COUNSELING TRAINEES' VIEWS TOWARDS USAGE OF ONLINE COUNSELING IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES

Web-based counseling services may become important for mental health professionals and those who are working in this field. For this reason, the purpose of the study is to examine the views of the counselors-in training regarding the use of online counseling. The study group was comprised of 60 students attending to Guidance and Counseling undergraduate programme in 2017-2018 academic year in the state university in the west of Turkey. In the research, the mind maps were the main data collection method and the data were analyzed through qualitative data analysis. Results showed that the views of the students’ were organized as themes were identified including "positive aspects of online counseling", "negative aspects of online counseling", "security", "being an online counselor" and "ethics and standards". Based on the results of the study, it was found out that counseling trainees had positive opinions towards the use of online counseling, but they had some hesitations and concerns about the practice