Expand Your Practice…Enhance Your Career…Fill the Need

This program is designed to prepare you to effectively provide telemental health services. 

It covers all of the essential competencies of using technology in practice and of providing services from a distance. 

As telehealth continues to expand access to mental health care, clinicians must navigate a growing landscape of clinical skills, technology requirements, and legal regulations. The TeleMental Health Training Certificate (THTC) Program provides a factual, comprehensive foundation for delivering safe and compliant remote care across nine detailed modules.

The program is led by industry experts, including Raymond Barrett, LMHC, founder and CEO of the Telehealth Certification Institute and a contributor to national telemental health standards. The instructional team also features Ann M. Ordway, JD, PhD, a former family law attorney and counselor educator specializing in ethics and cross-jurisdictional law, and Kelly Lannon, LPC, LCMHC, a specialist in crisis intervention and safety planning.

This program covers: the foundational definitions and research of telemental health, the legal implications of practicing across state lines, and the ethical decision-making processes required for remote care. You will explore the clinical, legal, and ethical aspects of selecting technology, along with step-by-step guidance for emergency management planning and for screening clients for telehealth fit. Finally, the program details the specific clinical skills needed to conduct effective video and phone sessions, as well as strategies for maintaining cultural competence in a virtual environment.

There are nine topics in this course:

• Introduction to TeleMental Health
• Telemental Health Practice and Implications of the Law Across State Lines
• Coloring Inside the Lines: Applying Ethical Considerations to Telemental Health Practice
• Ethical, Legal, and Clinical Aspects of Selecting Technology
• Emergency Management Planning for TeleMental Health
• Screening for Fit for TeleMental Health Services
• Clinical Skills of Video Sessions
• Clinical Skills of Phone Therapy
• Cultural Competence and Telehealth

Key Takeaways:

• Legal and Ethical Compliance: Navigate jurisdictional supremacy, interstate compacts, HIPAA requirements, and professional codes of ethics.
• Risk Management: Establish session-by-session emergency management plans and apply practical criteria to assess client fit for telehealth services.
• Clinical Execution: Master the delivery of both video and audio-only sessions, including client preparation, technology troubleshooting, and adapting to the telehealth environment.
• Technology and Cultural Competence: Learn to select appropriate clinical technology and adapt your assessment and treatment services to fit specific cultural needs.

Why this program?

• Factual and Evidence-Based: Grounded in current research, established professional codes of ethics, and national telehealth guidelines.
• Comprehensive Scope: Addresses the logistical, technical, and clinical realities of telemental health, from informed consent to documentation and tech etiquette.
• Expert Instruction: Learn from professionals who actively practice, consult, and shape standards in the behavioral health and legal fields.

• Distinguish major modalities, settings, roles, and terms in telemental health.

• Summarize the research findings regarding telemental health without overclaiming.

• Explain how to determine if or when you can legally practice telemental health by reviewing and discussing state licensing laws and federal regulations.

• Assess a dilemma involving inconsistent professional legal obligations in the jurisdiction where the therapist is located and the jurisdiction where the client is located.

• Explain the circumstances under which a therapist providing telemental health services may be involved in a legal proceeding involving a client.

• Explain how to ensure you practice within your boundaries of competence when using digital or communication technology in your practice, by holding telemental health services to the same standard of care expected for same-location/face-to-face services.

• Discuss the specific provisions of various professional codes of ethics that guide telehealth practice in behavioral health.

• Identify at least two ethical dilemmas that might arise in the context of providing telehealth services and apply ethical decision-making processes to resolve these dilemmas.

• Describe the clinical, legal, and ethical considerations when selecting technology, including HIPAA considerations, so you can apply these considerations to technology decisions you employ in your practice.

• List and explain the possible benefits, drawbacks, and risks of telemental health.

• Demonstrate how to establish with the client an emergency management plan for each session in both a supervised and unsupervised environment and the process of responding to an emergency during a telemental health session.

• Use three criteria to assess if a prospective and/or current client is a fit for telemental health services.

• Demonstrate how to prepare the client for a video or phone session and to address technological challenges.

• Demonstrate how to provide an effective video or phone session from start to finish.

• Define cultural competence and cultural humility as it relates to ethical professional practice.

• Adapt technology, assessment, and treatment services to fit specific cultural needs.

Availability: From the time of registration, you have six months to access the coursework.

Who Should Attend: This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.

Teaching Methods: This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.

How to Attend: Instructions for attending and completing a course can be found here.

Raymond Barrett, CEO, LMHC

Raymond Barrett is the founder and CEO of the Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC (TCI). A licensed mental health counselor (LMHC), Ray is an innovator and leader in the field of telemental health. He’s an expert telehealth trainer, a respected speaker, and a trusted consultant.

