No one looks back on the COVID-19 pandemic fondly. However, it did lead to several advancements in health care.
One easily overlooked and far-reaching advancement is the expansion of telehealth services. It’s become a popular healthcare solution for patients seeking mental and behavioral treatment.
Could telehealth therapy benefit you and fit better with your lifestyle? Find your Elite DNA location and get started today!
What is Telehealth?
Telehealth (Virtual Care, Virtual Therapy, or Teletherapy), is psychotherapy or psychiatry services delivered through a confidential live video connection to wherever you are. This means you can receive therapy from mental health care providers in the comfort of your home.
At Elite DNA, telehealth services are delivered over Zoom, a widely used video conferencing platform. The sessions are 100% secure and confidential.
The patient care you receive is the same as at an in-person office visit. Studies show that patients are very satisfied with telehealth therapy and enjoy the same patient outcomes they’d receive from in-person visits.
Let’s look at some of the benefits of telehealth that you may not be aware of.
7 Advantages for Patients, Families & Providers
1. Convenience
Because services are provided over the Internet, you can receive treatment anywhere you have an Internet connection and a laptop, tablet, or phone.
For many, that means a virtual visit with their therapist or psychiatry provider from the comfort of their own home.
In addition, for older adults or individuals who face mobility issues, telehealth means easier access to behavioral health care. Your mental health provider comes to you.
With telehealth, you and your therapist can connect from pretty much anywhere with just a few clicks.
2. Comfort & Privacy
Mental health providers make their offices as warm and welcoming as possible, but some people prefer talking about their mental health in a place where they already feel comfortable and safe.
Telehealth services come to you wherever you choose. Your sofa, your favorite chair — you choose.
Patients often feel they can open up more in their chosen environments than in person, and this also translates to more effective therapy sessions.
Telehealth services also offer a bit more privacy.
Having sessions in your home may feel less stigmatizing than visiting traditional offices. For many, this makes therapy less intimidating — and more appealing to seek help in the first place.
In-person visits also involve interacting with others in a limited capacity before and after your appointment. People in the waiting room, passers-by, etc. Some feel more reluctant to discuss difficult topics with their provider knowing they have to encounter other people afterward, no matter how casually.
With telehealth services in Florida, you choose when you feel ready to interact with others, before and after your sessions.
3. Easier to Attend
An in-person visit to your therapist involves a lot of small logistics. Driving or arranging transportation, departing to allow for travel time, dealing with delays, parking, weather conditions, etc. Most of the time it’s not a big deal. But occasionally, it can be a massive headache.
With telehealth services, you need very little lead time. You don’t have to worry about traffic, parking, or bad weather.
Because telehealth services are easier to attend, many patients become more consistent with their therapy and miss fewer appointments.
4. Cost Effective
There are outside costs involved in in-person appointments – travel expenses, childcare, and more.
Telehealth services don’t require transportation. You may not need childcare at all during your session, or, at the very least, for a shorter time.
5. Scheduling Flexibility
For many people, finding time for mental health care is tricky. You have to schedule around work, responsibilities at home, family time, and social activities. That can leave very few hours when you and your provider are both available.
Because telehealth services reach you wherever you are, virtual appointments with your provider are easier to schedule. In addition, many therapists and psychiatric providers offer expanded hours for telehealth sessions, since it’s often more convenient for them to provide.
6. Increased Access to Care
If you live in an area with many mental health providers, including specialists of all kinds, this might not have been an issue for you.
But in many geographic areas, quality mental health care providers are limited. Specialists — even more so.
Before telehealth, you could face some difficulties in gaining access to a therapist or psychiatric provider without having to travel a long distance. Or you might have had to make the difficult decision to go without mental health care altogether.
Sadly, in many cases, people choose to go without care. And this is exactly what we want to avoid.
With the expansion of telehealth, the availability of providers has also expanded exponentially. Thanks to increased access, remote areas are no longer a barrier to world-class providers and specialists.
Thanks to our mental health telehealth services in Florida, you’ll have access to a well-qualified provider who can help you.
7. Improved Engagement
Speaking to a screen instead of a person might seem less personal.
But for those who may feel more intimidated talking face-to-face, telehealth offers an improved level of engagement and reduced stress.
Because telehealth appointments are delivered through a video conference, they provide a slight bit of distance. For some, this makes it easier to be more open and vulnerable.
Telehealth platforms also offer interactive options for sharing. Virtual whiteboards for drawing, pictures, videos, and more tools can all be shared during telehealth appointments.
For some, interacting with technology adds a level of comfort and ease.
Telehealth Services in Florida
At Elite DNA Behavioral Health, we believe you deserve mental health services that meet you where you are.
By providing mental health telehealth services in Florida, we provide convenient care that fits your lifestyle.
We can provide confidential virtual mental health therapy and psychiatry through a secure, live video connection you can access from the comfort of your own home or any location of your choosing — with virtual psychiatry and psychotherapy across Florida.
Remember, telehealth at Elite DNA is 100% secure and confidential. If you become a new patient with us, you can request telehealth therapy at any time. And of course, established patients can change from in-person appointments to telehealth sessions upon request.
Ready to explore telehealth therapy? Contact Elite DNA location and get started today!
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