Training in Trauma-Responsive and Anti-racist Telehealth: A Model for Behavioral Health Clinicians and Providers

Abstract

AbstractTelehealth's uptake in behavioral health services has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many clinicians continue to lack focused training in providing trauma-informed and culturally-responsive telehealth care. This article outlines a model curriculum that was created to instruct and coach behavioral health providers in California on how to integrate anti-racist and trauma-responsive techniques into telehealth. Topics like evidence-based trauma therapies, racial/ethnic trauma, marginalized communities, digital divide, and provider selfcare were all covered in the nine-part curriculum. Every three-hour session included evidence-informed didactic content, telehealth skills practice, and concrete planning for implementation. Trauma-responsive frameworks such as the tri-phasic model of trauma recovery (Herman in Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence—From domestic abuse to political terror, Basic Books, 2015) and the neurosequential model of therapeutics (Perry in The handbook of therapeutic care for children, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, 2020) served as the foundation for the sessions. The Tools to Improve Practice (TIPs) website was created as a supplementary digital resource portal to support clinicians with continuous implementation. This model illustrates a replicable approach to strengthening workforce capacity and competence in trauma-responsive, anti-racist telehealth practices.