Ray’s inspiration for TCI came from his clients that started asking him to conduct their therapy sessions over the phone. Ray had discovered a knowledge gap in mental health training. He wanted to fill that void with comprehensive and practical training in telemental health - so Ray created that training for himself and fellow clinicians. 

Since 2014, TCI has delivered comprehensive telehealth training and consultation to a global network of more than 40,000 healthcare organizations and professionals. TCI now offers over 180 specialized courses, a vast array of telehealth resources, and ongoing free continuing education opportunities for telehealth providers. Among the most sought-after courses offered by TCI is the Telemental Health Training Certificate (THTC Certificate) program. 

Ray played a significant role in developing the initial curriculum for the Board Certified Telemental Health credential (BC-TMH) for the Center for Credentialing and Education (CCE). He reviewed every training module. He helped draft content, including questions for exams. He even wrote and developed the initial draft of one of the training modules: Telemental Health Settings and Coordination of Care.

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) - the most respected organization for telehealth - recently overhauled its guidelines. Ray was on the writing committee that developed Best Practices in Synchronous Videoconferencing-Based Telemental Health in March 2022.

In 2019, Ray participated in a task force for developing a clinical rating process for mobile apps designed to help treat depression.  The recommendations were presented to ATA.

The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) is an independent, nonprofit organization that provides accreditation services worldwide at the request of health and human service providers. As part of the International Standards Advisory Committee (ISAC), Ray helped establish CARF’s standards for virtual services.

Ray also is a frequent speaker and consultant for professional organizations. He has presented for over 20 organizations since 2015.

Ann Ordway, JD, PhD

Ann Ordway, JD, PhD, has a law degree and a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision.  She is a retired family law attorney following approximately 20+ years of private practice in New Jersey, where she primarily worked with high conflict divorce dynamics, parenting coordination, and child advocacy. She received her MA and EdS in Counseling from Seton Hall University and completed her Practicum and Internship at the Counseling Services program on campus. Ann has been trained as a family mediator, a Guardian Ad Litem, and as a Parenting Coordinator.  Clinical experience has included work with high-conflict families, victims of domestic violence, anger management with accused offenders of domestic violence, and school counseling.  Ann has taught graduate-level clinical mental health and school counseling for nearly 14 years, both in-person and via distance learning.  She was the College Academic Director of Counseling at a University in Phoenix, Arizona, and she is a former president of the Arizona Counseling Association.  She is currently the program director at the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, where she facilitates the delivery of trainings for an international, interdisciplinary audience of family law professionals.

Dr. Ordway’s doctoral dissertation on the experiences of parenting coordinators working with high-conflict couples engaged in intimate partner violence dynamics is the foundation of her current research.  She is a national and international presenter, and has published in peer-reviewed journals on topics related to high-conflict families, the impact of divorce on children, ethics, and the preparedness of counselors for court-involved roles and general court involvement.

Kelly Lannon, LPC, LCMHC, BC-TMH, CMCC, CGP

Kelly Lannon is a Licensed Professional Counselor in GA and a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor in NC. They obtained their MA in Community Mental Health Counseling from the University of Rochester. Kelly has spent more than 10 years working in crisis intervention and suicide prevention with the veteran and military populations. Over the past four years, they have been conducting silent monitoring of these services to ensure proper protocols and standards are being adhered to relating to mental and medical health, substance use, suicidal ideation, and risk of violence to others; ultimately ensuring risk mitigation and safety planning efforts are completed appropriately.

Additionally, Kelly’s work in private practice focuses on trauma and grief within the veteran and 2SLGBTQQIPAA communities. Their therapeutic approach stems from Existential and Humanistic therapies, while integrating approaches from Decolonization, Multicultural, and Interpersonal Counseling.

Disclosure Statement:  The instructor(s) for this course receive compensation for their services. There are no reported conflicts of interest to disclose.

Credit Hours: 

The THTC program consists of ove 15 hours 30 minutes of video training.

Credit Hours: This course consists of 15.5 continuing education hours of credit (4 of which are ethics)

Counselors: Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No, 6693.  Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified.  Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. 

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Mental Health Counselors. #MHC-0048.

Marriage and Family Therapists: Many MFT licensing boards accept our courses or one of the approvals which we have from professional associations.  You can check with your board to determine if your licensing board would accept this course.

Social Workers: TTelehealth Certification Institute LLC, #1609, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 05/02/2024 – 05/02/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 15.5 total credits including 11.5 clinical and 4 ethics continuing education credits.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Social Workers #SW-0435.

Addiction Professionals: This course has been approved by Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #193104, Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is responsible for all aspects of the programming.

Psychologists: Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists #PSY-0128.

Art Therapists: Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Creative Arts Therapists #CAT-0093.

Other Professionals: This course qualifies for 930 minutes of instructional content as required by many national, state and local licensing boards and professional organizations.  Retain your certificate of completion and contact your board or organization for specific filing requirements.

This is a non-interactive, self-study course.

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