March 20th, 2020
Telehealth offers a range of benefits for both therapists and their clients. It can be a powerful tool that makes mental health care easier and more convenient to access and provide.
Telehealth benefits include:
Flexible schedule: With telehealth you can have secure, real-time two-way communication anytime and anywhere. You can conduct sessions during times that best fit your schedule. You do not have to be confined to a 9-to-5 schedule if it does not fit your lifestyle.
Convenience: You can receive services from your office, your home, or even while traveling. With telehealth you are no longer constrained by your physical location, you can easily connect as long as you have an internet connection and a camera.
Greater access: Telehealth can make mental health services more accessible and convenient—increasing mental health treatment outcomes.
Clients may also seek care earlier if they have the option to get help without leaving their homes as this allows them to avoid the perceived social stigma associated with mental health care. Additionally, telehealth also gives rural clients and clients with limited mobility increased access to healthcare they may not have had access to otherwise.
Increased income: Telehealth gives you the opportunity to offer additional hours in which you may be available. With telehealth, you can schedule appointments at non-traditional hours. It also removes the barriers many clients may face in seeing a therapist (i.e. not being able to take off time from work, office being too far away, not having access to transportation).
Improved quality: Countless studies over the last decade have consistently shown that telehealth provides quality of care that is on par with traditional in-person services.
Telehealth is a rapidly expanding area both inside the mental health space and outside of it. Telehealth’s growing popularity can be attributed to the fundamental benefits it brings to both providers and clients. Our list above just includes a few of these many benefits. However, to gain a better picture of what telehealth has to offer, let’s break down some numbers and studies.
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