Purpose-Built for Care: How The Dorm is Redesigning Hybrid Group Therapy Spaces With Zoom Rooms
Virtual care is now an integral part of serving clients at The Dorm, a mental health treatment center for young adults.
The Dorm transitioned from zero to 100% virtual services during the pandemic, and within a few months, resumed in-person care with a hybrid approach — four days a week in person and one day where all sessions happen virtually. Additionally, The Dorm’s founder and CEO, John McGeehan, estimates that between 20% and 25% of clients have chosen an entirely virtual treatment path, which may include individual therapy sessions and remote participation in group therapy sessions taking place at The Dorm.
McGeehan and his team are focused on implementing this new hybrid model of treatment in a way that’s effective for all participants.
“Everyone was masked in our facilities, so how could we overcome the audio hurdle? How could we set up cameras that weren’t just a 180-degree view but had a 360-degree perspective, so it didn’t matter whether you were remote or in-person?” he asked.
See how The Dorm is approaching hybrid mental health treatment using Zoom Rooms and DTEN devices to create spaces purpose-built for care.
How The Dorm Went Virtual
Before March 2020, virtual treatment wasn’t even on the center’s radar. McGeehan said his team prioritized in-patient care and even had concerns about the effectiveness of treating high-acuity patients online.
All that changed with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Dorm migrated 900 sessions a week to Zoom meetings, ranging from psychotherapy to life coaching and group therapy.
“We did extensive research on platforms and landed on the Zoom platform largely because of its ability to help us enable a HIPAA-compliant program and its user-friendliness. We pivoted our entire platform to virtual for all sessions, each and every day,” McGeehan said.