As the COVID-19 crisis evolves, the demand for mental health services continues to spike as people wrestle with existing or new struggles with anxiety, depression, substance use issues, and more. As people turn for ways to receive care safely from home, telemedicine has proven to be a powerful tool.
During this challenging time, Summit Community Counseling is offering patients behavioral health services through telepsychiatry, and in some cases, augmenting programs to meet the increased demand when needed.
Summit Counseling Center, which offers telehealth services through Genoa Telepsychiatry, is continuing to provide support to help clients receive mental health services they need without having to leave their homes. They have also been working to make sure many of these services are now covered by most insurance companies.
“Everyone is feeling the stress of this pandemic from lost wages, decreased hours at grocery stores, loss of personal services like hair salons, and most importantly decreased social contact and feelings of isolation and loneliness. People who have never had mental health symptoms are experiencing depression, anxiety, and even feelings of panic,” shares Dr. Karen Malm, Executive Director at Summit Community Counseling.
Summit Counseling Center teamed up to send healthy meals provided by local small business restaurants, directly to the homes of Summit’s patients and families in need. By the end of the week, they had provided meals from Biscotts (a South Jordan-based restaurant providing take-and-bake services) to nearly 50 patients and their family members.
In addition, as a way to express gratitude for Summit Community Counseling’s mental health clinicians and staff – the more often forgotten health care providers on the front line during this crisis – Genoa Telepsychiatry sent meals to Summit’s full-time staff of 18 people and their families.
“While our staff may be feeling similar feelings, they are putting aside their own struggles to help others. This takes a great deal of compassion, strength and a deep sense of responsibility to help others. If you (or a loved one) are feeling down or concerned that your mental health is suffering, it’s essential to talk to someone; whether that’s someone close to you or a professional, to offer you the support, advice or help that you need,” says Dr. Malm.
About Summit Community Counseling
Summit Community Counseling is a full-service mental health practice that provides individual, couples, and family therapy as well as mental health and psychological testing and assessments for a wide variety of purposes and needs. What makes our agency unique is our ability to match clients and therapists to meet the specific needs of each individual as well as providing those services where they are needed. We are very much client-centered and focus on the needs of the client, working in a collaborative effort to help individuals reach their highest potential. With the breadth of experiences and variety of training our therapists encompass, we are able to offer the best research-based approach to address the issues at hand. For more information, visit https://www.summitcom.org/.
About Genoa Telepsychiatry
Genoa Telepsychiatry is the nation’s leading provider of outpatient telepsychiatry.
As the telepsychiatry branch of Genoa Healthcare, we increase access to behavioral healthcare by building telepsychiatry programs that connect psychiatrists & APRNs with patients in underserved communities across the U.S.
Genoa Telepsychiatry serves behavioral health communities in 35+ states and provides care through nearly 250,000 annual appointments. For more information, visit www.genoatelepsychiatry.com.
SOURCE: Genoa Telepsychiatry
