Lessons from 2020: practical and clinical aspects of rapid telepsychology adoption in clinical psychology postgraduate programs

Abstract

From March 2020, clinical psychology postgraduate programmes began rapidly adopting telepsychology within their training clinics to support public health and reduce the spread of COVID-19. However, implementing this rapidly, safely, and effectively posed challenges to programmes, educators, supervisors, and trainees who at the time predominantly utilised in-person psychology and had limited experience with telepsychology. This paper outlines the collaboration of Australian psychology postgraduate programmes; the development of the Australian Telepsychology Collaboration’s role in supporting rapid adoption; empirical evidence for the use of telepsychology in training clinics; and reflects on how clinics overcame initial technological, security, clinical, practical and competency barriers to adoption. Implications and recommendations for clinical psychology postgraduate programmes are discussed, and an emphasis is placed on the unique opportunity that psychology programmes have to contribute meaningfully to clinical and empirical telepsychology knowledge.Key PointsWhat is already known about this topic: Telepsychology has been rapidly adopted and is increasingly used in psychology and psychology training programs since the pandemic.Telepsychology is a way to maintain training standards and learning opportunities for post-graduate psychology trainees during times of increased social and movement restrictions.There is emerging literature to support telepsychology for the types of presentations common to training clinics.What this topic adds: A reflection on the security, technological, and clinical knowledge learned by postgraduate psychology training programs transitioning to telepsychology that has relevance for training providers and clinicians undertaking parallel transitions.Overcoming barriers to large-scale telepsychology implementation.Implications and recommendations for psychology postgraduate programmes.