If you have enjoyed using a regular whiteboard with in-person counselling: drawing a genogram with your client, plot the rise and fall of anger, or co-create some intervention, your practice can be revitalized as you gain some experience and confidence with the Zoom whiteboard.
I first began using Zoom in 2016 as I worked remotely with international students studying their Masters’ of Counselling at Monash University, but like many, I simply avoided playing on that blank white screen. However, since April 2020, all my training, supervision and counselling with couples, individuals, families and children has been online, and being a creative visual person myself, I had to find a way.
The whiteboard feature offers multiple tools. In this interactive presentation, I will guide you through the steps I took when I transitioned from creative in-person to creative online counselling. I will share many examples of the creative approaches. My practice is now pandemic-proof, and I have had some fabulous adventures discovering just what is possible along the way, with client satisfaction and engagement high.
The Zoom whiteboard is the repository of the conversations. Couples and family groups can sit in their own space on their own device, and contribute on a shared screen one week, or sit side by side the next session and one may take notes, or watch and listen whilst the other has a one-on-one dialogue with me as we interact on the whiteboard. The other can hop onto the screen and add their comments. This method facilitates a team approach, empowering all to enhance participation and coming together to brainstorm and collaborate with one another to understand conflicts, make agreements, plans and changes.
You will see how the usual psych-ed material can be saved into a powerpoint as prompts, and using the screen share function, viewed by all. Clients can make screenshots of these resources and we can switch between the whiteboard and these as required. Even my playful games such as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Bingo works a treat, and you can see how this works.