Telehealth Certification Institute

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Counseling

Sanitization exercise prior to entering an office

Reopening Your Counseling Office During a Pandemic

How can I safely reopen my practice and offer face-to-face counseling sessions during a global pandemic? Many therapists are grappling with this question.

Counselors, psychologists and social workers quickly switched to Telemental Health sessions in March 2020 when the dangers of the deadly new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) hit home in America. Telemental Health has allowed us to continue offering much-needed therapy to clients during this national crisis without risk of exposing ourselves to the virus or spreading it to our clients.

Many of us are opting to keep using Telemental Health until a vaccine for the virus becomes available. The American Psychological Association recommends psychologists continue using telehealth if possible. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) reminds social workers they are “not professionally or ethically required to provide in-person services.”

It’s not just behavioral health clinicians who have made the switch to distance counseling. The CDC recommends all healthcare providers keep using telehealth if possible to “provide necessary care to patients while minimizing the transmission risk of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to healthcare personnel (HCP) and patients.”

But not all counseling clients are comfortable with Telemental Health, and it may not work at all for young children or clients with attention deficit and other mental health disorders.

Online Podcast on How COVID-19 is Changing the World of Online Counseling

How COVID-19 is Changing the World of Online Counseling

How COVID-19 is Changing the World of Online Counseling

You may have been an early adopter of telehealth services; perhaps you thought that you would never provide care from a distance; or maybe you fall somewhere in the middle. The fact of the matter is that in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic - we have all been forced into becoming distance providers.

Questions you may have asked yourself: Am I allowed to provide telehealth services? Can I deliver those services competently and ethically? Will I be able to follow the constantly changing regulations?

How to Market Your TeleTherapy Services

Learn from an expert on how to market your teletherapy services and how to create an attention-grabbing provider profile that connects with those in need of your services.  Raymond Barrett, CEO of Telehealth Certification Institute, interviewed Clay Cockrell, a leading expert on these topics. 

Counselor's Response to COVID-19

On March 20, 2020, Ray had an opportunity to catch up with Suzanne Gavin, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, a Nationally Certified Custody Evaluator, and a Nationally Certified Parenting Coordinator.

What caught Ray’s attention, and the attention of other clinicians is her honest breakdown of her transition (and the related anxieties) to what she referred to as a mandated telemental health practice.

Discussion of the "Essentials of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Profession" publication

Clarity results in guidance, pride, and effective partnerships!

Mental health counseling is an honorable profession and vital to the health of society.  Mental health providers offer a unique skill set to clients and healthcare teams. Since there are so many titles used for mental health professionals (LMHC, LPC, LPCC…) and similar types of mental health professionals (Counselors, Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists, Psychologists, Psychoanalysis, …), there is often confusion about the specifics of the profession. Because of this, the mental health counseling profession has been in need of an official and unified statement that defines its values, unique characteristics, and qualifications.

Distance Counseling Office

Distance Counseling

With the exception of writing letters or sending information via “snail mail”, we all generally communicate over long distances by means of technology.  When counseling services are provided this way, they can be called “distance counseling”.

Spiritually Integrated TeleTherapy

Therapists occasionally receive requests from prospective clients looking for faith-based or spiritually integrated counseling. Good therapists might know that they are sensitive to a client’s faith and that they can help them, yet they will often refer the client to a therapist who provides a specific faith-informed therapy. There are two good reasons to do this. First, it is important to provide the client with the best fit for what they are seeking. Second, spiritually integrated therapy truly is a specialization requiring a particular set of competencies and supervised experience.  

However, finding a fitting therapist for the client can often be a significant challenge. Conducting a search for a local one, whom the referring therapist has vetted, may yield little to no results. When well-trained, spiritually integrated providers offer teletherapy, this can overcome the search obstacle. Many faith-informed therapists have not begun to provide teletherapy; the thought of launching a telehealth program can feel overwhelming for any provider. Some faith-informed therapists and organizations have successfully faced this task by partnering with people who provide the proper training and support.

Interview with a Distance Counselor in Texas and Utah

In this video, our CEO, Raymond Barrett, interviews Michelle Inauen, LPC MFT, who provides counseling by both video and phone.  Michelle Inauen shares how she got started in distance counseling and the services she offers to individuals, couples, and families.  Michelle also provides some advice to other clinicians looking to get started in providing virtual counseling.