Technology in Counseling

Following the post of my Top 10 App picks, this week I wanted to take a minute and talk about using technology as a counseling tool. There are thousands of Apps available that cover just about everything from zombie killing games to calorie counters. There also lots of Apps that are related to counseling and psychology for both clients and practitioners, as can be seen in my previous post. I want to touch on one of those Apps further because I think it is a really valuable tool for both in and outside of the counseling session and is one that I find very applicable to the patient population that I work with. Breath2Relax, as I described previously, is a free guided diaphragmatic breathing tool. It allows you to select a serene back ground and chose  a musical theme that you find to be soothing to play while you engage in the breathing exercise. To use the breathing tool you set the breathing rate to one that you find comfortable and then a calming voice guides you through the breathing exercise. This App is extra great because I, for one, royally suck at talking people through diaphragmatic breathing.

Introducing technology in a counseling session may be a very daunting thought to some of my fellow counselors and counselors in training but before ruling it out, I think all practitioners should consider the benefits. In my case, the majority of the patients that I see deal with anxiety on some level, which ranges from anxiety over life decisions all the way to patients diagnosed Generalized Anxiety Disorder that is so severe they are unable to function and need significant medication interventions to get to sleep at night. Diaphragmatic breathing is not for everyone, but if a client finds it to be helpful I think this App would be beneficial for people on both extremes of the anxiety spectrum. After gauging a client's interest in diaphragmatic breathing and comfortably with technology, presenting the Breath2Relax to a client as an intervention to use during session and as a homework tool to use at home when anxiety strikes can be hugely beneficial. Often my patients are interested in deep breathing but do it wrong or don't feel comfortable enough with it to do it on their own when they are feeling anxious. With this App I have the ability to guide them through diaphragmatic breathing in session with the added serene visual images and music but also have a tool to direct them to use as a structured guide for deep breathing when they start to feel anxious. I think this is SO helpful because it helps ensure they are doing the breathing exercises right which helps build enthusiasm and interest in the intervention so they can integrate it into their set of relaxation and coping skills.

Here is the link to the free Breathe2Relax App for Android: Breathe2Relax

Have you used technology in counseling? And if so, in what capacity? Please leave comments regarding your experiences with technology in counseling below!