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

Telehealth'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.