“We’ve worked in closets, in utility rooms. Wherever the school has the space, we’ll make it work. We partner with schools in communities where schools have very little, if any, mental health interventions for students.

When Governor Pritzker ordered schools to close state-wide in the middle of March of 2020, my team and I made sure Children’s Research Triangle was prepared and started communicating with our clients about the use of teletherapy. 

Now that we’ve all adjusted, it feels more comfortable for clients. We have greater access and reach through telehealth. We made the decision that no matter what the future looks like after COVID-19, we’d continue providing teletherapy.

Early in the pandemic, we added an anxiety and depression screening to our  teletherapy sessions for clinicians to administer bi-weekly. 

We’re certainly seeing an increase in these areas in our clients. We have a lot of clients who are in therapy because of abuse or neglect or domestic violence. None of that has gotten any better in this time. Most of our clients live in communities that have not only been hardest hit by COVID-19 but also by increased violence. All of the risk factors we would take into consideration have been monumentally exacerbated.”