Keynote: Telepsychology in the time of lockdown: Exciting advantages for practice.
Time: 10.00 – 10.45 GMT
Keynote speaker: Assoc Prof Monica O’Kelly PhD, FAPS, (CClin. CEDP)
Telehealth, or more specifically for mental health workers, tele mental health, telepsychotherapy, telebehaviouralhealth, or telepsychology has been growing in recent years. It is considered by some to be the next big frontier in the delivery of health care (Varkers, Brand, Ward, Terhaag, & Phelps, 2019). It offers a service to those who otherwise do not have ready access to specialist mental health support. In 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic requiring individuals in communities to socially isolate and not leave their home, to prevent the spread of the virus, telepsychology has been a valuable tool. For the therapist it opens up a wider catchment and scope of practice in a context that does not require the expense of professional rooms. There are however issues that need to be taken in to account including efficacy, ethics, practical issues, adapting CBT to the telepsychology space and managing risk. This presentation explores these areas with the conclusion that increased use of telepsychology is one of the silver linings in the cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr Monica O’Kelly is Director of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Australia and Director of the Australian Institute for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. She is an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at Melbourne University, an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Monash University and a Professor at the Cairn Millar Institute.
Monica has trained in Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy at the Albert Ellis Institute in New York and is an Associate Fellow of the Institute. She has also completed the Extramural Training Program at the Beck Institute in Philadelphia and is a Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy. Monica has published many chapters and articles and presented papers at both national and international conferences in the area of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. She is Author of CBT in Action: The practitioner’s toolkit, and has made a number of teaching videos.
Monica has worked for over 40 year as a therapist with children, adolescents and adults in a variety of government and educational settings before going into private practice.