Domestic violence and other crimes like sexual assault can cause survivors to experience depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other mental health conditions. Rural survivors face significant barriers in seeking treatment for these conditions. The Wyoming Trauma Telehealth Treatment Clinic (WTTTC) uses videoconferencing to connect survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault to psychology doctoral students. The students gain valuable experience, while the patients receive needed therapy. Therapy sessions are free to clients.
Survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other violent crimes can access free psychotherapy services via secure, encrypted videoconferencing technology. Doctoral students who have been trained in trauma intervention theory and techniques provide the therapy under the supervision of doctorate-level psychologists. An individual session lasts 60 to 90 minutes and occurs weekly. Before, the sites could only refer clients to counseling services, which were not located onsite. Offering psychotherapy at these safe houses and similar nonprofit organizations allows clients to address immediate, practical needs like emergency housing while at the same time addressing their mental health needs. In addition, this arrangement allows the crisis center staff to initiate a warm handoff between client and student therapist.
Results:
In a 2015 study, 21 participants (including clients, therapists, and crisis center staff) rated different aspects like “ease of equipment use” and “sensitivity of therapist” on a 1-5 scale. The lowest score was a 4 from the crisis center staff for “ease of technology use,” while the highest score was a 5 from the crisis center staff for “quality of staff interactions with therapists.” The clients themselves ranked the overall quality of services a 4.81 out of 5. Clients completed a questionnaire to measure the presence and severity of PTSD symptoms. The 2015 study showed that the mean score from this questionnaire decreased from 54.43 pre-treatment to 34.10 post-treatment, showing an improvement in PTSD symptoms. Clients also completed a self-report measuring depression symptoms. The mean score from this report decreased from 29.33 pre-treatment to 15.24 post-treatment, showing an improvement in depression symptoms.
Population: Everyone, Victims of Sexual Assault
Links:
- Learn more about the Wyoming Trauma Telehealth Treatment Clinic
- Read the news article about the clinic
- Learn more about intimate partner violence
- Read the journal article Provision of Evidence-Based Therapies to Rural Survivors of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault via Telehealth: Treatment Outcomes and Clinical Training Benefits
- Learn more about trauma-informed care for victims of sexual assault
Date: 2021