Supplemental Material for Evaluating a Telehealth Single-Session Consultation Service for Clients on Psychotherapy Wait-Lists

Outpatient mental health clinics across the country are struggling to meet acute demand for mental health services, resulting in months-long waitlists for people seeking care. Providing evidence-based, single-session interventions to treatment-seeking individuals while they are waiting for treatment may help address this crisis. One such intervention, the Single-Session Consultation (SSC), was found to be an effective, acceptable, and feasible low-intensity treatment option when delivered in person. The current study evaluates the telehealth delivered SSC during the COVID-19 pandemic to individuals waiting to access mental health care. Of the 147 people offered an SSC, 95 (64.63%) accepted the invitation, 74 (77.89%) scheduled with a clinician, and 65 (87.84%) attended the session, surpassing feasibility benchmarks. Participants saw pre-to-post intervention improvements in hopelessness (dz = 0.91, p < .001) and readiness for change (dz = -0.49, p < .001). At 2-week follow-up, anxiety symptoms reduced significantly (dz = 0.40, p = .04) but depression symptoms did not decrease significantly (dz = 0.21). Participants rated telehealth-SSC sessions as highly acceptable and developed a close therapeutic alliance (M = 6.13, SD = 0.76). The telehealth SSC was acceptable, feasible, and effective in the short term, suggesting its utility as a low-intensity, scalable interventions for people on waiting lists for outpatient mental health care. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement The Single Session Consultation (SSC) can provide effective just-in-time mental health support for people on waiting lists. Additional studies should examine how the SSC can flexibly adapt to meet the demands of various settings and communities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)