Telehealth and the Therapeutic Relationship – Jarrett’s Case
Considering that Jarrett is a 16-year-old teenager who is likely highly digitalized with the routine use of platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Discord, he would not struggle with the basics of telehealth since he would already have experience with many elements of the process pertaining to telehealth. However, while Jarrett is fairly skillful in using the tools available in the digital world, the concern of the therapeutic relationship in the telehealth setting can be at least partially valid. Video chatting to relate emotionally and establish a therapeutic bond can become problematic, even for digital natives like Jarrett, as asserted by Simpson et al. (2020). He may be used to relating with friends through digital platforms, but therapy is different. The room has to be private, without disturbances, and both of those are basic for a productive telehealth session, which may be hard to come by with his living situation, as described in the case study.
In addition, the fact that Jarrett is comfortable using digital platforms does not suggest an easy attitude toward discussing the fragile issues pertaining to mental health over these mediums. Although he would be easily adept at using the technology, it may compromise emotional connectedness and nonverbal communication, which are critical to therapy. Therefore, although digital nativeness on the part of Jarrett may serve as a mediating variable mitigating some technological barriers, it also reframes those potential problems in upholding a congruent therapeutic relationship in a telehealth format, as indicated by Hui et al. (2023). Ensuring that Jarrett is in a conducive environment for the session and addressing any discomfort with discussing sensitive topics through video chat is essential to overcoming these challenges.
References
Hui, L., Teng, L. S., & Guo, F. (2023). Modeling the relationship between digital nativity and Smartphone usage in learning English as a foreign language contexts. Frontiers in Psychology, 13(2). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1053339
Simpson, S., Richardson, L., Pietrabissa, G., Castelnuovo, G., & Reid, C. (2020). Videotherapy and therapeutic alliance in the age of COVID‐19. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 28(2), 409–421. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2521
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Question 
Telehealth and the Therapeutic Relationship – Jarrett’s Case
You talk about the lack of experience with the telehealth platform might interfere with the call and and would pose a threat to the therapeutic relationship possibility of struggling to connect over video chat. Do you think this will be a challenge for Jarrett specifically? As a teen and likely a digital native I’m suspecting he spends a lot of time connecting with friends either on snapchat, IG or even discord playing video games..