Given the difficulties that we are all facing together as a society at the moment, RiverRun PTS is now offering Telehealth sessions. At this stage, it will allow us to continue offering support to our clients while Victoria pushes social distancing and reducing unnecessary close contact. It will also allow us to engage with people further afield than our catchment currently allows.
There are multiple ways that Telehealth can help you work towards you goals, including:
- Children and young people working directly with their therapist via online formats;
- Families working together with their therapist online; and,
- Parents having 1:1 time with their therapist.
How does it work?
For our Telehealth service, we will be utilising Microsoft Teams for video appointments and standard phone calls for those that don’t require video functionality.
Sessions will be conducted in RiverRun PTS’ clinic space, or the therapist’s home office, providing a secure and confidential video and audio environment. Microsoft Team’s level of data encryption complies with the Australian Privacy Act 1988, ensuring that online service provision will not compromise the confidentiality of our service. Written records of sessions will be kept and maintained according to the existing privacy policy, a copy of which can be requested any time.
Will Telehealth work for me?
It is anticipated that this transition to Telehealth will be a temporary measure to continue to support the RiverRun families during this time. However, it is uncertain how long these measures will need to be in place. We will be completely flexible in our approach to tailor our service to meet your needs as best we can. For some, this may just mean a shift in service provision format. For others, this may mean a shift in goals for intervention. For others, this may not be an appropriate way to support your needs, in which case services may need to cease for the time being.
Rest assured that it is ok for any of these options to apply to your family. If you choose to cease services, or cut back the frequency of services, please know that when life returns to normal and face-to-face sessions resume, your current level of service will be reinstated and you will not lose your place within the service.
Please follow the link to this blog post that helps to explain how Telehealth works and how it can help you and your child.
For the most part, sessions can be conducted with items from around your home. There may be times when specialty equipment is required, such as certain pens/pencils/scissors, paper, putty etc. If this is the case, the procurement of these tools can be discussed with your therapist at the time.
More information can be found here.