176 - Creative Approaches to Distance Counseling for Treatment of Substance Use Disorders

Session Description: With the rapid onset of virtual-based counseling services, there have been several learnings in recent years about what makes virtual sessions meaningful and effective to consumers. This session will provide insight into what has been learned from a robust integration of counseling services utilizing multiple virtual platforms. Despite inherent limitations, there are ways to improve the experience and still create a strong therapeutic alliance. Creative approaches to distance counseling will be explored to assist practitioners in imagining how they can find new and exciting ways to engage patients in telehealth sessions and develop an awareness of how environment, equipment, and patient-centered communication can positively impact virtual sessions. Understanding the importance of behind-the-scenes preparation of equipment and technology can help to set the stage for a successful virtual session, as will helping the patient feel more comfortable and familiar with how to use a virtual platform. This session will share information on how preparing to get the most out of a session and minimize technical difficulties will benefit quality and effectiveness, including how to build therapeutic alliance with active listening through eye contact, making observations, and narrating actions while incorporating elements of brief counseling, motivational interviewing, CBT, and DBT modalities into virtual sessions.