Blended Counseling – Neue Herausforderungen für BeraterInnen (und Ratsuchende!)

According to Nestmann (2008, S. 13) "in the future, e-counseling, online counseling and counseling chats will ... be part of psychosocial advisors' daily routine. (...) "Blended Counseling", in which face-to-face sessions alternate with electronic communication, will likewise shape the future of counseling in social work." To encourage and enable synergy between online and offline counseling, the present parallel structures of face-to-face counseling and online counseling must continue to merge.In this article, the authors examine the future positioning of online counseling as an integrated form of counseling in social work. The article is based on the scientific findings of Stefanie Wei 's masters thesis on the topic of "Blended Counseling" and on the insights gained from a work-shop jointly conducted during the Fachforum Online-Beratung conference. The article provides an in-depth discussion of the emerging concept of "Blended Counseling" and encourages critical reflection of the reader's own (online) counseling experience. In addition, meaningful suggestions are made for the on-going merger of face-to-face counseling and online counseling.