Online therapy gets funding boost in Sask.
CBC
The University of Regina's online therapy unit is receiving an additional $400,000 from the Saskatchewan government.
The money, announced at a news conference Monday, will support an online program called Internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (ICBT). It will allow the therapy unit to take on 500 more clients a year, bringing the total to 2,000.
ICBT is an alternative to traditional in-person therapy. It allows people to access a therapist once a week and complete weekly lessons tailored to their needs. It is free and anyone can apply.
Kelly Adlam, a therapist and research associate with the unit, said people looking for in-person therapy can end up on lengthy wait-lists and free online therapy offers an alternative option.
"[It] is very difficult for people, in a lot of instances, to access care in a timely fashion," said Adlam.
According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, half of Canadians looking for therapy in 2019-2020 waited up to one month for ongoing counselling services in their communities, while one in 10 waited more than four months.
Saskatchewan's Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Everett Hindley spoke about the importance of rural people being able to access mental health services.
"We know that when it comes to to mental health and addictions that it's not really a one-size-fits-all approach," said Hindley. "People have different needs when it comes to supports and services they require."
When asked about whether safe-injection sites could be seen as a potential support, the minister said he was focused on the online therapy announcement currently.
After an initial phone call with a therapist, the rest of the therapy course is completely online, unless the therapist feels there is reason to call and check-in.
Clients get an average of about 20 minutes of therapist support per week.
Heather Hadjistavropoulos, a professor of psychology and director of the online therapy unit, said she is confident the results clients see online are on par with those go to in-person sessions.
"We haven't done the head-to-head trial of, you know, putting people in face-to-face versus online," said Hadjistavropoulos. "But we know within the research literature that people have, and when you do that — when you take clients and and randomly assign them to do face-to-face treatment or online therapy — you'll get virtually the same outcomes."
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