the issues facing clients today.

Whether counselors are working with pre-teens, adolescents, or adults – knowing how to use social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook will provide professionals with a tool to better connect with clients. The following are some ideas on ways to use MySpace in counseling.

Counselors Should Become Fluent

Especially for counselors working with the adolescent population, it is extremely important to be fluent in sites like MySpace and Facebook. Almost all teenagers are socially connected via these sites, and if counselors are unfamiliar with the culture, the systems, and the nuances of these sites – it will be difficult for the adolescent to easily connect with the counselor.

Counselor should consider making their own MySpace and Facebook profiles. Most people learn best by doing, and learning to negotiate these sites will provide professionals with the language and familiarity necessary for holding a genuine conversation with adolescents who live and breathe these sites daily.

Should Counselors Add Clients as Friends?

This is a good ethical question, and counselors should be reminded that it is unethical to maintain a dual relationship with any client. An online relationship in addition to the counseling relationship can most definitely be seen as a dual relationship. It’s one thing to encourage clients to share their information, but it’s another thing to have access to what they display on their profile at any time. To play it safe, respect the boundary and explain to clients the ethical rules of dual relationships.

Use MySpace/Facebook in the Session

With a little creativity, the effective counselor should be able to come up with many ways to use these sites in the session. To explore a client’s profile during a session, it is imperative that the client trust the counselor and not feel coerced into sharing this information. Always make it a safe environment where it’s okay for the client to decline. Here are a few examples of some ways to use MySpace/Facebook during a counseling session:

The possibilities are endless. If a client spends a lot of time on these sites, then using these sites during a session provides a more intimate and realistic depiction of what the client is experiencing. Before introducing it into the session, it’s important the counselors truly understand and are able to comfortably navigate these sites.

Use Myspace/Facebook for Homework Assignments

Counselors can align tasks online with clients’ counseling goals. Here are some examples of homework assignments using social networking sites:

Assignment: Blog about _____. Whatever the current issue, encourage the client to blog about it. They can personally choose to make it a public blog (where their friends can read and comment) or private (where only they can see it).

Assignment: Ask for support. If a client is struggling with one particular task (making friends, showing up to work on time, talking to someone, dealing with conflict, etc), have them pick 3 of their closest friends online and ask for their support. Encourage them to pick people who they trust and who they believe will be truly supportive. Clients can send those people a message explaining their goals and how they’d like that person to support them (hold them accountable, send encouraging messages, leave positive notes, call them and remind them, etc). Be sure to discuss the possibility of rejection when asking for help.

Assignment: Choose a layout/song/video/quote/picture that best expresses how you perceive yourself right now. This is a great entrance into self-perception, identity, and personal expression.

Mental health professionals need to learn how to use these websites as ways to connect with their clients and help them get the most out of counseling. When a counselor is able to discuss MySpace beyond having the “safety” discussion, adolescents and adults will show more respect and potentially open up more. Instead of seeing MySpace as a negative part of culture, counselors and other mental health professionals should start embracing it as an effective tool to use in and out of the counseling session.

Source:

Clemens, E.V., Shipp, A.E., & Pisarik, C.T. (2008). MySpace as a tool for mental health professionals, Child and Adolescent Health, 13(2), 97-98.

The copyright of the article How to Use MySpace in Counseling in Counseling is owned by Angela Wilson. Permission to republish How to Use MySpace in Counseling in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.