Tricare programs offer online counseling

Tricare programs offer online counseling
By Mark Abramson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, August 27, 2009
Servicemembers and family members in the States can now see marriage counselors and psychologists online from home, thanks to two new Tricare programs.

The Tricare Assistance Program, or TRIAP, was launched on a trial basis on Aug. 1 and allows servicemembers and family members ages 18 and older to use Skype and a webcam to go online at home or anywhere that has Internet access to see and talk with a counselor.

TRIAP users have access to marriage counselors and other similar professionals to help them deal with stress, family and relationship problems, anxiety and other issues.

“The [TRIAP] system now is low-level counseling without a diagnosis,” said Tricare Management Activity’s Kathleen Larkin.

Tricare Assistance and the similar new Telemedicine program, which has psychologists to help people deal with depression and other mental health conditions, prescribe medication and make diagnoses, are not modeled after other programs that use online counseling; they are just ways to add to the services Tricare provides, Larkin said.
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