Telehealth is a boutique novelty, the benefits to seeing someone in person are important. Getting depressed kids off devices is half the solution, frankly.

NYC promises telehealth for all high school students struggling with mental health

FTFY

Kids that left school need this as well as students in school during time of covid

>Getting depressed kids off devices is half the solution, frankly.

100% this, Instagram and other social media is contributing to the spike in teen suicide rate, humans need face to face contact.

As someone who does telehealth therapy, I 100% disagree. The benefit is there.

The question is not "is there benefit", the question is "are we helping kids as much as we can, and getting value for our tax dollars" and the answer will be absolutely not.

Despite how young people think it's normal and natural for everything to be done online, it's really not, and that's why everyone's so mentally unwell these days. Doubling down by saying "hey, no need to get off your ass and go get help, simply facetime a therapist!" is unhelpful.

So then tell me, someone who has a weekly Zoom call with a therapist, what about it is unhelpful.

I have personal experience with this setup, you have a belief surrounding this setup. So prove me, a benefactor, wrong with what I said……..

What is in person care giving that online visitation isn’t.

You need to back up your claims with sources, otherwise you're getting into "video games cause violence" territory

Probably saves money on in-school guidance counselors and gives a kickback to whatever company is running the telehealth services.

The notion isn't that it's "unhelpful", but less helpful than seeing a therapist in-person. It's kind of like, we want the kids to eat food in school, and serving up a plate of fish sticks isn't unhelpful but it's not as good for them as a balanced salad or something.

This is absurd. Telehealth therapy is real and balanced therapy, the benefits don’t go away or become diminished just because it’s done on a screen.

(Edited for clearer communication)

Agreed. Being in a person’s presence is totally different.

we need free healthcare, at the point of service.

Honestly the teachers could use this as well.

So I’ll ask again, what am I missing IN PERSON that I’m not getting over an internet call.

I’m asking you to back up your claims with examples.

We have this service that will help millions of kids but because a better version exists you would prefer the kids get nothing? Got it.

As someone who has had telehealth therapy and knows people who have, it can feel too distant and impersonal. It doesn’t work for everyone…

That’s more to do with the therapist than the method of communication. A good therapist doesn’t make someone feel distant or impersonal.

Now require it for every major healthplan.

Ahh so I only had bad therapists, not that the method of staring into a phone camera and watching a video of a person didn’t feel personal and connecting for me and some people I know…

That's true for both in person and telehealth therapy though. The tele aspect creates another layer of distance to break through. It's really great that it works for you, but you can't extrapolate that to make blanket statements about its benefits.

It depends completely on the person receiving the help. I do virtual mental health visits because I feel weird being in a room with a practical stranger speaking about why I want to kill myself, but virtual visits remove that issue for me.

Nothing like a Zoom call to shake off those pesky brain cobwebs!

Then in that case you would benefit for in person support. But I’m confused why I’m getting replies pointing out disadvantages of something clearly beneficial

Let’s be real. It’s such a beneficial thing that our tax money should pay for it for everyone.

So true!

Maybe just everyone really

This would be really wonderful. Most child therapists in NYC don’t take insurance so there is a huge barrier to access. The majority of parents also don’t have the luxury of out of network benefits.

My kid has been seeing his therapist online since covid. He has still been tremendously helpful.

Cutting school counselor budgets and giving kids a Better Help account is a bad idea.

Loads of online commenters believe that if something merely makes things better but not perfect, then it shouldn't be done. It's part of the lazy brand of contrarianism that's so popular these days.

Pure boomer think. Kids are fucked up now because their parents are fked up. They learn the wrong shit at home. Fkin therapy over zoom isn't going to make any difference. Well some will benefit from it sure. But there are major issues with bad upbringing and kids getting groomed for jail culture and stuff and zoom therapy or any therapy will not make any difference.

NYC has successfully figured out how to push the buck on staffing adequate numbers of school psychologists AND providing an invaluable service at the same time. Honestly I’m impressed….

Therapy is invaluable to those who need it. And while I agree that you do get more out of it in in-person sessions that is just not a realistic option in this case. It has been incredibly hard for me to find an in-person therapist in the city and I have insurance, am able to make time for an appointment during a weekday, and am able to pay out of pocket costs. I doubt even half of students in the city have all that. This program is going to help people, full stop.

And there’s obviously a massive difference between using a device to go to therapy and using one to doomscroll on twitter/reddit or play video games. Its just the most boomer shit ever to hear this news and immediately go to ‘phone bad make kid big sad’

Okay so you see no difference between a child using an ipad access social media and a child using an ipad to have a zoom call with a therapist where they can talk through their problems with a real person??

I see nothing to connect the adverse effects of social media on teens and increased telehealth access for teens besides you needing a phone for both. What’s next? We need to make appointments in person too because phone bad?

Tried telehealth and it just isn't for me. Seeing someone in person is a far more different and helpful experience

School counselors don't really help with mental health

Yeah promise everyone free psychiatric telehealth visits. I’m sure that will go over well.

