Shifting a training clinic to teletherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic: a trainee perspective

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led many counselors and therapists to transition from in-person therapy to teletherapy services. Doctoral trainees in their first year of training, faculty, and staff at the Psychological Services Center (PSC), a training clinic at a large public university, successfully completed a rapid transition to teletherapy in March 2020. This brief report will provide insight into steps taken by the PSC to shift to remote training and practice while maintaining its educational and community mandates, prioritizing continuity of care and training during the onset of a global pandemic. We provide the trainee perspective on technological needs, remote supervision, and changes to clinical practice during the transition. Special considerations around self-disclosure and child treatment will be discussed. This brief report serves as an example of the multitude of considerations faculty, staff, and trainees may be faced with as therapeutic services continue remotely throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Telepsychology and the COVID-19 pandemic: the experiences of psychologists in South Africa

“…These findings pertaining to the blurring of boundaries aligns with the findings by Scharff et al (2020). This may suggest that the rapid shift to telepsychology in response to the COVID-19 pandemic may not have allowed the time and planning to ensure clear boundaries.…”

“…The socio-economic and psychosocial implications of COVID-19, such as increased financial stressors with reduced social support structures, gave rise to an increased need for mental health care services (Scharff et al, 2020; Zhou et al, 2020). There was a widespread call for mental health care practitioners to provide their services in response to the pandemic (Naidu, 2020).…”

The transition to teletherapy in marriage and family therapy training settings during COVID‐19: What do the data tell us?

“…Some programs rapidly transitioned from in‐person to online services. This may have required administrators to effectuate unanticipated systemic modifications related to client intake processes, documentation, billing, and supervision (Scharff et al, 2020). Teletherapy, particularly in training settings, has implications that span multiple systems.…”

COVID-19 Adaptations for Health Service Psychology Internship Training in a Medical School

“…Supervisors collaborated with interns to provide support, guidance, processing, and adaptive management of their own emotional distress and self-care. Indeed, self-care and supervision are imperative to an intern’s ability to engage in self-awareness and self-reflection, both of which are prerequisite skills for competency in professional values, attitudes, and behaviors (Desai et al, 2020 ; Scharff et al, 2020 ).…”