American Association of Pastoral Counselors

Internet Discussion Forums for mental health professionals

Internet discussion forums provide an opportunity for peer support, professional networking, and information exchange. To participate in a discussion forum, you generally “subscribe” (join the group in progress) by sending a command in an e-mail message. Thereafter, the group conversations will come to you in the form of e-mail. The subscription address and the exact form of the command differ from group to group, so be sure to follow the instructions precisely.

Pastoral-Counseling - e-mail discussion group for AAPC members and others interested in pastoral counseling. Interfaith: Jewish, Buddhist, Christian, New Age, and more are all welcome. Use the form at left to subscribe. Discussion topics include:

• the integration of psychotherapy and spirituality
• networking and conversation among AAPC members
• professional issues facing pastoral counselors and psychotherapists
• practical matters in the work of pastoral counseling
• news, articles and information concerning pastoral counseling
• pastoral counselors as a resource for parish clergy

Psychoanalytically Oriented Pastoral Psychotherapists - Online private working group facilitated by AAPC members Michael Dawson and Gary Hellman. To request admission, write to Michael Dawson.

Behavior Online provides web-based professional discussion forums moderated by leading experts. Current topics include: Shame and Affect Theory, Classical Adlerian Psychotherapy, Outcome Assessment, Organizational Development, Whole-Scale™ Change, Creative Arts Therapy International, Cognitive Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Control-Mastery, Anxiety Disorders, Evolutionary Psychology, Computing Clinic, Psychology of Cyberspace, EMDR, Ericksonian Therapy, Meditation In Psychotherapy, Online Clinical Work, Clinical Case Conference.

The International Society for Mental Health Online unites mental health professionals of various disciplines to promote the understanding, use and development of Internet communication, information and technology for the international mental health community. ISMHO provides a discussion forum about mental health on the Internet.

Newsgroups are immense public discussion forums. Although a few are moderated, most are wide open (without the moderator controls available in e-mail groups) with thousands of participants from all walks of life. Be aware that if you post a message in a public newsgroup, your e-mail address will be picked up by direct marketers, which means you will begin to receive “spam” (unsolicited commercial e-mail). You can avoid spam by participating in newsgroups through the web service DejaNews instead of using your browser’s newsreader. To further investigate the possibilities of newsgroups, go to this page on Psych Central which contains a list of 230 support group and mental health related forums.

Retirement: This is a group for Pastoral Counselors involved or interested in Retirement issues for themselves and/or for clients. http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/PastoralCounselingAndRetirement/.