When I was around 11 years old, a gag quickly circulated through my school.

Cornering an unsuspecting chum, you’d ask, “Hey, have you seen my hammerfor?”

“What’s a hammerfor?” they’d invariably ask, a quizzical look glued to their face.

“Pounding nails!” you’d then scream, followed by paroxysms of laughter.

Funny in a sad, underhanded kind of way.  “But what,” you might wonder, “has this got to do with using the Outcome and Session Rating Scales in psychotherapy?”

As services have moved more and more online, I’ve been getting a fair bit of email about using the tools in an online format.

The majority of the questions thus far focus on technical details (e.g., administration, scoring, software application, etc.).  Again, this makes sense.  And in my previous two blogs (1, 2), colleagues Stacy Bancroft and Brooke Mathewes and I provided detailed suggestions and video instruction for working feedback-informed in an online environment.

However, while making the transition, it’s important to keep in mind “What’s an ORSSRSfor?”  The answer, like the old joke, is “soliciting feedback from clients that can be used to fine tune and tailor treatment.”  Whether working face-to-face or digitally, research and clinical experience document that failing to establish a “culture of feedback” is the root cause of most problems encountered when using the measures — in the particular, clients reporting, “everything’s great” and then not returning for their next session.

Here’s another “how to” video specifically target to creating a culture of feedback in online work.