Have you tried a video therapy session yet?
Due to the pandemic, working from home has become the only way that many people can do their jobs. With that shift came the rise of teleconferencing apps. These apps helped remote employees work together and opened the door for virtual appointments with doctors and other health care professionals.
Once the first lockdown happened in the spring of 2020, many mental health practices across Canada needed to shut down temporarily. However, with levels of stress and anxiety at all-time highs, countless people desperately needed mental health assistance. Thankfully, technology came to the rescue, and video therapy started to become the norm.
Owl Practice Video Therapy
We were working on our video therapy solution long before the pandemic hit, but in April, we realized just how important this feature would become to therapists all across North America.
While many people were using Zoom and other video conferencing platforms to communicate with their coworkers during this time, those services weren’t appropriate for online therapy sessions. For one thing, they weren’t secure, as demonstrated by the many stories of random people popping into private conversations. That would be the worst-case scenario for those in a video therapy session, as it would both interrupt their session and compromise their privacy.
In introducing Video Therapy, we wanted to give therapists and other mental health professionals a tool they could use to connect with their clients in a way that facilitated the therapy session safely. Our first step was to make sure that Video Therapy was entirely PHI and College-Compliant, just like all our other mental health practice management services.
This level of security gives everyone reassurance that everything discussed in a session is 100% protected by Canadian privacy laws. All Video Therapy sessions are run exclusively through Owl Practice servers. We don’t rent the servers, we OWN them. Moreover, these servers are located in Toronto, meaning that they’re out of the hands of foreign governments who might have more lenient laws when it comes to data management.
Facilitating Couple and Family Sessions
One feature that was important to us when developing Video Therapy was couples and family sessions.
Lockdown and other quarantine measures have increased the importance of getting along with those close to you. With that in mind, we aimed to make holding family and couples therapy sessions easy via Video Therapy.
Owl Practice Video Therapy is device-agnostic. You can access it on iOS, Android, or Windows platforms. Provided you have an internet connection, you can log into a video therapy session wherever you are. If your client has a big family, and everyone being in the same location would be inconvenient for a family session, each person can head to their own room and use their own personal device for the session.
Moreover, those in a therapy session don’t need to be sharing the same WiFi network for Video Therapy work. If a couple is living in separate residences, they can attend a Video Therapy session on their respective devices in their individual homes.
Fully Integrated with Owl Practice
Our Video Therapy feature is fully integrated with everything else that Owl Practice offers mental health professionals.
For example, invoicing your clients is easy after a Video Therapy session, as each session is linked to the client, just like it would be if you were seeing them in person. All client notes will be stored in their profiles, as will clinical notes that you make during sessions. If you need to reference your notes, you simply log into Owl, and there they are!
Video Therapy is one “trend” that we expect will only gain in popularity throughout 2021 and maybe even beyond. It offers an unparalleled level of convenience, especially for those who don’t feel comfortable traveling during the pandemic or lockdown. If someone can’t make the commute to your practice, they can make the commute to their laptop!
If you’d like to learn more about our Video Therapy features, or would like to explore everything else Owl Practice has to offer, you can sign up for a 14-day free trial! If you have any questions or comments about our services, please contact us at support@owlpractice.ca.
As Always,
Practice Wisely
