TeleHealth and On-line Based Stress Consultations

New Video On-Line Consultation Service

The Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy of Greater Columbus, Inc. on March 1, 2009, will meet the stress management needs of employees who simply cannot afford to leave their office for traditional “face to face” psychotherapy.

 Stress issues that effect people:

 The effects of stress and tension which make it difficult for people to happily live up to their potential come from things like:

• loss of a loved one,
• job stress,
• family and marital stress,
• divorce,
• financial worries, or
• just everyday irritations like traffic

These interferences cause:

• loss of time and efficiency
• loss of energy
• loss of motivation, and

• loss of money through

ü      poor use of time to accomplish a task,

ü      inability even complete tasks,

ü      arguments at work or at home that may damage your character/reputation, or

ü      increased errors that cause losses to your company or costly personal expenses.

Traditional Employee Assistance programs or EAP’s as they are known, are useful in a therapy or counseling model, but they require you to physically go to a mental health professional’s office, costing you time, financial expenses (in use of sick leave or business resources), and travel costs to get there, which may add to the tensions you face. With the economy making every company operate as lean as possible, having employees on the road an hour each way to a mental health office if that kind of treatment isn’t necessary costs the company and the employee.

If you feel you don’t need to be in “therapy” but instead need brief consultation to manage your stress, we can help.

Our telehealth model:

This form of “telehealth” is not designed to be a replacement for psychotherapy. Instead, it is intended to assist people, like yourself, who are trying to manage stress. The costs of these consultations are not billable to insurance, and no diagnosis is provided because the service is not intended to be a medical intervention. Our model will educate you about what your stress centers from, how your thinking about these issues creates or worsens it, and how behaviors you can use to effectively deal with the real problem. We provide 5 video-audio encounters, or “telehealth” encounters, on-line (you are in your office at your computer) to accomplish the following;

• Assess your unique stressors and stress reactions
• Explain your stress and its causes using practical psychological principles
• Provide a plan to change thinking patterns that create or worsen the stress
• Teach strategies to change behaviors that create or worsen the stress
• Teach a method of relaxation that his a skill for you to learn and use everyday
• If after 5 encounters, it is determined that you may be facing a diagnosable mental illness, you can decide if you wish to seek additional help from a licensed mental health professional at CCBT. We can provide that referral internally, or show you how to access your insurance’s providers easily.

Who Provides the Service:

Dr. Kevin D. Arnold, a psychologist licensed in Ohio and Wisconsin, is Board Certified in Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. Dr. Arnold is presently the only person in the office providing this service. He is the director of CCBT and its most senior psychologist.

Bottom line costs and payment: 

• Five (5) 45 to 50 minute telehealth encounters,
• Cost per encounter is $75, ($375 for all four encounters)
• Payment can be made by check or credit card (VISA/MC)

What you will need:

• A computer with a microphone, webcam, and speakers
• A private time of 45 – 50 minutes each time for your encounters
• A free account on SKYPE (Note: to see if the encounters are secure, consult the SKYPE security and encryption section of their website)

Type of customers served:

If you are an individual and believe this would be a way to help you with your stress management, contact us at individualtelehealth@ccbtcolumbus.com or call 614-459-4490/email intake@ccbtcolumbus.com and ask Mark, our intake coordinator, to set things up.

If you are a company and are interested in being in the ground level for this revolutionary approach to EAP services, have your HR office contact us at employereapservice@ccbtcolumbus.com, or call 614-459-4490/email kenfilbert@hotmail.com,  and ask Ken Filbert, our practice administrator, about the next steps.