How the pandemic is showing therapists the power of online therapy and distance learning
There’s a lot of speculation these days about what “normal” will look like in the post-COVID-19 era. As a mental health professional, I see pretty strong evidence that fundamental changes are coming to our community.Face-to-face meetings have in the past always been the preferred way we’ve provided our services and conducted our professional interactions, such as continuing.
But with the advent of physical distancing, we’ve all been forced to incorporate technology into our practices that has been viewed by many in this field as inferior to the “old ways.” In fact, there has been quite a bit of judgment from other therapists and educators about doing and trainings online. I've heard people say things like, "That isn't therapy. Real therapy is only in person" or "That isn't a real school if it's online. Learning has to be done in person for it to be effective."and Zoom and FaceTime. There still is. And for some good reasons.
First, there’s a learning curve involved in using these marvels of the Internet, one that intimidates many older practitioners. Second, insurance companies can be pretty sketchy about what claims they will honor. Both clients and colleagues tell me that there seems to be little consistency between insurers’ policies. While one may pay for face-to-face visits, it won’t recognize electronic sessions. Another may pay for electronic sessions, but not telephone sessions.
As a culture, in general, we don’t acknowledge mental health as being as important as physical health, and one thing the stress of this pandemic has quickly revealed is that treatment of both is equally important.
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