- My Telemental Health Journey
- David Pruitt, M.D., DFAACAP
- Developing a telepsychiatry practice is a journey of integrating personal interest with career goals of meeting the mental health needs of our nation’s children and adolescents.
- Telepsychiatry programs in other countries and parts of the country can show the way to developing new programs that address the needs of specific populations.
- Telepsychiatry maintains treatment of youth in their communities and leverages technology to contain the costs they might incur in seeking services through other venues.
- Telesychiatry disrupts ineffective approaches to child and adolescent care in order to build better systems of care for children and families.
- Only by integrating telepsychiatry into training will we be able to ensure a capable workforce for future generations of children and adolescents who are not well served by current models of mental health care.
- The success of telepsychiatry challenges traditional models of therapeutic change by demonstrating the ability to build a virtual therapeutic relationship with youth and their families.
References
- Glueck, D. Establishing therapeutic rapport in telepsychiatry practice. in: K. Myers, C. Turvey (Eds.) Telemental Health: Clinical, Technical and Administrative Foundations for Evidence-Based Practice. Elsevier Insights, London; 2013: 29–46
- Myers KM, Nelson EL, Rabinowitz T, Hilty DM and the American Telemedicine Association Workgroup on Guidelines, Practice Guideline for Telemental Health with Children and Adolescents. Telemedicine and e-Health, 2017; 23(10):779-804.
- Pignatiello, A., Teshima, J., Boydell, K.M., Minden, D., Volpe, T., and Braunberger, P.G. Child and youth telepsychiatry in rural and remote primary care. Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 2011; 20:13–28