>Okay so you see no difference between a child using an ipad access social media and a child using an ipad to have a zoom call with a therapist where they can talk through their problems with a real person??

How on earth did you draw that conclusion? The only point I was making was that an in-person session is better than a zoom session.

Another very subtle thing one may not consider, is that to complement your point of the virtual visit, you as a client are potentially in a much more comfortable space that you are familiar with. For some, the process of commuting to see a specialist can be stressful, in contrast to doing a video call where you can prepare yourself at your comfort level, environment(s), and conditions.

Obviously different strokes and preferences for different folks, though giving people options versus outright-nothing are steps in the right direction!

>Getting depressed kids off devices is half the solution, frankly.

>100% this, Instagram and other social media is contributing to the spike in teen suicide rate, humans need face to face contact.

It’s really giving ‘phone bad’

Maybe re read it

Probably going to be something like Headspace.

So you wanna get them new parents? Or try to give them tools to cope with the cards they were dealt? This is an absolute brain dead comment

That’s capitalism for ya

> give them tools to cope

Boomer think. You are mistaking these attempts that appear like solutions to be more effective than they are. If some kid is fked up with deep rooted issues, as in learned all the wrong shit at home, then therapy will be rejected. Will be of no help.

I've had positive experiences with remote therapy! But I've also worked with young kids who would definitely have trouble with the format! Hopefully the remote model will prove successful enough to secure funding for more flexible options.

On that note, students might not have their own room or private quiet space at home where they can feel safe discussing personal issues. I haven't read the article, but hopefully the schools can provide an area for this.

(Obama voice) If you like your parents, you can keep them.

Awww

so lemme get this straight, they wanna help teenagers suffering from loneliness and social anxiety from covid/pandemic ... by giving them phone calls with therapists? that's so fucking stupid. the article says they wanna fix pandemic-borne social issues by using telehealth. that's literally a phonecall with a therapist holy shit they are dumb

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Not good enough. They is the bare minimum of what can be done. Adams is a dope

So your alternative is what? The prison system? Just give up? Throw em in the trash? Eugenics?

Also the entire point of intensive therapy is to help out people who are fucked up with deep rooted issues. We should be putting more resources towards these issues, not less. Maybe consider some empathy

Edit: why on earth am I arguing on the internet again

Is this like when the city promised free housing attorneys?

>City officials did not immediately provide details about how the program will work

Well I think that answers it.

You keep accusing others of "Boomer think", but everything you're saying is Boomer think.

I have VA healthcare, but I pay out of pocket for mental health because the VA is grossly understaffed and inefficient. I hope NYC takes notes about how not to serve their patients.

I’d say it’s 50/50 from what I’ve experienced and heard. One of my kids loves telehealth, my other kid hates it. I’ve heard the same across the other parents who I see at the in person therapists office.

For real. My work puts me in contact with a lot of city agencies, and whenever I see something to the effect of "the City is going to send someone to help you," I think of someone's idiot cousin drawing a borderline no-show paycheck, trying to do an actual job where you aren't just Applying The Formula, and I can't imagine subjecting anyone to that, let alone someone who needs real help. Honest question, has anyone ever had a good experience with a city program that is just straight up supposed to help a needy person?

If it can fix one in twenty it's probably worth it

>Edit: why on earth am I arguing on the internet

Lol, it happens to the best of us. I've attempted to avoid that, as much as possible.

RN, the question for me is, why have I been on Reddit for so many hours??

Really? I feel like therapists are more likely to take insurance. I think the real problem lies with psychiatrists. Very, very few of them take insurance and if they do, they’re fully booked for months out. And if you have shit insurance, you end up needing to go through public hospitals and their psychiatrists are also booked up.

Gotta subsidize all of those folks with Psych degrees. Am I right? /s

Forget city programs that is supposed to help a needy person. Programs that are supposed to benefit everyone barely functions. DMV anyone?

Yeah been paying 350 a session (that’s the reduced rate) 6x a year to my psychiatrist for over a decade. It’s infuriating, but what I have to do to get my ADHD drugs. I wish it wasn’t so normalized for them to not accept insurance - you’re medical doctors! There aren’t like, spinal surgeons out there who only do out of pocket. My doc is great and deserves money, but I’m very poor and realizing I’ve paid him 21000 is upsetting.

Therapists don’t take insurance because the contracted rates are so low. Even if the session is only 40-50 minutes, insurance companies make the therapists fight to continue treatment by requiring written treatment plans, denying authorization, making the therapists call them to appeal…a lot of uncompensated administrative time. I blame the insurance companies.

There aren't enough psychologists in the country to handle that.

Do they have good health insurance plans through DOE?

Seriously reimbursement for behavioral health is an embarrassment.

Even if they did, a lot of therapists don't take insurance.

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I bet it would. You could use it

Sadly, there aren't enough psychiatrists.

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Already a 3 month wait for psychiatrists with 10% of the population having access. What do you think will happen when 100% of the population has free, unfettered access?

