Hilde Lillestøl and Inger Stølan Hymer

Workshop

A growing number of people prefer using online chat because it’s the medium they’re most used to in daily life. Young people in particular use instant messaging services a lot in everyday life. This is mirrored in the demographic that uses our online chat service. The anonymity that text-based communication provides makes it easier to talk about sensitive issues such as mental health, relationships and suicidal thoughts. The workshop will explore the importance of ensuring that there is warmth and empathy in all written replies as there are some specific barriers to overcome in online chat. The aim is to enhance our skills in textbased communication so that we can achieve better connection with the person using our services. In our experience online chat can be improved by applying emotionbased knowledge and we wish to share our insight and explore how to communicate by text.