Reference no: EM133405809

Given the burst of use during the pandemic, the medium of telehealth has still yet to be researched. In your post you highlighted an important concept regarding the utility of telehealth. In particular you noted that although the research is catching up, the field still needs to provide evidence based support for the use of telehealth in the field of counselling.

As the ethics code states, it is up the counsellor to "ensure that one has necessary skills and knowledge to use technology in a way that maintains its ethical integrity; this requirement extends, as well, to one's employees and supervisees; ensuring that clients are aware of and understand how technology will be used in one's practice and As part of the informed consent process, counsellors/therapists indicate to clients at the outset of services whether digital records will be kept. If electronic record keeping is to be implemented, counsellors/therapists ensure that digital security measures necessary to protect client confidentiality and privacy are in place (e.g., encryption, firewall software).

At this time, do you think the benefits of telehealth outweigh the drawbacks? And what recommendations would you make to a counsellor who is planning to offer services through a platform such as Zoom so they can make sure they are compliant with our Standards as counsellors?