Virtual advice center
With the opening of a virtual counseling center , counseling centers and organizations can improve their accessibility especially for those people who, due to their living conditions (e.g. immobility, inhibition due to taboo or shame-laden problems), when making contact and using a "traditional" face-to-face face (f-2-f) advice are restricted.
definition
A virtual counseling center is the internet-based equivalent of a real-life counseling facility. The consultations do not take place face-to-face, but technically mediated. Depending on the means of communication used, the communication is synchronous (chat advice) or asynchronous (email / forum advice) and is aimed at individuals, smaller groups such as families or larger groups of the respective clientele. A virtual advice center is a closed technical construction that distinguishes it from pure internet-based contact offers (e.g. e-mail address on the website of an advice center , integration of an IRC channel that is also visited by advisors).
Instruments
Consultation communication is mainly implemented with script-based instruments, but voice and image-based media can also be used. The use of the instruments depends on which target groups you want to reach and how low-threshold the advisory service should be. The most popular form of communication is e-mail advice, i.e. the exchange of electronic letters via virtual mailboxes from advisors and those seeking advice. Today, advice seekers of all age groups are very familiar with the medium of e-mail, while advice via chat is particularly suitable for reaching adolescents and young adults. Newer developments include the frequent daily use of the smartphone. So z. B. Apps provided for counseling offers. Another instrument are forums in which advisory services can be provided in a public context. There are also platforms that combine several such instruments and are used today in particular in the B2B area.
Email advice
This type of counseling is characterized by dyadic, asynchronous communication. The person seeking advice writes a request that is placed in a virtual mailbox, where it is picked up and answered by the counselor.
Individual chat advice
In individual chat counseling, counseling sessions (synchronous communication) are carried out in a virtual consulting room. This type of advice is suitable for confidential one-on-one discussions, but also for advising smaller groups, e.g. B. in the context of a couple or family counseling.
Group chat advice
Group chat counseling is aimed at larger groups of people seeking advice. It is particularly low-threshold, as participants do not necessarily have to be actively involved, but can limit themselves to observer status. In a group chat, advisors are also in the role of moderator.
Forum advice
The forum counseling works with virtual " notice boards " on which those seeking advice can post their concerns and read the answers of other forum participants and advisors participating in the forum. This is where self-help and professional advice are usually linked.
Furthermore, the scope of a virtual counseling center can also include instruments for counseling documentation and client management as well as internal areas for collegial exchange (e.g. channels or forums only for counselors) and knowledge management systems for those seeking advice and / or counselors, for example, literature recommendations, link collections or even digital versions of interior design brochures included. Forms for collecting online donations can also be found in virtual advice centers.
Areas of application and target groups
A virtual counseling center can be used for prevention and aftercare in addition to counseling in terms of intervention . In addition, a virtual advice center can also be used as a self-help meeting point (forum, group chat) for those seeking advice.
For some people, attending a f-2-f consultation is associated with high hurdles or even blocked. These target groups particularly benefit from the possibility of receiving help in virtual advice centers. Think of those seeking advice
- who need a distance from the counselor out of fear or shame (psychological protection)
- whose physical mobility does not allow them to make the way to a counseling center
- who cannot / do not want to take advice locally
- who live in a foreign language abroad and want advice in their mother tongue
- who have little or no time to adhere to the opening times and office hours
- with a clear question, but shy away from great effort
- are looking for occasional coaching, e.g. to accompany an outpatient therapy
- who prefer to write than talk
- who generally spend a lot of time on the Internet
For advice in the sense of intervention, confidential types of advice such as email and individual chat advice are best suited. Public or semi-public types of advice such as group chat and forum advice are more suitable for use in prevention or for initial contact, which is later deepened in the context of confidential advice.
Relationship to face-to-face advice
Face-to-face and online advice are generally used by their providers in a complementary manner rather than in competition. Visiting a virtual counseling center can U. can replace a visit to a f-2-f counseling center, but never a visit to a doctor or psychotherapist's practice. Online advice is due to the (relative) anonymity and the elimination of non-verbal communication for advice seekers i. d. Usually lower-threshold than an F-2-F consultation, which, however, depends in detail on the technical registration and consultation procedure (mandatory personal data requested). In many cases, online counseling is used as a low-threshold supplement to the standard range of f-2-f counseling or as an additional access path to the socio-spatially networked range of offers of the f-2-f counseling center. The combination of elements of online and f-2-f counseling can use the advantages of the respective form of counseling as blended counseling. One example is the drug advice program "Rauchmelder.Beratung.App.Community" in Frankfurt am Main.
privacy
In a virtual advice center, it must be ensured that the content of advice is protected just as securely as in an f-2-f advice center. From the risks that arise when confidential data travels through the Internet, it can be seen that setting a simple mailto: link on a facility's website cannot be equated with opening a virtual advice center. Rather, it is now considered mandatory to encrypt the data transmission (e.g. using SSL -encrypted HTML webmail ). It is important for consultants to be sensitized to potential risks (e.g. social engineering ).
Examples of virtual advice centers
Virtual advice centers can be offered by freelance advisors, institutions and associations. Different institutions can share a common virtual advice center and different virtual advice centers can join forces (in this case one speaks of an advice portal).