The
Higher Education Mental Health Alliance
(HEMHA) recently published a
guide
for colleges and universities considering implementing a telemental health, or distance counseling program, in their institution. Distance counseling uses technology to connect mental health professionals and patients separated by distance. Distance counseling has a number of unique advantages including equalizing access to students who may not be able to ask off work or drive to an in-person session. It can also increase clinical capacity and make mental health more accessible.
“The purpose of the guide is not to be a how-to document. With the case of telemental health it is changing every day. The technology is changing every day, the best practices are changing every day. The document instead was designed to guide institutions through the steps that they can use to make an intentional decision about whether offering telemental health services is right for the institution and for its various constituencies,” said Dr. Tina Alessandria during the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers’
webinar
about these new guidelines, hosted by Heartland Telehealth Resource Center.
The guidelines cover practicing across state lines, maintaining HIPAA requirements, proper insurance coverage and many of the other benefits, limitations and practical considerations when it comes to distance counseling within higher education institutions.
“The Higher Education Mental Health Association has done a phenomenal job providing a really useful resource for university and campus settings,” said Dr. Larry Long, director of Counseling and Educational Support Services at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Long shared about some of the challenges of providing distance counseling in a campus located mere blocks away from the state line, but said some of these challenges have been alleviated as guest practice laws have proliferated over the past two years.
For more information about distance counseling in a university or college setting, consult these resources:
Or, contact HTRC at 877-643-HTRC.
