One of the things I have been thinking about for the last six months is the idea of doing therapy on the go through mobile technology. Though I believe strongly in the benefits of in person, face to face therapy, I think technology is making available new avenues for us to explore the benefits of therapy through a mediated technological tool.
I have only been thinking about it…
And then I saw this tweet by DJ Chuang yesterday:
Ustream and its Live Broadcaster app is the first app to stream live video from your iPhone to the internet.
I could see therapists using this feature for clients who are traveling especially.
It could be done iPhone to iPhone. iPhone to computer. Etc.
Just thinking out loud.
What do you think? Could you imagine receiving therapy via live video streaming from the iPhone?
I imagine this would be left up to the comfort levels of the counselor and the client. I do phone session for people who can’t make it in to see me. Not very often, and I’m pretty selective about the people I do this for. It depends greatly on the relationship I have with them, and how long I’ve seen them. I guess it also depends on how “accessible” a therapist would want to be to clients.
The ustream app on the iPhone is one way streaming from the phone. That does limit the interaction. I played with it the other day and it’s quite and amazing tool to walk around a building with your iPhone streaming the audio and video. Especially so, when you know how complex such a thing would have been to pull off even just a few years ago
Tokbox, however is a simple, user friendly (for the most part) website that enables interaction between two or more users.
I’ve seen examples of five folks participating in meetings completely online when all the participants are in different areas of the country.
It’s very handy when you have regional leadership and want to add the visual component beyond a call in conference call.
i can see how the nokia n900 would be better suited for this, but in any case the idea is interesting. not quite convinced by the splendidness of video calls so far though.