Online Mental Health Therapist Jobs
Global Teletherapy’s online mental health therapy department is constantly growing. Our therapists, school psychologists, social workers, and K-12 counselors are equipped to meet the demands of a high-stress world. Telepractice for mental health has become commonplace because it gives immediate access to care when in person options are not available.
Our therapists work with students who have:
- ADHD (Inattentive, Hyperactive, Combined Type)
- Anxiety
- Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Behavioral issues
- Oppositional Defiant Disorder
- Depression
- Mood Disorders
- Executive Dysfunction
- Anger Management
- And more…
The Global Difference™
Engaging Community
An online team of friends, lead therapists, and dedicated school relationship managers help make your job easier.
Work-Life Balance
Manageable caseloads, no commute, and working when you have time helps you and your family grow.
Resources
Gain access to a complete online resource library of fun and engaging activities for you and your students to enjoy.
Compensation
Get paid for your non-clinical time and no fees for assessments.
Spectacular Support
School relationship managers make sure things run smoothly and assist you in many administrative tasks.
Worthwhile Career
Competitive salary and supplemental pay for non-clinical hours, with less paperwork, make your career experiences rewarding. Isn’t that why you became a therapist?
Hear what Therapists say:
“You will hear people say at school-based health care meetings that if there has to be a choice between a full-time nurse practitioner and a full-time mental health provider, that they’ll take the mental health provider because the unmet need is that great,” says Julia Lear, PhD, of George Washington University’s Center for Health and Health Care in Schools.
Online Mental Health Therapy Defined
When should you explore the option of seeking out a professional?
Kids, in general, have their ups and their downs. School and social pressures with which children must contend can drain a lot of the fun out of childhood and make it really tough. Whether it is moodiness, declines in their performance in school, or trouble with their peers or being the target of a bully, being a child comes with plenty of challenges.
And sometimes the problems that children grapple with are far more serious. Research consistently shows that the rise in childhood anxiety and depression continues unabated. Behavioral problems, ADHD, anxiety and depression disorders left untreated can often become a recipe for substance addiction, self harm, and in the most severe cases even suicide.
The question is, “How do you know if there is an underlying problem that could be more serious?” To
put another way, “When should you explore the option of seeking out a professional?”
To adequately address these and other similar critical questions, it is necessary to be aware of the signs that a child may be exhibiting that indicate the cause for concern, such as:
- Experiencing problems in different areas of life such as academically, with friends, or family relationships
- Displaying a noticeable decline in effectiveness or confidence
- Feeling bad about herself for no apparent reason
- Worrying excessively about the future
- Expressing helplessness or hopelessness
- Steadily withdrawing from activities, friends or family, she always enjoyed
- Observing changes in appetite or sleeping habits that are significant
- Negative behaviors becoming more frequent
- Self-destructive behaviors such a picking skin or repetitively pulling out hair
- Either threatening or engaging in self-harm
- Comments such as, “Nobody cares if I ran away” or “I don’t want to be here”
- Speaks about suicide in explicit terms
If you see a child is presenting any of these behaviors, an evaluation by a mental health professional may be advisable. Trained and experienced therapists have the tools to uncover core problems that are often the cause of your child’s distress, and when necessary, work with your child to alleviate symptoms and promote healing.
There aren’t enough onsite mental health therapists
Unfortunately, there are two disturbing trends currently growing in the world of mental health care. On the one hand, the demand for health care is rapidly on the rise. According to a recent report found in the Journal of the American Medical Association, practically 20% of the population in the United States is suffering from some mental health condition.
At the same time, the pool of mental health care providers is barely able to maintain itself. A report from the Health Resources and Services Administration in 2016 projected that by 2025, the shortfall of mental health providers would be approximately 250,000.
And the pain is already being felt. As a result of the worsening shortage, schools are increasingly unable to provide sorely needed mental health therapists for their students. Inflated costs press upon already overstrained budgets, and school personnel is forced to devote inordinate amounts of time and effort hunting down scarce resources.
However, let’s suppose for a moment that there was no mental health therapist shortage. Let’s even imagine that there was a healthy surplus. Would that make the problem disappear? The answer is no! That’s because of an equally imposing hurdle– money, or not enough of it!
Aside from budget shortfalls, there are the higher recruitment fees charged by staffing agencies to find “distant and elusive” mental health therapists, and then once the mental health therapist is found, those mental health therapists must be reimbursed for their transportation expenses inflating the cost of services. The heartbreaking reality is this: there isn’t enough money available to provide the children with the needed therapy.
Further exacerbating the problem is that these shortages are geographically unequally distributed. The problem in rural areas is even worse than in the rest of the country. Salaries aren’t competitive, and the rural regions are far from urban cultural centers and universities, which often prohibits therapists from participating in training and development programs that would enhance them professionally.
The growing mental health therapist shortage means higher caseloads for therapists in rural districts which results in inferior therapy sessions for the children, leads to mental health therapist burnout on an unprecedented scale, causes unexpected recruiting and turnover expenses, and students are making slower—or no—progress against their IEP goals.
What’s more, attrition of mental health therapists in rural districts can be two to three times the national average. Turnover is especially acute among professionals who travel long distances from site to site on an itinerant basis to serve students with disabilities. Many therapists reportedly resign due to the isolation of their social and cultural lives.
