In a recent blog, PracticeWise marked the 5-year anniversary of COVID-19-related shutdowns for the purposes of reflecting on mental health impact for kids and teens. Long story short, families and schools experienced far-reaching disruptions to routines, mental health, and supports—with ripple effects still ongoing currently. With this unprecedented shift in the needs and demand in the mental health landscape, it seems important for us to also take a look at the other side of the coin. Today, we will reflect on the experience of mental health providers during and after the acute pandemic period.
Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Mental Health Services
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many mental health services understandably slowed down. From the consumer end, demand for in-person services and certain types of non-emergency mental health referrals decreased (e.g., ADHD evaluation), as families worked to re-prioritize their immediate needs and evaluated the safety of going out in public. Likewise, from the provider end, many practices and agencies chose to or were compelled to close down temporarily due to stay-at-home regulations; thus, availability of services was significantly limited for a time
However, as providers regrouped and began to acknowledge the potential for a lengthier quarantine period, they began to find creative workarounds to resume services. Telehealth adaptations and regulations evolved rapidly, and providers found ways to safely and effectively deliver mental health therapy, psychological assessment, and psychiatric medication management remotely.
The overall effect of the telehealth movement combined with public need at the time was such that mental health service utilization as a whole actually increased. In addition to more volume, the severity and quality of referrals changed somewhat. Providers saw more individuals presenting with pandemic-related anxiety, depression, and adjustment issues. In addition, as people—teens and young adults especially—spent more time online, curiosity about certain diagnoses (e.g., ADHD, autism) began to “trend” on social media, as people tried to make sense of their experiences during this time. These new interests also showed up in practitioner’s offices. As a whole, where did these changes in service utilization leave our providers?
Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Provider Well-being
Although healthcare and mental healthcare can be inherently stressful professions, the COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges for providers’ own well-being. When I told one of my friends in the healthcare field I was writing on this topic, she said something to the effect of, I’m not sure people understood what it was like for essential workers back then. I didn’t get a sourdough bread era at home. It was exhausting and scary. Sky-rocketing trauma and burnout rates among healthcare workers—especially those on the front lines of the pandemic—were well-established front-page news.
However, mental health providers also experienced dips in well-being and mental health during this time. In the course of their work, providers were met with exhaustion, overwhelm, burnout, Zoom fatigue, and poor physical health. Psychological and behavioral health providers were all going through the pandemic and experiencing the same stress as everyone else. Yet, in their work, they also experienced the challenges of increased service demand, intensifying symptom acuity in clients, the need for rapid adoption and competency with telehealth, the privacy challenges in working from home, and the potential for vicarious trauma. Alternatively, some providers did experience pride and an increased sense of purpose in being able to help others during such a distressing time, and also enjoyed some of the benefits and flexibility of working from home. Regardless, it was a time of turmoil and day-to-day adaptability for our providers. Have things stabilized for them since then?
Five Years Later: Changes in Practice
In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic brought mental health salience to the forefront, as people re-prioritized what mattered most to them and services became more accessible through technology. “Telehealth is here to stay!” several articles started declaring a year or two into the pandemic period (read: Psychology Today, American Psychological Association). Indeed, in 2024, approximately 90% of psychologists used remote practice to some degree. Many ongoing policies have supported this. For instance, policies were relaxed such that insurances could cover telehealth and phone services, loosening in-person requirements. Also, PSYPACT (the interjurisdictional practice agreement allowing psychologists to practice across state lines) has expanded rapidly in the past five years, likely spurred by the rapid growth of telehealth during COVID.
However, there are still questions about the stability of such positive changes. Again, youth are improving but are not fully recovered psychologically or academically, five years post-pandemic. With the increased demands on the system, there are provider shortages and long wait times. Even the adoption of telehealth hasn’t solved all service accessibility issues, with evidence that they are not reaching rural and low-income communities as equitably as others. Also, as the public health emergency and salience of COVID have wound down, some of the policies enacted to deal with the uptick in mental health service need are also winding down. For instance, at the end of March 2025, the Medicare requirements for certain in-person visits to support telehealth services are set to expire again (e.g., an in-person visit before telehealth can be initiated). Overall, COVID seems to have brought about changes that are positive, others that are challenging, and some that leave question marks for providers in the long-term.
Five Years Later: Supporting Provider Well-Being
During the pandemic, many providers felt that they were not able to meet the increasing mental health needs of the public. However, there are not many scholarly works or media pieces out there yet retrospectively considering the experiences of providers post-COVID. There are surveys and metrics that annually assess provider well-being. Results of the American Psychological Association’s 2024 Practitioner Pulse survey, indicate that provider self-reported burnout is still high (32%), but it’s at a point lower than it has been in the past five years. Early career providers report more stress than later-career colleagues, which may make sense as these folks continue to settle after having begun their professional lives during a tumultuous time.
In terms of coping, the majority of general practitioners reported engaging in a variety of self-care practices (e.g., physical, relational, psychological) in response to COVID stressors, which reduced their risk of depression, stress, and emotional exhaustion. Mental health providers also report improved attention to maintaining their own care and work-life balance since the pandemic. However, ongoing support and attention to provider recovery is needed. Researchers Fish and Mittal suggest that, in a post-COVID world, providers need to be actively trained to monitor their own burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma and take steps to mitigate them. Ongoing anti-burnout strategies at the individual level may include practitioners joining support and consultation groups, seeking their own therapy, advocating for adjusted caseloads, and participating in workplace wellness. At the systemic level, training in telehealth to prepare early career folks, the extension of COVID-era policies, and general collaboration between the physical and mental health systems are recommended to enhance providers’ ability to do their jobs with fewer barriers. For more ideas on how to attend to your well-being as a provider, see our previous blog on evidence-based provider self-care.
Further Resources
- CDC Timeline: 2020s
- Telehealth.org
- Dept. of Health and Human Services: Telehealth information for providers
- Telehealth with Youth and Families
—
About the Author
Taylor Thompson, Ph.D., serves as a distance learning developer and literature coder on the Services and Products Development team at PracticeWise. Learn more about Dr. Thompson on the PracticeWise team page.
