ABSTRACT
Historically, professional organisations have been quite dogmatic about giving guidelines to work ethically while delivering services electronically. In a global community that is sometimes regulated, as in the USA, with tight legalities such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, but is also unregulated in many countries, such as the UK, this way of working brings an awareness of particular ethical concerns. To address ethical considerations of working online from an international perspective, the authors created a framework that could be applied internationally without being dogmatic. Training programmes have been available internationally, both as a stand-alone training and/or part of an organisation's internal human resource provision. Knowledge of ethical thinking is an integral part of offering an ethical online service. In light of that, counsellors offer the ethical framework for the use of technology in mental health to readers to inform and help practice, both for individuals and organisations, hopefully inciting discussion and analysis of best practice procedure.
