From Pandemicto Progression: Framework for Virtual Mental Healthcare for Children & Youth in Response toCOVID-19

COVID-19 has necessitated child/youth mental health providers virtually delivering services to patients' homes In contrast, traditional telepsychiatry is delivered to patients in medically and technologically optimized environments such as primary-care centres or emergency departments The shift to direct to patient virtual mental healthcare is occurring quickly with scant guidance available for clinicians on how to address unique considerations for the virtual care of children and youth as they rapidly shift their practices away from in-person care Therefore, we bridge this gap by discussing a six-pillar framework for delivering child and youth virtual mental healthcare that was necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic We also offer a discussion of the advantages, disadvantages, and future implications of such services as they are likely to continue even following the cessation of the COVID-19 pandemic