Noor Ibrahim. Photo courtesy of Noor Ibrahim.
How do social workers provide effective teletherapy to patients whom they haven鈥檛 met in person?聽
That question looms over Noor Ibrahim as she waits to find out if COVID-19 will force her to counsel a new batch of clients online this fall.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure how it鈥檒l go because I haven鈥檛 done virtual sessions from the beginning of a relationship with a client,鈥� says Ibrahim, who will graduate from the Boston College School of Social Work on Monday. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 expecting that it will affect how much trust I can build with them early on and how comfortable they feel sharing.鈥�
Ibrahim will begin to counsel college students at Brandeis University in August. But she doesn鈥檛 know when she will be able to provide support to her new clients in person. That's because COVID-19 has clouded the future. Like many colleges across the country, Brandeis has yet to announce whether students will return to campus for the fall semester.
If Ibrahim needs to treat her new clients online, she plans to pay attention to her facial expressions and body language. She says she鈥檒l acknowledge that teletherapy might make her clients feel uncomfortable at first. And she鈥檒l聽encourage them to discuss the challenges of sharing intimate details of their lives online.
鈥淚 have to be patient with clients if they take a while to open up,鈥� says Ibrahim. 鈥淚 think I鈥檒l also remind clients that I am there for them and encourage them to contact me if they are feeling really bad.鈥�
Ibrahim received her master鈥檚 degree in education from Rutgers University in 2007 and worked with college students in residential life departments at Penn State University, William Paterson University, and Endicott College for the next eight years. But she says she didn鈥檛 know she wanted to counsel college students until she realized how much she loved to help them navigate life as young adults.聽
She lived in residence halls with the students, she says, and responded to crises in the middle of the night. She met with students who broke the rules and found that her responsibilities often mirrored those of a social worker who helps people resolve their problems.聽
鈥淢y favorite part of the job was the one-on-one interaction with students,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to sit in front of a computer anymore. I wanted to sit across from students and talk about deep stuff.鈥�
After she got laid off from her job at Endicott College in 2015, Ibrahim found a job at BC and enrolled in the part-time master鈥檚 of social work program.聽
“This program has been like therapy for me. I鈥檝e learned to be kinder and more compassionate to myself, and in return, I鈥檝e been able to be a more loving therapist to my clients.”
鈥淭his program has been like therapy for me,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檝e learned to be kinder and more compassionate to myself, and in return, I鈥檝e been able to be a more loving therapist to my clients.鈥�
Ibrahim recently completed an internship at the . She helped 12 undergraduate clients cope with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, academic issues, and relationship problems.
She used a form of psychotherapy called cognitive behavioral therapy, which focuses on helping people change their patterns of thinking. She asked anxious clients to write down their thoughts, the evidence that supported those thoughts, and the evidence that suggested that those thoughts did not align with reality. Then she would analyze the data and discuss the likelihood that those anxious thoughts would come to fruition.聽
鈥淚f you have low self esteem, depression, or an eating disorder, college becomes way more challenging,鈥� she says.聽鈥淚 wanted to help my clients validate their feelings and change their beliefs about themselves so they could just be students.鈥澛犅�
Ibrahim says she tried to build strong bonds with her clients by infusing her sessions with humor and kindness. She credits Emily Pilowa, a part-time faculty member in the School of Social Work, with helping her understand how important it is for therapists to empathize with their patients.聽
鈥淪he didn't just teach us what it鈥檚 like to be a therapist,鈥� said Ibrahim, who took two classes with Pilowa. 鈥淪he gave us examples of cases, and we would laugh or cry, and I will think of that if I鈥檓 having a hard day.鈥�
Ibrahim says her career goal is to open a private practice. She wants to work with marginalized college students, including racial minorities and the LGBTQ community.聽
鈥淚 love working with students who are marginalized,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 want to help them learn how to advocate for themselves and thrive in college.鈥澛