Yk, maybe the better way to attack this would be trying to get more psychiatrists, not prevent more people from getting care

Generating a new psychiatrist takes about 9 years. Not to mention you cannot just snap your fingers and get a new psychiatrist. Only so many quality training positions available.

You could try fixing that problem instead of thinking the solution is to block poor people from accessing healthcare.

Priorities is what this is really about. You think access to healthcare should be dependent on your ability to pay. Most of the rest of us don't. You are the problem

What is your solution to that problem? Keep in mind that psychiatrists take 9 years to train and training positions are not unlimited.

Yeah I know… so let’s start incentivizing a lot more it now so that we have an influx of them in 8-9 years.

We can also do things like promoting psychologists to receive extra training and even to encourage some to go all the way so we can bring some more in 4 years.

Then how about encouraging psychiatrists to come from other cities to bring some in immediately?

Of course these solutions have issues but we need to be doing something and simply neglecting to address the issue and pretend it’s solved by not allowing people to receive the care they need is only gonna make more problems for us, like it already is

More training positions, reduce the insane costs of education. Not difficult to figure this out on your own. Use that dense head of yours

But you and I both this isn’t a real concern you have. You just think poor people shouldn’t have healthcare. That’s called concern trolling

We receive it and so do students.

The organization is called HelloHero.

Only issue is that most of the providers are doing it part time.

My first few months with them, my provider cancelled every other week.

The provider I'm currently with is now consistent but they only offer thirty minutes sessions as opposed to 45 minute sessions or even hour long sessions like most therapists.

Psychiatrists are not the only health providers who can provide mental telehealth services.

Therapists are in short supply as well. In high demand markets they are often going cash only.

Nurse practitioners are band aids that offer sub par services.

There really is not a quick solution to your problem

You cannot just make new positions and generate high quality doctors. It’s simply a logical error on your part. The cost of education is an icing on the cake only. The US already fills every psychiatry position in the match each year despite high medical school costs.

Encouraging psychiatrists to go to nyc is simply engaging in brain drain. You help your problem, and you fuck over Philadelphia.

Incentives won’t help the pipeline. Psychiatrists are already being generated at the max number of available residency slots.

Why is this my problem? Lack of access to Mental health services is an international problem. Something I would think a doctor would recognize.

Sure. And my point being that giving everyone free access is not the panacea that you think it is.

Not to mention if psychiatrists are pulling cash only practices, why would they accept whatever deal the government is going to offer them for public healthcare?

Didn’t say it was a panacea. You seem to repeatedly be making assumptions about my POV.

“Logical error” lol shut the fuck up you think private insurance is the most efficient way to distribute healthcare despite overwhelming evidence that it is the sole reason we have the worst healthcare in the developed world.

You can make up any bullshit excuses to justify your prejudiced opinions that even you know are bullshit. You simply would rather have shitty expensive healthcare yourself than see a poor person in the same hospital as you. That’s what this is about, nothing more, and you know it. The only reason we don’t have universal healthcare is because of people like you who simply believe ‘inferior’ people shouldn’t have healthcare.

If anyone needs socialized medicine it’s you so you can get help for your antisocial selfish behavior

The data suggests that they are equivalent except for special circumstances (eg, eating disorder treatment). There are certainly individual preferences though.

Since you edited your comment but didn't reply to mine, I'll respond to your second part.

If you're genuinely wondering how you get psychiatrists to accept public healthcare, then it's improving wages and working conditions for psychiatrists who work at Health + Hospitals. Psychiatrists are already part of The City's "public healthcare" system through Health + Hospitals. And in the shorter term, it's expanding the number of openings for psychiatrists and therapists.

In any case, having nothing but criticisms helps discuss the issues with a plan, what helps even more, especially if you are a physician is providing your own solutions to the issue.

I never made any such claim. Universal healthcare is the only good solution

Do you not realize those are two contradictory things?

What two things? What did I say that preempts a universal healthcare option?

No you think therapists and psychiatrists shouldn’t be included for some reason, which would in turn be going against universal healthcare

People on here think staying home forever is a normal thing so can’t relate

I'm probably going to say something politically incorrect here but sometimes I feel we classify too many things as mental health issues and then use that as an excuse as to why we fail. I feel like if we pulled this shit in china Japan or Korea you would just be laughed out of a job. Not that there's never any mental health issues it just seems like everything including laziness is a mental health issue nowadays.

Like even in the us some of the things we call a mental health issue now would just get you a butt whooping from your dad a generation ago.

My same statement applies to every physician. There are month long waits for tons of different specialists. Radiology facilities are already pushed to the brink. What’s going to happen when the flood gates open?

There is nuance to this that the layman hasnt attempted to understand

Headway is a great place to find therapists who take insurance. They’re currently expanding to different states and adding on insurance plans but they do take the big ones atm such as Aetna, UHC, and BcBs

Appreciate the tip! I'm sure many here do

NYC loves promising stuff.