Welcome to our second BHECN-ARPA newsletter! Our goal is to highlight the amazing work our awardees accomplish to improve the behavioral health workforce in Nebraska. We also want to create a forum for awardees to share important information like job openings and supervision opportunities.
In each newsletter, we will feature one BHECN-ARPA project and hear directly from the awardees about how project activities are progressing.
This awardee profile will feature Blue Elephant Counseling LLC, which is based in Dannebrog. Below Principal Investigator Katie Donahoo, pictured right, tells us more about the project, which received funding in the Telebehavioral Health in Rural Areas category.
Katie, tell us about your project and what made you want to pursue it?
Our project sought to expand a single member telehealth private practice into a group private practice to help meet the needs of rural Nebraska. As the owner and initial provider, it has long been a passion of mine to use technology to allow providers to reach the rural and frontier areas of our state while simultaneously allowing providers to live in areas they prefer in the state or elsewhere.
It was my hope that by providing location independence to the providers it would attract high quality providers who seek longevity in the practice.
What do you find most exciting about the project?
I find the prospect of providing services to all corners of the state the most exciting part of the project. Our entire company is learning so much about telehealth, business, and outreach.
What do you see as the biggest barrier to success for the project?
The greatest barrier is marketing to rural and remote areas. As a new business, we have few established relationships outside of our primary location. We see this, however, as a barrier we can overcome throughout the course of the project.
What learnings have you gleaned from the project so far?
Not all providers like providing services via telehealth and not all client like receiving services via telehealth. Insurance and funding barriers for client's remain an issue. Digital marketing is trickier than it seems.
We have also learned that while telehealth is not preferred by all, those who were not initially interested but gave it a shot anyway found it to be worthwhile and were glad they tried it. Participants who remained in therapy longer than three sessions found the lack of travel, ease of access, and short wait times to be seen as outweighing their lack of desire for online sessions. Clients were pleasantly surprised at the ease of connection with their therapist in a virtual platform.
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