For College Students who need therapy and are OOS

[Anonymous]

Why would you send your child, with three different metal health diagnoses, that needs in person therapy (what sounds like at least weekly) to a school several states away? It sounds like you still need to help with this and she can’t manage these plus her treatments independently

[Anonymous]

Therapist here. While the rules may change for social workers and therapists to have reciprocity like psychologists, they haven’t yet. I would not count on it happening anytime soon as it has been years in the making. You either need a psychologist or one in each state, focus on the one where your child will be the majority of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How have you handled it? Daughter is many states away and there are no dual-certified therapists that I can find. She does not want to do virtual. She does need it (eating disorder, anxiety, depression). Do you have 2 therapists? Or find another solution?

Why is our country so messed up that therapists cannot help patients out of state?

Our dd does virtual therapy in the state their college is in (so much easier than in person as she is so busy). The school probably has a counseling office that would do in person for a limited number of sessions.

I would ask her current therapist to talk through with her what her options are and to choose one together that she will accept - dont let her paint herself into a corner she can't get out of

[Anonymous]

Yeah, we have this issue. My DD is in school in NY and her psychiatrist is in MD. DD got used to phone or Zoom sessions over Covid and has not seen her doctor in person in years. Her doctor very reluctantly talks to her on the phone but keeps wanting us to find someone in NY. Problem is that DD is so used to her and doesn’t want to talk with someone else.
It’s a stupid sh!tty system and I can’t figure out why more states can’t join PsyPact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- sorry for the confusion. She can get a therapist in her school state and one in this state, but we are struggling to find even one and she doesn't like the idea of switching back and forth depending on which state she is currently residing in. For example, she will be home for a month, then back to school so needs someone else.

I guess my question was, is it normal to have 2 therapists or is there any other solution?

No, the problem is you said she refuses virtual. Otherwise you need only one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How have you handled it? Daughter is many states away and there are no dual-certified therapists that I can find. She does not want to do virtual. She does need it (eating disorder, anxiety, depression). Do you have 2 therapists? Or find another solution?

Why is our country so messed up that therapists cannot help patients out of state?

Why, OP, do you immediately blame “the country” for an issue easily resolved through campus health services and if your daughter would accept on-line?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here- sorry for the confusion. She can get a therapist in her school state and one in this state, but we are struggling to find even one and she doesn't like the idea of switching back and forth depending on which state she is currently residing in. For example, she will be home for a month, then back to school so needs someone else.

I guess my question was, is it normal to have 2 therapists or is there any other solution?

No, the problem is you said she refuses virtual. Otherwise you need only one

She would still need someone who is licensed in both states. You are not allowed to be in a different state than a therapist's license, even if having a virtual session. Depending on where the school is, this is not very likely.

We ran into this issue for my DD, too. She had such a strong relationship with her therapist here, and although she tried a few near her campus, she struggled to open up to a new person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How have you handled it? Daughter is many states away and there are no dual-certified therapists that I can find. She does not want to do virtual. She does need it (eating disorder, anxiety, depression). Do you have 2 therapists? Or find another solution?

Why is our country so messed up that therapists cannot help patients out of state?

Why, OP, do you immediately blame “the country” for an issue easily resolved through campus health services and if your daughter would accept on-line?

It is a "country" issue. There should be a provision to allow continued care as long as the patient is within the US. We are supposed to be one country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why won’t she do virtual? It can be far more convenient and you’d have a lot more options. She should give it a try. Also on campus counseling might be an option but appointments could be scarce depending on size of school.

Our kid did but that was how they had always done. High school class of ‘22, started therapy in ‘20 so those appointments were virtual.
A lot of colleges also offer virtual therapy. It scales better and is more convenient.

[Anonymous]

Your daughter refusing virtual is likely going to be the biggest challenge.

Our hand was forced a couple weeks into school last year when my daughter had a terrible roommate situation and she had to move quickly. She did talk to the people at health services, but they said they couldn’t be her mental health care for an extended period. At the same time, we had just fought with the mail-order prescription company about her meds. So, we quickly found her a place that would do virtual therapy sessions AND could help her with scripts in state.

We had discovered a year or two earlier the issue with therapists not being able to do virtual sessions across state lines. We were visiting in laws in another state, and my daughter hadn’t thought to cancel her regular appt. The lady was nice about it and didn’t charge us for cancellation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would you send your child, with three different metal health diagnoses, that needs in person therapy (what sounds like at least weekly) to a school several states away? It sounds like you still need to help with this and she can’t manage these plus her treatments independently

This! We sent our ASD/ADHD/Anxiety DD to GMU precisely for this reason and thank heavens because she needed us to negotiate additional tutoring, advocating with disability services, etc. It took her six years to graduate (reduced work load) but we would have never sent her to our OOS SLACs. We saw similar children of friends crated and burn and were sent home..