Telehealth Therapy for Therapists: Barriers and Benefits

Abstract

Personal therapy for therapists is described as a means for advancing personal and professional growth. Therapist problems contribute to boundary disturbance, ethical violation, and incompetence. Benefits of therapy include enhanced counselor reflection and therapeutic alliance. Telehealth therapy overcomes barriers and represents an innovation in self-care and career development.

International PRISMA scoping review to understand mental health interventions for depression in COVID-19 patients

“…Our review found preliminary evidence that different tele-health treatments may be effective, acceptable, and feasible in treating depression and other mental health symptoms in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Furthermore, demand for mental health services among underserved populations is increased with the emergence of tele-health, inferred to be due to ease of access and reduced cost for patients and providers ( Botaitis & Southern, 2021 ). It is important to note that there may be significant barriers to delivering treatment via tele-health in certain resource-limited settings.…”

Ethical considerations in services being provided to and by fellow clinicians.

“…When there are a limited number of psychotherapists in an area it is possible for a trainee's current supervisor or a colleague of the supervisor to become involved in a trainee's case (Botaitis & Southern, 2020), through taking on a role as consultant. Even though the ethics code prevents providing identifying information during consultations (APA Ethics Code 4.06), small pieces of information given to the supervisor could be identifying and have significant negative impact on the trainee (Botaitis & Southern, 2020).…”

“…When there are a limited number of psychotherapists in an area it is possible for a trainee's current supervisor or a colleague of the supervisor to become involved in a trainee's case (Botaitis & Southern, 2020), through taking on a role as consultant. Even though the ethics code prevents providing identifying information during consultations (APA Ethics Code 4.06), small pieces of information given to the supervisor could be identifying and have significant negative impact on the trainee (Botaitis & Southern, 2020). Particularly special consideration should be made to disclosure of sensitive information pertaining to the trainee-client, such as sexual orientation, which under normal supervisor-trainee activities would otherwise not need to be disclosed to the supervisor as per APA Ethics Code 7.04 (APA, 2017).…”

“…When this is the case, trainees may attempt to seek therapy from psychotherapists in other disciplines (e.g., a social worker), but these psychotherapists can also be professionally and personally affiliated with a trainee’s program, especially given the move toward interprofessional collaboration (Johnson et al, 2004). In addition, although many trainees will choose to use telehealth to circumvent these barriers (Botaitis & Southern, 2020), many may prefer in-person therapy, thus psychotherapists may encounter a trainee from their area seeking services. Therefore, it is important for psychotherapists to attend to these multiple relationship issues when providing services to trainees.…”

“…If a supervisor were to become aware that the client was their trainee, this could result in negative consequences for the trainee-client, even in environments that would be considered to be more accepting, such as psychology and counseling training programs (APAGS, 2015). In addition, special care should be made when consulting with a colleague of the trainee’s supervisor because although psychotherapists are bound to confidentiality, even seemingly innocuous details may be identifiable (Botaitis & Southern, 2020). Thus, it is especially important to not disclose identifying information during consultation to avoid placing the consultant in a multiple relationship with the trainee and to ultimately prevent harm to the client.…”