Recently, Telehealth Counseling Clinic (TCC) Director, Dr. Tim Elliott and Clinical Director, Dr. Carly McCord, attended the American Psychological Annual Convention in Washington, DC. The convention provided networking opportunities and allowed the TCC to present within the symposium entitled “The Medicaid 1115 Waive
r Program, Training Programs, and Addressing Rural Mental Health.”
Both Dr. Elliott and Dr. McCord presented within the Medicaid 1115 symposium of the convention. Dr. Elliott’s session, entitled “Why We Do What We Do: Training, Research and Disparities in Rural Mental Health,” provided an overview of the symposium, introducing the TCC and its innovative efforts in providing rural communities with mental health services.
Dr. McCord’s session was titled “Telepsychology: Academic-Community Partnerships,” and provided an in-depth discussion of the counseling clinic, its services, and how it meets the needs of the rural community through the use of long-distance technology.
Also in attendance to the convention was Kevin Tarlow, a TCC practicum counselor, who presented a poster entitled “Short-Term Benefits of Telecounseling in a Rural, Low-SES Texas Community.” The poster indicated that while TCC clients’ have lower mental health status scores than national samples of individuals diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, they experienced improvements in mental-health related quality of life after four sessions of telehealth counseling.