Abstract
An increase in demand for mental health services has been prominent in recent years, and digital technology has been found to be beneficial in the delivery of mental health services. In line with this, the current study explored the experiences of 10 registered guidance counselors who integrated technology into their practice of online counseling. The main purpose of this study was to explore the counselors’ experiences, feelings, challenges, coping mechanisms, and the meanings they ascribed to their experiences. To achieve these, the researchers employed a qualitative phenomenological approach using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The ten registered guidance counselors who worked in school settings were residents of the province of Antique and engaged in online counseling during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling, and data were collected using a semi-structured interview. Based on the transcripts of the participants, four major themes emerged, namely: (i) perceived benefits of online counseling, (ii) ethical issues, (iii) challenges encountered during online counseling, and (iv) ways of coping. Counselors reported online counseling to be helpful, particularly because the integration of technology could facilitate greater accessibility to services. However, due to technological disruptions and the potential blurring of professional boundaries, online counseling may involve ethical considerations that negatively impact the therapeutic relationship. The findings provide preliminary qualitative evidence that online therapy can be a useful adjunct to traditional forms of face-to-face counseling. However, counselors require more explicit training in implementing online counseling.