The collateral damage from too few therapists
But don’t think that the problem is limited to just being denied adequate Mental Health Therapy. There are many more dangerous consequences to this silent but tragic problem that is mushrooming in Rural America.
LOW SELF ESTEEM: A child who is suffering from a mental health problem and not receiving adequate therapy is almost guaranteed to be plagued by low self-esteem. Although the child can’t explain what is wrong or even correctly understand it, she knows that something is amiss. And as time goes by, the problem, unattended, will undoubtedly undermine the child’s confidence.
ACADEMIC STRUGGLES: If a child is suffering psychologically, she will be unable to concentrate and focus the same way as the other children in the class. She’s so busy with what is going on inside of her that she can’t absorb what is going outside of her. This inability to fully participate during class is bound to adversely performance and will compromise the foundation for future academic success.
SOCIAL ANXIETY: Sometimes the cause of the mental health problem is the anxiety of being in an uncomfortable social situation. Social Anxiety Disorder is the most diagnosed mental disability identified in children under age six. Until the source of the anxiety is addressed, the child will continue to experience discomfort within a critical arena of development.
Such anxiety is bound to make the child feel like a misfit. Lacking friends or even the comfort of being in the group will make recess and after-school playtime, so essential during childhood years seem like a punishment. And don’t think that the consequences of such anxiety are limited to the social realm. The ramifications are sure to carry over into other areas of life as well.
What will become of the growing numbers of children, predominantly in Rural America, who have no access to the mental health therapy they so desperately need?
Online mental health therapy is the obvious solution
Enter online mental health therapy. Online mental health therapy is the online delivery of mental health therapy services. Online mental health therapy sessions are very similar to traditional mental health therapy sessions with one major exception. Instead of sitting in the same room, students and therapists interact via high-resolution live video conferencing. And as the preponderance of telemedicine continues to rise, the online mental health therapy is becoming commonplace.
During therapy sessions, the student and therapist can see, hear, and interact with a mental health therapist in real time, using webcams, headsets, and a live, synchronous online learning environment. Most people are already using similar technology.
The distinct advantage of online mental health therapy is that now any school anywhere can access top-quality therapists at competitive rates and ensure that their students will receive excellent uninterrupted services. Geography, mobility, and time have ceased to be the barriers they once were.
By extending top-quality clinical services to remote, rural, and underserved populations, online mental health therapy holds the promise of reducing the harmful consequences of the mental health therapist shortage, alleviating severely strained school budgets, and helping the children who so much need the services.
Best of all, online mental health therapy is highly engaging for today’s students. By utilizing fun and employing digital technology, online mental health therapy is exceptionally kid-friendly. Today’s children are comfortable with computers and love game-based activities such as video interactions and digital learning.
Top benefits of online mental health therapy
NO MORE HEADACHES:
Districts no longer need to depend on local therapy agencies, worry about interruptions in therapy when mental health therapists are absent, are on vacation, or move away. Instead, they can enjoy “Anytime, Anywhere Access” to licensed, credentialed mental health therapists.
BUDGET:
Online mental health therapy maximizes the therapist’s time by eliminating traveling, which translates into significant savings for the school. What’s more, there are fewer expenditures related to recruitment, screening, contracting, training, and the managing of mental health therapists.
FLEXIBILITY:
Online mental health therapy redefines flexibility and convenience while improving staff efficiency. While traditional face-to-face therapists may lock the school into a rigid schedule, the online delivery model allows for therapy when it is convenient for the student, even outside of school hours.
TARGETED:
Schools have better access to culturally and linguistically diverse therapists as well as clinicians with specialties. Better targeting produces more effective outcomes.
EXCELLENCE:
Online mental health therapy affords schools previously unprecedented access to top mental health therapists, as they are no longer limited to locally-based clinicians, but can draw from an extensive nationwide network of highly qualified, certified and licensed therapists.
Other key advantages:
CONSISTENCY:
Since the attrition rate of therapists is often linked to travel time, eliminating travel results in a marked rise in the therapist’s success with the child
UNINTERRUPTED:
Children are guaranteed sessions even when mental health therapists are sick, on vacation, or move away as the agency can draw upon a large pool of therapists
AUTOMATION:
Scheduling, tracking, reporting, auditing are digitized to bring clarity to the administrator’s fingertips and reduce compliance issues
INDEPENDENCE AND PRODUCTIVITY:
Therapists enjoy flexible hours from the comfort of their home, increasing productivity and allowing more time with the kids
Teletherapy Jobs - Join our Network!
Experience The Global Difference™
Are you looking for SLP teletherapy jobs or other online therapy careers? Join our network of highly-qualified virtual SLPs, Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, and Mental Health Therapists, including Social Workers, School Psychologists, and licensed Counselors, enhancing children’s lives. Few telepractice companies have the passion Global Teletherapy has. We have a passion for providing our schools with therapists who provide the best service to their students, while allowing therapists to manage their own schedule and cut down on paperwork. Global Teletherapy allows therapists to have great work-life balance, excellent pay, zero commuting time, and more time to do what they love.
