Best Practices in Telemental Health: Therapy Reinvented
Fulfills requirement: Telemental Health
Prior to 2020, the field of mental health was inching its way towards incorporating virtual technologies into standard practice. However, the practice of mental health pivoted in 2020 due to the global pandemic, with a speed previously thought unimaginable. In spite of all the uncertainty and angst, clinical practices not only survived but many thrived, and the clinical landscape is forever transformed and re-invented.
This intermediate level course covers best practices in telemental health and consists of three sections. The first section is reviews the latest research on how telemental health can be implemented with a broader range of clients and applications than had previously been considered. The next section provides interviews with three clinical supervisors and ethics experts from different theoretical orientations on how they enhance professionalism and optimize the online experience. The final section summaries the following latest developments in this rapidly changing landscape: (1) federal telehealth policy updates, (2) developments in cross-state licensure and interjurisdictional compacts, (3) professional guidelines for best practices in telehealth, (4) emerging federal and state laws regulating artificial intelligence in mental health, and (5) professional guidelines for implementing artificial intelligence into clinical practice.
All content is available in audio and text versions. A video option is also offered for the three interviews.
Educational Objectives
- Identify who is an appropriate candidate for telemental health
- Implement strategies for setting the stage and “frame” to enhance treatment
- Incorporate ways to enhance the therapeutic alliance when working online
- Identify telehealth policies, cross-state licensure, and artificial intelligence regulations in mental health
Syllabus
- Is it effective, and, if so, is it as effective as in-person service?
- Who is suitable for telemental health?
- What considerations should be made for telemental health?
- How do you create a shared experience?
- How do you enhance the therapeutic alliance?
- What documentation should you have?
- How should you handle recording sessions?
- What considerations should be made for specific populations?
- Natalie Reinfeld
- Establish specific boundaries
- Appreciate cultural considerations
- Remain vigilant about nonverbal cues
- Create a safe space
- Physical setup
- Tone of voice
- Tamika Damond
- Manage technological difficulties and disinhibition effect
- Enhance professionalism on camera
- Ward off burnout and physical and emotional fatigue
- Engage in “socialization to therapy”
- Set clear expectations in informed consent
- Find collaborative activities you can still do together online
- Handle silences skillfully
- Be thoughtful about culture
- Stay flexible, open, and creative
- Michael Donner
- Carefully consider clinical issues (e.g., emerging circumstances, confidentiality, privacy)
- Set the therapeutic frame as a means to enhance communication and to provide safety and trust
- Understand the digital divide in telemental health and its impact on subpopulations
- Federal telehealth policy updates
- Permanent telehealth flexibilities for behavioral health codified into federal law
- General Medicare telehealth flexibilities extended through December 31, 2027
- Claim form guidance
- Acute hospital care at home waiver program extension
- “Big Beautiful Bill” telehealth provisions
- Cross-state licensure: Latest developments in interjurisdictional compacts
- PSYPACT
- Counseling Compact
- Social Work Licensure Compact
- Best practice guidelines for telehealth
- Professional competence
- Ethical, legal, and administrative considerations
- Clinical considerations
- Education, training, and supervision
- Artificial intelligence in mental health care
- Federal and state laws regulating use
- Best practices for AI use from professional organizations