Get listed
It requires a bare minimum of technological prowess to operate the e-mail and little more than the cost of a meal out for a monthly subscription to an internet account. If you haven't already learnt to do so, you may find great benefit in discovering how to link up to electronic mailing lists to meet with others in the cyber community who share an interest in your own favoured brand of therapy. You may want to forego one meal out this month, get an e-mail address and stay home for an hour or two to find a list that will give you months of food for therapeutic thought. Here's how.
One of the most direct ways in which technology is bringing people together is electronic mailing lists. Essentially, these are electronic communities of people who share a common interest in anything from the plight of the Siberian bears to sexual pursuits of which you have probably never heard.
The number of mailing lists in existence runs into the hundreds of thousands. But, more interestingly for this community, lists with a therapy slant of one sort or another run into the hundreds. The problem is finding one which meets your needs in terms of linking you with like-minded people on like-minded topics of discussion. There is a lot of outright trash in the list community. But, when you hit a good one, it can provide ongoing exploration of issues you may find uncannily similar to your own therapeutic preoccupations.
Often, the only way to find out about a list is to join it for a while. Some can be "previewed" by a visit to the archives of the digested contents of the list (such as ONElist, below). Some lists will be failures due to the general inactivity of their members. Others may be so active you find clearing your out box every day is a major chore. If this is the case, some lists offer a digested version.
But often the least time-consuming and frustrating way of identifying an active and appropriate list for you is to be referred to it in the same way you might to a good movie by a colleague or friend whose aesthetic slant you trust. Below, we look at a few of the lists which tackle therapy-related issues. A few have been screened for at least a few months, while others are listed merely to give you potential lists to have a look at.
We recommend you don't join lists wholesale. The resultant slew of mail into your inbox could induce technophobia in even the most hardy cybersurfer. Instead, identify one you think may be most stimulating, subscribe, and see if these electronic discussion forums are up your alley before joining others.
Joining and leaving a list
There are several ways of joining a list. The most simple is to do so from an internet address which corresponds to the list if there is one. For most of those included in the review below, the internet sites are probably the least painful way of joining. These lists are usually joined by sending an e-mail to the "list moderator" or "listserver", requesting that you be included on the general mailing list.
The message is usually very simple. In the address line, you would type the address of the list, the subject line would usually be left blank and in the body of the message, you would typically type the words: subscribe thislist (where thislist is the name of the list to which you are subscribing).
Usually, you will receive an e-mail confirming your membership of the list. Don't delete this as it often contains instructions for getting off the list or for participating in the discussion, which you may find most useful later on.
Any message sent by yourself or any other member of the list goes to the moderator, if there is one, or to the list directly, if there is no moderator of the content. Some lists may be restricted. That is, you may be required to fulfil some criterion before being admitted as a member. For the most part, though, you will usually be welcomed to lists, as many struggle to get enough traffic to keep going and they are only too happy to have more participants.
A couple of the lists below insist that you be a registered practitioner. How they evaluate your assertion that you are one remains to be seen. To get off the list, the procedure is usually very similar, except that in the body of the message you would type: "unsubscribe thislist".
Brief therapy
The brief therapy list detailed below has to one of the best for its level of activity and content. The list makes consistently good reading if you are interested in brief and solution-focused therapy.
To subscribe to the general list, log onto www.inetarena.com/~bneben and subscribe directly to the list by typing in the e-mail address and pushing the button. To subscribe to the less congesting, digested version (one message a week), send an e-mail to the following address: majordomo@inetarena.com In the message field, type "subscribe brieftherapy-digest" (without the quote marks). Oregon-based Bruce Neben, who administers the list, is happy to take questions about problems. He can be reached at bneben@inetarena.com.
Working therapeutically with self and system
http://www.poey.demon.co.uk/forum.htm
The creation of one David Pocock, this is a worthwhile internet site to visit, not least for its takeout of lists in the narrative and family therapy veins.
Go to www.poey.demon.co.uk/discussj.htm for a list of discussion groups and lists. Some of the better lists appear to be:
- The postmodern therapies List, which is hosted by the furiously energetic Lois Shawver. Membership is by application to Lois. To get a better idea of the list or to subscribe, visit www.california.com/~rathbone/pmth2.htm
- The AFT list, which is described as a small but growing list drawn mostly from the members of the Association for Family Therapy and Systemic Practice. To subscribe, visit the AFT list page at www.poey.demon.co.uk/aft/aft-list.htm.
- The Family Therapy Networker List. To subscribe, send an e-mail to Majordomo@intr.net, keeping the subject line blank, no signature, and with the first line of the message "subscribe ftnetwork@intr.net" (without the quotation marks).
Lists of lists
One of the most efficient ways of finding useful lists is to visit the sites of list hosts and reviewers on the internet. Here are two of the bigger ones:
ONElist (www.onelist.com)
This allows members to create and manage e-mail lists, or to subscribe to a wide variety of existing lists. It's fairly straightforward and it's free. The challenge is wading through the inane and inactive lists to find one that hits the spot. Here are some of the more promising looking lists:
altrn8psych (moderated and restricted): This list is for psychology students and professionals. It is intended as a forum for discussing alternate models for therapy and research surrounding them. New Therapist found the list active but very elementary.
clinicalSocialWork (moderated): A list for social workers. All areas of practice are open to discussion. For more information, visit the web site http://www.mindspring.com/'jkmatyi.
journaltherapy (restricted) A communication link among those who are interested in the field of journal therapy, or the use of process writing as a means to personal growth, psychological healing, holistic wellness, spiritual discovery and behavioral change. For more information, visit http://www.journaltherapy.com
solutions-australia: For discussion of ideas and issues relating to Solution Focused Therapy, especially in Australia.
TFT-ALGO: Focuses on Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and the use of the TFT treatment recipes known as algorithms. Visit http://www.tftrx.com for more information.
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