Researching online counselling and psychotherapy: The past, the present and the future

From Wiley via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2020-12-15, accepted 2020-12-17, pub-electronic 2020-12-29, pub-print 2021-09Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedAbstract: This paper reflects upon the history of online counselling and psychotherapy research. It provides a reflection upon the growing body of research in this field and discusses the impact of the recent global COVID‐19 pandemic upon it. It specifically argues that the pandemic has been an evolutionary catalyst for developments in online therapy. Therapeutic practices, and attitudes towards them, have changed in ways that will alter the shape and form of therapies in the future. As a consequence, research into online therapeutic work needs to be responsive and adapt to this changing world. Counselling and psychotherapy researchers therefore have to situate themselves in a way that allows them to keep one foot in the present and one foot in the future to stay abreast of technological developments. There may be a reluctance to do so from some areas in the therapeutic profession, but their presence might prove vital in ensuring that ethical sensitivity, which acknowledges and values the complexity of the human experience, remains at the foreground of psychological support

Counselling, psychotherapy and training the football elite

From Wiley via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2021-06-16, rev-recd 2021-07-30, accepted 2021-07-31, pub-electronic 2021-09-14Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedAbstract: Counselling and psychotherapy are not common professions that are considered alongside the work of sporting institutions, such as football academies. This paper therefore provides a brief reflection upon the existing research considering the way that such institutions currently engage with the mental health and well‐being of those that they support. In doing so, the world of elite sport engagement is considered before focusing more specifically upon research that has explored how football academies make use of psychological theory and therapy. This paper concludes that counselling and psychotherapy have an important role to play in supporting those at all stages of their football careers. However, delineation with clear roles and boundaries from other professions, such as sport psychology, proves vitally important, and further systematic exploration of this growing area of work is needed