Teletherapy

Part of my commitment to providing cutting Teletherapy edge technology is my advanced, fully HIPAA-compliant encrypted videoconferencing platform for therapy sessions. This platform allows us to meet one on one or with groups. A group can be many things, such as; support groups, 3-way meetings with other healthcare providers, or connecting geographically separated family members to be a part of sessions in real time.

Telehealth provides better access to services for populations for whom transportation is a challenge due to medical, distance, financial, or safety issues. It saves time and money, provides the ease of having the comforts of
home during the session, provides safety from disease transmission, can be extremely discreet, and generally improves access to care. For clients with agoraphobia, it can make the difference between getting treated for the condition or not. In my experience, I have had many patients grateful for having this telehealth technology that gives great flexibility in providing clinical support.

Fourteen benefits of Teletherapy and why you might like it

1. Low Barrier to Entry: With teletherapy, it’s almost always in the comfort of your own home. You can have your cozy blanket, your special mug, all the things that make you feel at ease. What better start to therapy and opening up than in your safe space?
2. Privacy: teletherapy ensures maximal privacy every time. Sometimes clients manage to know one another,crossing paths between sessions. Teletherapy removes this concern altogether.
3. Efficiency: Travel can be frustrating and stressful for clients already prone to anxiety. Unexpected traffic closures often lead clients to race in, anxious about being late or missing any part of their therapy time, or even get into a car accident on the way over. The last thing clients need to worry about is one more place to be. For those in rural areas with limited income, extra costs for fuel can be another stressor.
4. Flexibility: Teletherapy allows for maximal flexibility for overworked and overcommitted clients. Being able to reschedule and integrate emergency sessions. For clients with severe anxiety that is otherwise well managed, the ability to schedule an emergency check-in can be invaluable.
5. Safety: Snow days can wreak havoc on scheduling. Some clients are stranded on mountain tops and behind dangerous driveways, others have four-wheel drive and trek their way to an office that closed down hours ago. Such concerns are eliminated in teletherapy. Further, there is no expectation that clients leave their homes in dangerous weather. With teletherapy, the show can go on, each time.
6. Illness: Clients with severe flus and viruses (often actively contagious) come in which puts the therapist and other clients at risk. Further, illness often can cause additional last-minute cancellations while mood plummets. The ability for clients to continue working with their therapist, especially when ill, especially in the midst of a pandemic, can be highly impactful. Teletherapy makes it safe for both clients and therapists.
7. Patient Timeliness Improved: Without the concern of a traffic jam, getting lost on their way to the office, or running low on gas, it is a no-brainer that timeliness is significantly improved when clients are always in reach of their devices when sessions begin at the click of a button.
8. Communications Improved: With traditional therapy, messages are often relayed through a front office or answering service, and information was not always clearly articulated. With the teletherapy platform, secure messages are sent directly between the client and therapist, removing the middleman so to speak. This improves communication significantly and improves the overall therapeutic experience.
9. Streamlined Communication: By offering teletherapy directly via secure link, clients can opt for a reminder text, email, or both and all the information regarding their appointment is at their fingertips. Having everything in one place is beautifully simple and fits in with the general ethos of teletherapy. In rare times when two patients have shown up for the same session, I have always felt terrible sending them home again when I know they rushed to get there. With teletherapy, when these rare errors occur, potential harm is reduced.
10. Access to Facilities, Food, Drink, etc.: While I don’t encourage eating for the full duration of therapy, a satiated client whose basic needs are met is certainly important. As such, one of the benefits of teletherapy is access to any of the needs that may come up for a client, including a nearby bathroom with no line.
11. Access for Remote Patients: In rural counties, clients often live in communities an hour (or more) away, often driving through wind and rain, and on winding, dangerous roads to get to the office. With teletherapy, the therapeutic relationship is maintained with therapy continuing effortlessly, with minimal disruption for their families. With telehealth, the therapist can see people statewide, and can easily accommodate people who move significant distances or have jobs that keep them away from home for extended periods, such as truckers and travelling salespeople. The clients, even in isolated areas, can have a choice of a wide variety of therapists, to find one that works with their particular issues and who “clicks” with them.
12. Access for College Students: Often, college counseling centers are more and more swamped, and not all colleges are in towns with access to private providers, nor do all college students have cars. Enter the beautyaccess to a wide network of providers without any transportation hassles. Since teens and college students, used to facetime and other video calls on their devices, are generally quite comfortable using the technology already, video therapy is an easy adjustment for them.
13. Access for Disabled Populations: Those who are bedridden, have chronic illness or other physical mobility issues can be major beneficiaries of online therapy. There are times when clients suffering from IBS, Crohn’s, or other diseases may experience shame or embarrassment at their need for leaving to use facilities or otherwise tend to their condition. Wheelchair accessibility can be a significant barrier with populations as well; in older locations, historic buildings and so forth without ADA accessibility.
14. Wait Times Reduced the benefit of near-immediate access. For clients able to see private practitioners, access can be near immediate; for those in severe need, going weeks until an appointment can lead to appointment cancellations, clients in dire situations, or perhaps losing altogether someone who had mustered up the courage to see someone in the first place. For new clients, paperwork can be sent to the patient via secure connection to fill it out and return within the day to get quickly engaged in the process.