01 Jun Transitioning to Telehealth and Online Therapy
Therapy sessions are rapidly moving online, and there is no escape from this permanent shift in how we work as psychologists, counsellors, psychotherapists, coaches – anyone who is providing services online.
Even after the pandemic is over, we’re not going back. COVID-19 will likely be a part of our “new normal,” the virus will likely circulate from season to season well into the future, and we must find ways to adapt our practices for the long run.
Join Renee McDonald in this exciting new online course and see how she explains the use of Telehealth in the modern world of digital therapy. Renee will share with you her extensive experience in this area which will assist you in building a foundation of knowledge of the relevant concepts and methods as you create an online therapeutic space in your own practice with confidence and joy.
This training will provide information about:
- How to provide professional services across all online and technology-assisted therapy
- What therapists can do to provide high quality services online
- The legalities surrounding online therapy
- Working regionally, rurally and remotely with Telehealth
- The anxieties clients may face when they seek online therapy
- The needs of different generations: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Y and Millennials, and how online therapy may assist them.
You will no longer feel that you are ‘flying blind’ in our highly digitalised therapeutic online world! Instead, you will have the confidence to forge ahead with your online practice.
The key aspects and goals you’ll learn will be:
- How to practice with individuals, families and groups via telehealth
- Tips to grow, maintain and build rapport with clients
- Multiple ways to overcome challenges to distance and technology
You’ll leave with clear guidelines and interventions, with new confidence and competency in navigating this new telehealth world! And as an extra bonus, this course includes an extensive handbook and a set of contracts you can use in your own online therapy practice the very next day!
Learn how to:
- Confidently set up the technology and tools you need to start providing telehealth services
- Successfully adapt in-room practices to the telehealth space!
- Protect clients’ privacy
- Correctly handle billing and recordkeeping
- Make sure you get paid for your telehealth services!
- Protect yourself from telehealth mistakes
PART 1 – Setting the Scene
- What is online therapy?
- What is Telehealth?
- What’s the difference in the types of practice when working virtually.
- What does it mean to transition?
- Working in a Post-Covid-19 world
- What’s going on with Zoom?
- What platforms are safe and secure?
- What are the necessary legal requirements when working online.
- Even if you’ve “practised online”, what more you may still be missing.
- The importance of training and where international standards come in.
- What are the limitations when working online.
- Self-care, working from home and our existential dilemmas when on lockdown.
PART 2 – The importance of geography – providing services across the local, regional & global divide
- Online disinhibition – defining what it is
- Presence, essence and the space between – what is it and how is it relevant to Telehealth practice?
- Other products of online practice
- Globalisation and its importance in the online / telehealth space
- Rurally, regionally and remotely working online
- The challenge of empathy online
- Trends – of the online working space
- Finding new clients online
- Case studies
- OAIC Australian Government notifiable data breaches – and what does that mean?
PART 3 – Solutions to providing professional online therapeutic services
- Booking and calendar systems
- Payment gateways
- Tips, tricks and pitfalls of using online therapy.
PART 4 – Are you ready for online work?
- Being ready for online work
- Online magic
- Looking at online overwhelm
- Examples of online services that you can provide
- Boundaries
- Counselling vs Coaching
- Privacy and confidentiality
- Keeping clients and yourself safe online
- Backup plans
PART 5 – Boundaries online
- Flexibility and boundaries
- Benefits and challenges of online work
- Some of the latest research and further learning, regarding online work
- Using Zoom
- Grounding
- Couple and Family Practice
- E-commerce legislation
- HIPAA compliance
- GDPR compliance
- Insurance
- Gen Y & Millennials
- Australian Government legislation and regulations for online work.
- Mandatory reporting and how it applies to the online space.
- Examples given of further information and support beyond this course.
- 10-Point Plan for DIY Telehealth / Online Therapy framework set up
Renée McDonald, MAppSocSc, Post-Grad Dip Couns, B Couns (Coaching)
Renée has been a Counsellor and Psychotherapist for over 19 years. She is a PACFA Clinical Counsellor, Psychotherapist, an Accredited Supervisor, degree qualified and trained Coach and mentor to hundreds of clinicians in the field.
She is a Senior Professional Member and Registered International Online Clinical Supervisor with the Association for Counselling and Therapy Online (ACTO), as well as running an ACTO approved, internationally accredited online therapy training company. She is an experienced academic educator, trainer and assessor and runs her own training company, Australian Online Therapy Training (AOTT).
She has additionally worked in a variety of roles in the community, along with teaching and training future community workers, counsellors and psychotherapists for over 15 years, including ACAP, and in a variety of other large educational institutions.
In 2019, (with a re-print in 2020), she launched her textbook; Online Therapy: Processes, Tasks, Integration and Energetic Holding, based on her research, practice experience and training in the Online Therapy and Telehealth space.
This online workshop will give you instant access to 5 sessions of video content (2.5 hours), accessible via streaming on our website, as well as downloadable PowerPoint slides (PDF).
You can view the course content in your own time, there is no time limit on access.
The duration of this workshop is 2.5 learning hours. A certificate of completion will be generated upon finishing the course and completing a short multiple-choice assessment test. Please consult your professional organisation/association to confirm whether you are able to claim any CPD points/hours for this online workshop.
