Petrol, Parking, and Pressure: How Telehealth Can Reduce the Stress Around Therapy

Reducing logistical barriers can make therapy easier to attend. Telehealth offers families a more accessible way to engage in occupational therapy from home.

Common Barriers Telehealth Can Help Address

For many families, accessing therapy involves far more than the session itself. Telehealth can help reduce several practical challenges that often interfere with attendance:

1. Long travel times
   Telehealth removes the need for lengthy commutes, helping families conserve time and energy.
2. Limited local services
   For families in regional or remote areas, telehealth may increase access to occupational therapists beyond their immediate location.
3. Parking and waiting room stress
   Attending from home eliminates parking difficulties and time spent in busy clinic environments.
4. Managing siblings
   Sessions can occur while siblings remain safely at home, reducing disruption to family routines.
5. Illness-related cancellations
   When minor illness affects a child or caregiver, telehealth may allow sessions to continue rather than being cancelled.
6. Time away from work or school
   Flexible scheduling can make it easier to fit therapy into the day without significant disruption.
7. Overwhelm in unfamiliar environments
   Working within the home allows therapy to occur in a familiar and predictable setting, which may support participation and comfort.

For many families, therapy access is shaped as much by logistics as by clinical need. Packing bags, navigating traffic, finding parking, and managing transitions can turn a single appointment into a demanding experience—particularly for children who find change or busy environments challenging.

Telehealth offers an alternative way to engage in occupational therapy without these added pressures.

Rather than travelling to a clinic, sessions take place within the child’s everyday environment. This can reduce stress around getting out the door and allow families to focus their energy on participation rather than logistics.

Telehealth does not change the role of occupational therapy—it changes how it is accessed. Therapists continue to use professional reasoning, structured goals, and evidence-informed approaches, while adapting activities to the home setting.

For parents, this can mean feeling less rushed and more able to engage during sessions. For children, it means therapy occurs in a familiar space, alongside the people and routines they know best.

By removing barriers such as travel, parking, and scheduling strain, telehealth can help therapy feel more manageable and sustainable within everyday family life.

“Occupational therapy should meet the child where they are—physically, emotionally, and developmentally.”
— Zoe Mailloux, OTR/L, FAOTA