WMHCA: ARE WE OK? POTENTIAL IMPACTS OF TELEHEALTH STRUCTURAL CHANGES ON CLINICIAN WELLNESS

Presented By

Recorded: May 2024 1.5 CEs

Though the era of COVID was not the origin of telehealth, licensed mental health providers across the country were forced to shift to this treatment modality in COVID, regardless of preference or personal beliefs around the efficacy of this modality. As we continue to emerge from the pandemic, we can look back on where we have been, and cast a vision for where we are going as a mental health counseling field. In reflection, then, what have been the impacts of the structural changes (e.g. transitions to home offices, not sharing physical space with clients, changes in commutes and other lifestyle changes, etc.) on clinician’s reported sense of health and wellbeing? How does telehealth practice contribute to or detract from clinicians’ self-care? What are the benefits, and what susceptibilities (potential areas for impairment) increase?

Join us as we share our research team’s engagement around this topic. We will provide a review of the literature that is pertinent to clinician wellness and to telehealth practice. We will expose gaps in the literature, especially related to how the structural changes associated with telehealth practice impact clinician wellness. We will offer themes that have emerged in our interactions with research participants and other licensed mental health providers. We will also walk through the current status of our research project intended to contribute to the extant literature, given the dearth of resources currently available there. Potential impact(s) and points of consideration will be offered as well.

Learning Outcomes: Participants will be able to

· Apply working knowledge of the relevant literature on clinician health and wellness, self-care, and telehealth to clinical practice. · Foster ongoing self-awareness and telehealth-specific practices of self-care and wellness related activity. · Dialogue around study findings and the themes that are emerging from the data. · Advocate for and participate in increased consultation and collaboration to develop shared nomenclature and understanding of issues.

Timed Outline: ∙ Background information (including participant engagement through an online survery): 20 minutes ∙ Coverage of legal and ethical issues: 15 minutes ∙ Project review: 20 minutes ∙ Next steps: 15 minutes ∙ Q&A: 20 minutes

EPDC CE Hours: 1.5

Presenter: Doug Shirley, EdD

Doug Shirley is associate professor of Counseling Psychology at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. Doug has been teaching and practicing counseling and psychology since 1999. In and through his private practice, Doug has had the opportunity to walk with any number of helping and healing professionals tending to the fallout that COVID brought to multiple professional realms. Doug has a passion for supporting the helpers themselves: those whose (early) life training has taught them to put others before themselves. In his teaching he is also active in guiding the next wave of counseling professionals: those who will usher our field into its future, whatever that might be.