Telehealth Policies and Procedures

The Wellness Center’s commitment to delivering high-quality mental health care has been consistent throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, we developed a number of policies and procedures that have enabled successful delivery of tele-mental health services for a range of different concerns. Many students responded positively to the ease, convenience, and flexibility of tele-mental health service, and to help maintain safety of all our students and providers, we are proud to be able to continue this mode of service delivery to any and all students who wish to pursue this option.

Students may choose to receive tele-mental heal services at any time; whether just starting off after seeing a provider for some time, we are able to transition quickly into a tele-mental health modality.

If you have never been seen by a provider in our center or if it has been more than 6 months since your last attended appointment, you will be asked to complete our new client paperwork and meet with a provider for an initial session. You may schedule this appointment any time by contacting us at (727) 873-4422. We will provide you with all the information you need to start this service quickly. If you have been seen by a provider within the last 6 months, please contact our office to resume services. You may be asked to complete an additional documentation related to our telehealth service.

PLEASE NOTE: you must be physically located in Florida to obtain telehealth services, per professional licensing guidelines.

As always, please know we at the Wellness Center are here to serve you. Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call. 

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TELEHEALTH PROCEDURES

Initiating Services, Documentation and Your First Appointment

All psychological services begin with an initial appointment. When you are ready to schedule, contact our office to provide your basic contact information and schedule your first appointment. You will then receive an email from us with a link to complete the New Client Forms and instructions for attending your first telehealth session.

WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND saving the online portal URL, or simply bookmarking the site in your browser. This URL will be the same each time you need to complete paperwork (e.g., before any follow-up appointment).

Here are some important notes about the New Client Forms:

• Your Forms must be completed before your scheduled appointment. If you do not complete the paperwork beforehand, your appointment may be delayed, canceled or rescheduled. If you are not sure if your online paperwork has been completed in its entirety, please call our office at (727) 873-4422 to verify.
• The Forms will take 20-30 minutes to complete and must be done in one sitting. You will not be able to save your information once you have started.
• Completing online paperwork does not constitute treatment, nor does it establish your care at the center or a relationship with a mental health provider. Your paperwork will not be viewed until you attend your scheduled appointment.
• We will retain your new client paperwork for 72 business hours in the event you to not attend your first session. If your appointment is not rescheduled within that time, your paperwork will be deleted. Should you wish to reschedule after the 72-hour window, you will need to complete the forms again.

In a separate email from our telehealth platform (Therapy Assistance Online, or TAO), you will receive information about your personalized account, which we will create for you. You will need to verify your account before your first session.

At the time of your first appointment, please follow these steps to connect:

1. Visit the TAO log-in page and use your username and password to log-in
2. Navigate to the video camera icon in the top right corner of the screen
3. Select the button to enter your provider’s room
4. You will be directed automatically to the virtual meeting space

Individual Follow-up Appointments

Prior to attending any follow-up session with your provider, you will be asked to enter our online portal and complete the Returning Client Forms. Once you complete these forms, you will be asked to once again log-in to TAO to connect with your provider as you did previously.

Our model of care includes assignment of new clients to specific providers for all follow-up care. So, the provider you see for your first appointment may be different from the provider you will see for follow-up appointments. You will always be informed if you have a new provider prior to scheduling with that person.

Here are some important notes about this process:

• Each time you complete the Returning Clients Forms, enter your first name, last name, and U number (digits only) as you did previously. This will help our providers identify your paperwork quickly.
• We recommend completing these forms 10-15 minutes before your scheduled appointment. As noted above, your paperwork will not be viewed until you attend that appointment. If your paperwork is not complete before your appointment, the start time of that session may be delayed. If you complete your paperwork more than 24 hours in advance of your appointment, you may be asked to complete it once again

PLEASE NOTE: You will be asked at the start of every virtual session whether you are in a safe, secure, and confidential space. If you are not or if your confidentiality is compromised, your telehealth session may be disconnected and rescheduled.

Group Counseling Appointments

For students engaging in group counseling services, the telehealth procedure is identical to what is described above.