Remote supervision and training in suicide prevention during the time of the coronavirus pandemic: Recommendations for training programs and supervisors.

Abstract

The Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) has led to a widespread surge in need for mental health services. At the same time, trainees in health service psychology rapidly transitioned to remote work to protect the safety of themselves, colleagues, and patients from the pandemic. This abrupt switch has led to pioneering advancements in the use of remote technologies which can improve access for patients and trainees alike. However, the existing guidelines for telehealth lack specific recommendations for training programs and supervision. Further, the literature is especially lacking in information on training in suicide risk assessment and management for when both supervision and treatment are conducted virtually. Trainees commonly experience relatively high anxiety when working with high-risk patients, and close supervision and support are paramount. This review provides information on available technologies that can aid suicide prevention, highlights gaps in existing guidelines and literature for telehealth as these may apply to trainees' work with high-risk patients, and delineates recommendations for training programs and supervisors to optimally support trainees' learning with regard to suicide prevention, and to ensure that trainees provide their patients with optimal treatment.

Exploring Trauma and Resilience among NYS COVID-19 Pandemic Survivors

“…Inherent in such questions is the impact of modifications of the traditional in-person therapeutic space on confidentiality and traditional ethical standards (i.e., confidentiality) [ 3 ]. To that end, it is important that graduate psychology and other mental health services programs begin to address training in telehealth to meet the evident need to reach populations who cannot access in-person services [ 5 , 31 ]. Legislators at both the state and federal levels are encouraged to fund community-based resources that provide free, competent, telehealth interventions such as the NYS COVID-19 Emotional Support Helpline, and not just during times of crises.…”

“…These novel stressors likely contribute to clinically significant levels of psychological and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and the diminishment of resources designed to ameliorate such symptoms [ 4 ]. Indeed, the COVID-19 global pandemic has been a catalyst for situation-specific factors that could exceed an individual’s threshold for developing psychopathology [ 5 , 6 ].…”

“…From April to August 2020, this team met once weekly on the online platform, Zoom, to discuss their experiences and provide each other with support. It is well documented that peer support from other clinicians is crucial in mitigating trainee stress in challenging circumstances [ 5 ].…”

“…In situations such as these, telephone interventions may be best equipped to stand in the breach [ 3 , 18 ]. Hausman et al highlighted the Health Buddy intervention which monitored patients through a telephone device [ 5 ]. Health Buddy assessed patients’ symptoms while they were at home and submitted those responses to mental health staff so that they could intervene.…”

Virtual Versus In-Person Suicide Prevention Training in the Workplace: Evaluation of the VitalCog Program

“…Strategies to mitigate COVID-19 spread, such as stay-at-home orders, coincided with increased demand for mental health supports (Hausman et al, 2021 ; Le et al, 2020 ) and elevated concerns about suicidality (Reger et al, 2020 ). While the systemic virtualization of services for clinical mental health care, especially synchronous video chat, has been widely discussed as a success (Abraham et al, 2021 ; Connolly et al, 2021 ; Mishkind et al, 2021a , b ) there is less known about how these same technologies were used to facilitate the transition from in-person to virtual delivery of preventative training and education services such as gatekeeper training.…”