"Volunteers in Psychotherapy" Program Awarded Federal Grant

"Volunteers in Psychotherapy" Program Awarded Federal Grant

Greater Hartford’s "Volunteers in Psychotherapy" (VIP) and its innovative nonprofit program of no-fee therapy has received a Healthy People 2010 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. VIP offers psychotherapy that clients themselves control and "earn" by doing independent volunteer work elsewhere, privately, for the community charity or nonprofit of their choice. People who can’t afford to pay, who are unemployed or uninsured, who are dissatisfied with their insurance coverage or its lack of privacy, or who worry about reports about their therapy being available to their insurers or employers, are welcome to participate. VIP provides truly private therapy for adults and families, including children.

The Healthy People 2010 grant will be used to increase VIP’s visibility to the greater Hartford community. VIP’s winning proposal specifically addresses two areas of focus of the federal grant initiative (administered by the Yale-Griffin Research Center): mental health and easing access to care.

This is not the first national notice of VIP, which provides therapy outside the limitations and intrusions of managed care. Psychology Today recently described VIP, as has National Public Radio. The American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology, a national magazine for psychologists, presented a feature article on VIP in 2000. A recent symposium highlighted VIP at the APA National Convention in Washington, DC. "The need for this approach is enormous," says Bertram Karon, Ph.D., past President of the APA Division of Psychoanalysis, who co-chaired the APA-VIP symposium. "Patients need absolute confidence in knowing what they say will be kept private."

VIP is being recognized as an innovative, ethical alternative to managed care, since no reports or documentation about people’s therapy are sent to insurers. VIP also received the Award for Distinguished Psychological Contribution in the Public Interest from the CT Psychological Association.

VIP is comprised of clinical psychologists and nonprofit specialists, and is supported by recent grant awards from numerous Connecticut philanthropic foundations and individual charitable donations. VIP has been ruled to be a tax-exempt charitable organization by the Internal Revenue Service.

VIP aims to reverse problematic therapy practices brought on by managed care. Current insurance approaches require therapists to submit reports of personal information that violate the privacy of therapy clients. Those "third party payers" also decide how many sessions of therapy will be paid for, and have increasingly limited access to psychotherapy, which can increase insurers’ profits.

"VIP protects people’s privacy and lets them determine whether continued therapy is of value to them, instead of leaving that decision to insurers. VIP encourages voluntarism that benefits the community by requiring our therapy clients to independently and privately provide ongoing volunteer work to the charities of their choice in order to receive our services. Clients should also derive all the benefits that volunteers receive from their work helping others in the community. This should increase peoples' motivation and self-determination," said Dr. Richard Shulman, Licensed Psychologist and Director of VIP. "We put clients back in charge of their therapy, even for people who couldn’t normally afford to pay by themselves.

"Many therapists are uncomfortable with all the compromises they must make in order to receive referrals from insurance companies. They recognize that sending required reports on the private lives of their clients breaches the privacy people need in order to speak openly in therapy. Even the Supreme Court recognized the need for strict privacy in a recent ruling about psychotherapy. Volunteers in Psychotherapy preserves the benefits of responsibility, commitment and privacy in therapy, while managed care doesn’t. The honesty and effectiveness of therapy discussions requires that the privacy and control of clients not be compromised."

Everyone involved with VIP is asked to contribute to the common good, including VIP psychotherapists, who work for well below average fees, and provide all administrative work for free. They receive compensation for therapy that is less than half the local average private practice fees. VIP’s administration is volunteered.

For more info, call Dr. Shulman of Volunteers in Psychotherapy in West Hartford at 860-233-5115. A 24-hour taped information line describing VIP is also available at that number. VIP’s website is <www.ctvip.org>.