ASHLAND — Despite early pandemic setbacks, counseling organizations in Ashland have technologically adapted their practices resulting in an expanded amount of services to the community.
Counseling and therapy services were forced to convert from an in-person setting to an online medium during the pandemic, which originally seemed a formidable challenge.
However, more individuals sought help and treatment for two primary reasons, according to David C. Ross, interim executive director of the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Ashland County.
First, counseling services were easier to access and schedule through video meeting platforms such as Zoom and Skype. Second, the stigma of being seen walking into a counseling center dissolved because individuals could attend sessions from the comfort of their own home.
Prior to the pandemic, few providers in the country offered telehealth services due to the restrictions in place. None of these organizations were in Ashland.
“The rules for telehealth were so restrictive (prior to the pandemic), a lot of folks didn’t use telehealth,”Ross said. “When the pandemic hit, the leadership in Columbus, both from the Governor’s office and through Mental Health and Addiction Services, recognized that with all the agencies being shut down, the needs would still be there, maybe even to a higher degree.
“They needed to open up and relax those telehealth rules, so they did that.”
Only certain secured devices could be utilized for telehealth services beforehand. After the restrictions were loosened, and the pandemic halted in-person counseling, providers were heavily inclined to offer their services over video conferencing platforms.
According to Ross, childcare and unreliable transportation became less of an issue for individuals seeking services because they could participate in counseling from the comfort of their home.
Ashland University students have been especially keen on utilizing telehealth services through the institution. Since the pandemic began, Ashland University’s caseload for services has risen by 46 percent.
“It was obviously a little overwhelming in the beginning,” said Dr. Oscar McKnight, director of psychological counseling and health services at Ashland University. “Now that we have these online platforms, counseling itself has changed dramatically.
“Even though we’ve increase our caseload, the new technology and new platforms have allowed us to take the extra load.”
Like Ross, McKnight theorizes the increase in cases was provoked by the ease of access that virtual counseling offers.
According to McKnight, students have been more engaged in treatment because of the pandemic. He saw depression and anxiety exacerbated because of the isolation.
McKnight usually recommends channeling anxious energy or finding additional activities to reduce depression.
“What I’ve learned during this past year: privacy is more important than confidentiality,” McKnight said. “They don’t want to be seen coming into a counseling center.
“We got a whole new group of students who came in for counseling that before would have never sought services, so it is a huge benefit for that group.”
For pandemic-related cases, most students were worried about their families rather than themselves, McKnight said. Telehealth gave counselors the option to add relatives or involved parties to the session no matter the distance.
In the Ashland community, Ross stated there was a heavier caseload during the pandemic initially, but those issues were largely resolved quickly.
“For a lot of folks, there was so much uncertainty in those early days – whether it was food insecurity, job insecurity, financial insecurity – things that wouldn’t normally drive somebody to our agencies to get services,” Ross said.
“There was an increase of anxiety and depression around those issues, but after a few short sessions, most of those things were resolved. That’s not typical for our system. In general, folks stay a bit longer than that.”
Both the Mental Health and Recovery Board as well as Ashland University’s counseling services have created cell phone apps promoting self-wellness that individuals can download on their phones or smart devices. “Ashland Healthy Minds” is a campus-based app developed with the assistance of AU students.
The Mental Health and Recovery Board of Ashland County then developed its own application called the “Healthy Ashland App” based on AU’s app to be used by Ashland community members. Both apps provide stress-management techniques, innovative relaxation ideas, as well as links to local mental health and addiction services.
Ross claims it is the Ashland community’s resiliency and the increased access to telehealth services that have caused people to seek the help they need and quickly recover from their ailing issues.
“We have not seen increases in hospitalizations; we haven’t seen these big spikes in suicides and overdoses that some other counties have seen,” Ross said. “I think there will be a subset of clients that will prefer this medium.
“It’s here to stay. There is a lot of folks that (attest to) this format of telehealth. It’s just better, it’s preferred.”
