NZ Association of Psychotherapists Online Groups
The NZ Association of Psychotherapists
is an organisation with about 400 members who are distributed from
one end on New Zealand to the other. The group is responsible for the
professional standards and ethics of psychotherapists and for the
induction of new people into the profession. We organise a conference
somewhere in NZ once per year and produce newsletters locally and
nationally and an annual professional Journal.
This takes a lot of discussion. NZAP uses the online groups mainly for
its committees. There are currently about eight groups with overlapping
membership. They have ongoing discussions are able to share files. By
working in the one system rather than with a fragmented email only
approach the organisation is developing a sense of place online, the
beginnings of a virtual community for a real live community.
Testimonial: This is a company that "gets it"
Walter Logeman, Site Administrator of
NZAP Online Groups.
I am happy to write a testimonial as I want OnlineGroups.Net to succeed beyond their dreams!
I am on the Council of NZAP, the New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists and responsible
for the online communication in our organisation. We began using OnlineGroups.Net in October 2004.
We now have a site with eight Groups and an announcement group. I am pleased we chose this path, here is why.
Clarity
We can see exactly who is on each committee, and who is responsible for deciding that.
That was not so easy in the messy days of "Reply to all" emails.
File sharing
Using the Files area we can distribute files knowing they will remain available to those
who need them. They are safe on the server even when people change computers etc.
Security
Confidential email & files can be deleted off individual computers and still the
conversations go on using the web interface, behind the passwords.
Helpful support
Simon and others have always been there when needed.
Simple
This is a company that "gets it". Conversations are possible via web AND OR email,
it would seem a simple thing, but only OnlineGroups.Net can do that effectively,
and they do it cheaply and simply. Our most non-tech savvy people can use it.
Participants manage their form of access.
Philosophy
OnlineGroups.Net understand groups, not just technology.
Each group has a charter & a coach and built in options
for protocol and relationships. Belonging to the "Coachus"
group helps to discuss group process & effective participation.
Advanced
I can see if there are new files or posts via RSS. That saves
headaches when I monitor groups as their "participation coach".
I can use tags & RSS and I like the look of the proposed features.