Frontiers Friday #90. Tech Tools for Therapists (Part III) ⭕
Frontiers Friday #90. Tech Tools for Therapists (Part III)
Why talk about tech tools? Besides, Frontiers is about psychotherapist development, not technology develop.
It can be easy to demonise technological advances. But I would argue, high-tech tools, for better or worse, are the mediums with which we engage with. From the administration processes to communication platforms, many of us in a modern clinical practice, can't escape from it. These are the instruments at our disposal; we might as well learn to wield them.
And as you can tell by the recommendations so far – as well as today's recommendations – tech tools have some things to offer for therapists who want to enhance learning in a deep and engaging way.
Instead of trying to optimise the use of tools, we should think about how to become more autonomous in relations to our tools. As autnomous creatures, my hope is that we use tools to bring us closer, not further apart.
As they say, "Use things, not people."
In case you missed it, Here's the Part I and II of Tech Tools for Therapists:
📖 For Learning: Readwise
In the Deep Learner workshops, I stress the important of retrieval practice, that is, actively and periodically testing yourself what you've learned previously. Retrieval practice is a highly underrated method to enhance learning.
What Readwise does is extract previous e-reading highlights. Though this is not exactly a form of retrieval practice, but the ability to pull out past highlights is one way to recall what was previously marked as important to you.
So instead of endlessly exploring new readings, exploiting what you've previously read and calling to mind these highlights that you've made.
🎤 Audio Recording: Zoom H2n
I get asked about the microphone I use to record therapy sessions. I've been the Zoom H2 for about 15 years. I initially used it for music demo recordings. My first one broke after I repeated dropped it, and then my friend gave me his (he's a good friend).
I doubt this Zoom has anything to do with the Zoom video platform. But in it's more recent version the Zoom H2n, it "hails five built-in microphones and four different recording modes: X/Y, Mid-Side, 2-channel surround and 4-channel surround."
It's crazy. And the price point is probably one of the most affordable, matched by its stellar quality.
And given how this mic works, the Zoom H2n is not like other commercial usb mics out there. More usb mics are uni-directional, that is, it's meant to be used relatively closed-up. H2n, on the other hand, picks up in an omni-directional audio inputs way better.
It's really useful to pick up audio inputs in the room, that's why I find it suitable when I wanna record a session in order to review them (needless to say, with informed consent), or pick the brains of my supervisor to help a particular case.
Note: Most people obsess about video quality. For therapy recordings, audio trumps video quality.
🎥 Convert Your Phone to a Webcam: Camo app
Camo by Reincubator has been my wallet-saver. It's an app that converts my iphone into a web-cam.
I didn't want to spend extra cash buying an expensive camera, since my iphone-12 is endowed with a highly superior camera.
I use a goose-duck mount to clip on my phone when using it for video calls.
📜 The Spreadsheet
One of the most under-rated software is the spreadsheet. We have Dan Bricklin to thank.
Love it or hate it, whether on a Microsoft Excel or googlesheet, the spreadsheet is a deep and powerful piece of software.
My accountant wants me to use a software for our balances, but I insisted on the Spreadsheet. Though it can get un-weldy at times, it's agile, computationally useful, smare enough to spit out relevant graphs, and easy to make changes to.
In day-to-day clinical practice, it's easy to be focued on a zoomed-in level and lose a zoomed-out perspective. While there are softwares out there for managing your clinical questionnaires and such, I use a simple spreadsheet to get a one-glance of my caseload and keep a bird's eye view of my client outcomes.
If the Spreadsheet seems daunting to you, instead of endlessly scrolling through your Facebook/Twitter/Instagram during your next lunch break, look up some youtube instructional videos on how to use the Spreadsheet. And go play!
⏸ Words Worth Contemplating:
"We have a moral obligation to invent technology so that every person on the globe has the potential to realize their true difference."
~ Kevin Kelly, What Technology Wants
p/s: I don't have any affiliation with these tech products.
Reflection: What tools do you use? What tools uses you?
Special Note:
Come June 6th, 2022. We begin our 5th cohort of the Deliberate Practice Web-Based Workshop, with Scott Miller and I.
This might be for you.
Feel free to preview selected modules.
And here's a special discount code for you: DPVIP (20% off! Remember to key in at checkout).
BIG HUGS TO NEW PEOPLE WHO ARE AT THEIR FRONTIER!
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