TELETHERAPY

What to expect: Teletherapy is counseling sessions held via live video conferencing. All teletherapy sessions are held on a HIPAA-approved and secure portal (hosted by Simple Practice) that only you and your clinician have access to. A one-time secure link is sent to your email 15 minutes prior to each session. This link will take you to the virtual waiting room, where your clinician will meet you at the time of the appointment. If taking the session from your laptop, a new page will open and no further action is needed from you. If you are taking the session from your phone or tablet, you will need to download an application. A few things to take into consideration: your clinician can only guarantee privacy on their end of the computer, so please make sure you are in a private space, uninterrupted by others in order to get the most benefit from your teletherapy session.

The year 2020 has forever changed the world, how we work, go to school, and how we seek professional services. Here at Your Family Wellness Village, we are no stranger to teletherapy, as we have been offering this service to all residents in Illinois since 2019. Video visits have certainly increased in popularity in the last 4 years with up to [insert % here] of new clients at Your Family Wellness Village opting for telehealth visits. These types of sessions are ideal for those who have an irregular work schedule, or for new parents who just had a baby and don’t wish to go outside with a newborn, or again just to be within the comfort of one’s home. Teletherapy has definitely helped overcome barriers to therapy such as lack of transportation, lack of childcare, connecting clients in remote parts of Illinois to qualified therapists.

Teletherapy has been shown to be just as effective as in-person counseling for most mental health issues. Sessions held in the office can have a similar feel to sessions held via video conference. Your therapist will even be able to share worksheets with you, write on a virtual whiteboard, or guide you through in-session exercises.

Teletherapy is especially effective for:

People who travel within the state of Illinois for work (i.e. medical workers, sales people)

Individuals with irregular work schedules

Couples who have a hard time connecting their schedules to be in the same place at the same time

Students with small windows of time within their day, not enough time to travel to a therapist’s office

In-home exposures for OCD work

There are some limitations to teletherapy and some instances when it is not recommended:

Your clinician is licensed to practice in the state of Illinois. This means you can only do teletherapy while both of you are located in Illinois. A therapist is bound by its local jurisdiction and professional licensure requirements, and may not be protected when practicing outside of those bounds. If you plan on traveling out of state, simply let your clinician know within 24 hours of your session to promptly cancel that appointment. Your clinician will do the same if they are traveling out of state.
If you live in a busy household with several family members, active young children, or don’t have a private quiet space to take your sessions from.
If you struggle with social anxiety or agoraphobia, your clinician may start work via teletherapy, but eventually may request you come into the office, as this serves as effective exposure for your anxiety.
If you are exploring heavier topics with your clinician and are taking these telehealth sessions from work during your lunch break. Sometimes it’s best to give ample space and honor the time for these heavier sessions by going into the office or rescheduling a telehealth session to an after work time.

Please note that insurance companies no longer consider phone calls as a telehealth visit. If you use health insurance benefits but cannot use a live video conferencing platform, please contact our office to cancel your telehealth session, or consider switching to self-pay.

If you feel like telehealth is right for you, contact us now to book your teletherapy session. All of our clinicians offer counseling sessions via live video conference.