A Problem In My Field Podcast

Telehealth is an online support system for mental health needs, but a new law prevents college students from accessing therapy across state lines. This disrupts their consistency and creates more mental health issues. Telehealth should be a helpful resource, but it has made it difficult for college students to get the help they need. Students can try other online sources, university therapy programs, or in-person therapy options. Telehealth needs to reassess their policy, and customers can advocate for change through a survey. With feedback, the mental health world may improve. Hello and welcome everyone, my name is Landi and I'm going to be talking about the craziest thing in the universe, the human brain. As a psychology major, I have found the mind to be a wild thing, this podcast discusses things in relation to mental health and the struggles that go along with it as we get older. So let's get started. I don't know about you, but finding therapy as a college student has been difficult. As students across the country have been going to college, mental health has been a pressing issue that should be addressed to better students. People often find it to be difficult to find the right help for themselves, and young people feel embarrassed or ashamed that they can solve their problems themselves, not recognizing the gravity of the problem or having no confidence in the types of treatments that are available. This is said by a professor doing experiments examining basically the effects of how therapy is available to a lot of college students across the world. This is why online mental health sources are used so often in this generation because it is kept in the privacy of one's environment. Telehealth is an online support system for all health needs. Telehealth has doctors, therapists, and people to talk to for needs having to do with anything health-wise. They have mental health programs fit for therapy that can be accessed on video or phone call. However, this method of health care has forgotten a very important aspect of therapy, consistency. Telehealth no longer allows your patients to get therapy over changing state lines. Anytime you must go to a different state, you have to get a different therapist. This law states that if you are physically in a state that your therapist is not licensed in, you can no longer have any interaction with them until you get back in the state you are based in. College is difficult. Students need access to resources at any point in which is needed. However, this method of health care will not allow for their patients to have online care throughout the country if a therapist is based in one state. This is a fairly new law. On average, about 43% of college students go to college out of their home state as stated through a study done by a blogger curious about how to help moving college students. This means that 4 out of 10 students, on average, cannot continue with their therapist they have at home because Telehealth's new law. This resets the student's consistency and comfortability to create more mental health issues going into one of the most stressful times of their lives. Not to mention how hard it is to find a therapist that fits what you need. Telehealth has increasingly made it harder for college students to get the help they need. As a young adult going into college, the stress and anxiety that comes with the move can greatly affect mental health. When needed, students need to be able to access the help through well-known and credible businesses. Telehealth is supposed to be a part of the process. There are strong sources that are used by many that trust the program. However, they have made it so difficult to get therapy that it is good therapy for college students moving away into another state. For example, as stated through Telehealth, if you have an online therapist in Virginia and you go to college in North Carolina, you have to change your therapist. That becomes an issue. This is what happened to me. Therapy should not have to change just because you go to a different state for school, especially if your home base is where your insurance is and the therapist is licensed there. This makes it unfair to get help when needed by college students creating more of an issue for mental health. With this, I would like to examine another podcast and just take a short break real quick and then we'll get right back to it. All right, let's talk about an amazing podcast you should totally check out. Thomas, a very knowledgeable student looking into the science realm, has decided to create a podcast on nuclear energy. Not only has he investigated the research of it, he's explored the factors of it being a more prevalent source that is affordable and clean. If you care about the environment and want to see a better future for energy resources, you should absolutely check out this podcast with a topic I'm interested in. With that, let's get back to it. As we know, Telehealth is an online source. About 72% of college students use online sources for their mental health as stated from a source that investigated students' perceptions on online therapy. Therefore, the program has created a much needed source for those searching for online care. Many types of insurance companies work with Telehealth to give patients access to therapy at a low rate. Most of the online sources require out-of-pocket money every week for appointments. Telehealth, in theory, has been a great program to get help, however, until recent policies that made the program way more increasingly more difficult to talk to someone. Right now, therapists across the country are fighting to get the policy revoked back to its original state. It was originally that you could have a therapist anywhere in the country as long as your insurance was in the state your therapist was in. Therapists need to reassess this policy. Until they do, however, there needs to be something done on a personal level to get help that you need. There are a few ways that one could do this. First, you can use other online sources that work best with your needs that are transferable across state lines. Another option is to use university therapy programs that you will always have access around your area. You could also use other therapy sources that are in person that are also in your area. Students are constantly using the internet and online sources to find information as a part of their day-to-day activities. With this, they can use the internet as a way to find credible help with transitioning through this problem. This was stated by another professor that was also looking into how much students use online sources on their day-to-day basis. While these are inconvenient, they will help in the long run as telehealth issues begin to resolve. All in all, this matter is something that cannot be changed without the help of the customers through Teladoc, the website at least. You can access a survey that lets you advocate for better care in handling the situation. Even though this is small, it can make an impact. If telehealth programs got enough feedback to change their policies back to the original plan, the mental health world may just become a little bit better. That is it for today's episode. I hope this helps and provides some guidance as you navigate the hardships of college. As always, there will always be a brighter day, and that's when you'll be okay. Thank you.