12 Aug 2020

A professional counsellor says technology has made counselling affordable and accessible.

In an interview with BOPA recently, Ms One Nkitseng said the exploration of new technology had landed her in the online counselling space which  was fast becoming a popular model.

Ms Nkitseng said she had explored online services to use such as telephone, WhatsApp, video notes, voice calls and text after realising that not every Motswana could go for counselling.

Online counselling, she said,  was effective because of its accessibility to any person regardless of their whereabouts.

Ms Nkitseng said in places where there was no counsellor, the online option was ideal as  clients did not have to leave their homes.

She said for those who were ambivalent about therapy or who might be uncomfortable with the traditional model of counselling; online was the way to go.

Ms Nkitseng said due to the stigma associated with seeking counselling as it was either considered a sign of weakness or failure to solve one’s own problems, some people did not access services.

Others sometimes feared face to face counselling because of lack of trust and victimisation, she said.

Ms Nkitseng said the absence of face to face contact also assisted clients to communicate more openly which might lead to an increased level of honesty and therefore higher validity in self-disclosure.

In addition, she said online counselling was affordable for both parties since the counselor saved on accommodation and administration costs while the client would not have to pay that much.

She said while an online session cost P50, a traditional setting could be as much as P350.

Further elucidating on her business, Ms Nkitseng said after realising there were a lot of similarities on issues affecting clients, she came up with an open discussion platform called “Open Platform with Bona” going live on Facebook every Sunday evening.

Meanwhile, she has advised Batswana to make seeking counselling a culture saying it was important to see a counsellor when one had unanswered questions, needed validation or just to talk.

She said because the extended family system was no longer as much of an option as before, counselling became a must for mediating, resolving family matters and life in general.

Ms Nkitseng noted that there were counselling professionals for different issues such as mental, financial, relationship and spiritual. BOPA