Aim:The purpose of the present study was to explore the experiences of a diverse group of mental health clinicians both in hospital and in the community, who were required to rapidly adopt virtual-care practices in the delivery of mental health services to children, adolescents, and their families.Methods: Mental health clinicians (N = 117) completed the Clinician Virtual-Care Experience Survey assessing the following domains: ease of technology use, client/ patient-provider interaction quality, and clinician wellbeing.Results: Although over 70% of clinicians had not used virtual-care to deliver mental health services prior to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, more than 80% felt it was easy to operate the virtual platforms. Clinicians were divided in their perceptions of the effectiveness of virtual-care, with only 42% reporting that they felt they were as effective in delivering healthcare services virtually as compared to in-person.Virtual-care was described as being more effective for specific populations, while challenges were described in building rapport and when delivering difficult or unexpected feedback.Conclusions: Clinicians felt there were some benefits of adopting virtual-care practices, while challenges were also identified. Understanding of the impact of virtualcare on service providers is essential in order to strengthen mental healthcare for children, adolescents, and their families even beyond the pandemic. K E Y W O R D S children and adolescents, COVID-19, mental health, psychiatry, virtual-care 1 | INTRODUCTION Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic on March 11, 2020 by the World Health Organization (www. who.int). Physical distancing, school closures, and modifications to work environments changed the lives of youth and their families. Children and adolescents experienced mental health distress in previous public health crises (

COVID-19 restrictions have necessitated child/youth mental health providers to shift towards virtually delivering services to patients’ homes rather than hospitals and community mental health clinics. There is scant guidance available for clinicians on how to address unique considerations for the virtual mental healthcare of children and youth as clinicians rapidly shift their practices away from in-person care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we bridge this gap by discussing a six-pillar framework developed at Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for delivering direct to patient virtual mental healthcare to children, youth and their families. We also offer a discussion of the advantages, disadvantages, and future implications of such services.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract