One of the top questions I get from therapists who are interested in Online Therapy is: What does my Informed Consent form need to include? And along those lines – is it a separate form or can I just add specific language to my face to face informed consent? It’s a great question, because all along I’ve been an advocate for an ethical approach to tele-mental health and the informed consent form / process is an important consideration. So as always, when faced with a question – we go to the experts. Maelisa Hall is the founder of QA Prep – which is an incredibly valuable site that educates therapists about documentation requirements and the latest developments. She has tons of free information on her blog and she has a paperwork packet for sale that has templates and guidelines – that is totally worth the price. She has a passion for helping therapists do their paperwork and fully understands that we don’t really like doing it! She even has group support to help us catch up when we get behind. She is wonderful guest and I’m so thrilled to have her on the show to talk about how we can have great informed consents forms for our online therapy practices.
www.qaprep.com
Jeffrey Frank, LCSW
Today is the beginning of a new series for the podcast. I will be interviewing current members of the Online Counselling Directory – to highlight their journey to and experience with online therapy and how they are using technology in their practices and how they are growing their practices. My goal is to highlight our members so that we can continue to get to know one another, learn from one another, and continue to grow what is becoming a very supportive community. I’m very honored that our first guest is Jeffrey Frank in Sarasota Florida. Jeffrey is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who recently moved to Florida from Washington DC, and via Online Therapy, he was able to take his DC practice with him to Florida. His approach on moving his practice was brilliant, as he gradually worked with his face to face clients to transition them to online counseling. Jeffrey also specializes in Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy and offers classes and teaching to other therapists who want to learn this incredibly focused approach. He was a great first guest in this series and I look forward to supporting him in any way I can.
A few weeks ago, had the opportunity to interview Donijka Monk, who is the co-founder of Irelands leading online counseling practice – “The Irish Online Counselling and Psychotherapy Service”. She was a wonderful guest and suggested that I connect with her partner and co-founder Mary McHugh. Of course, I jumped at it and today we get to hear Mary’s beautiful journey of service that brought her to explore the world of online counseling – and then once she learned of the great need that was there, how she started her private practice and then the two of them grew it to a group online practice with 7 therapists in total. We talk about the current lack of regulation regarding online counseling in most of the world and the importance of boundaries in our work. She is an inspiring entrepreneur and role model therapist. I’m so thankful she was able to spend some time with us to tell her story.
The leading online counseling practice in Ireland is The Irish Online Counselling & Psychotherapy Service, founded by Donijka Monk and Mary McHugh almost 5 years ago. AND they are the newest members of the The Online Counselling Directory and we couldn’t be more pleased to have them join the family. Today I get to talk with Donijka about her journey to the world of therapy and how she and Mary were drawn into the world of private practice after seeing the massive need for convenient and boundaried online counseling. They now have an 100% online GROUP practice with a total of 7 therapists. They are a truly global practice that uses online therapy (Chat /Phone / and Skype) to bring their professional and high quality service to those in need all over the world. Today we talk about the evolution of counseling and the need to meet the clients where they are – using tele-mental health to reach expats, those in rural areas, and so many others. It was a thrill to get to know Donijka Monk.
www.counsellingonline.ie
Stefan Charidge is a BACP accredited psychotherapist from the UK who saw many of his clients struggling with anxiety and decided to build an app that could teach them the skills necessary to reduce and manage their symptoms. I think it is fascinating how a counselor decides to learn something new (app development and promotion) and take his practice in a completely different direction. So while today’s interview is not entirely about ‘online counseling’ – we do get to talk about how technology is changing the field through the development of apps. His app: Break Fee Anxiety, is an amazing tool and well worth a look. And it’s FREE!
Stefan’s practice:
If you only listen to one episode of this podcast – this is the one!
A complicating factor for doing online counseling in the United States is the fact that each state has different regulations that govern who can practice tele-mental health with their citizens. Also, each professional organization (APA, NASW, AMA, AAMFT, ACA, etc) have their own guidelines. So to look at the guidelines for 5 different professions in 50 different states – you quickly would be looking at 250 different issues. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone did that research for you? Well someone did. Amy Lerman, senior counsel at Epstein Becker and Green is the co-author of “50 State Survey of Telemental / Telebehavioral Health (2016)”. It is a 600 + page, comprehensive report that breaks down each state’s regulations to the 6 different professions who are licensed to do online counseling. It is gold. Any question that you could possible have – they have the answer. It is a must read and I am thrilled to welcome Amy on the podcast to talk about it. Want to see the report your self? Hint: we should all have this in our files!! Head over to the Therapist Toolbox at The Online Counselling Directory ( www.onlinecounselling.com/therapisttoolbox ) or go to Epstein Becker and Green at the link below.
“This survey was created by Epstein Becker Green. For additional information about Epstein Becker Green, you can visit their Telehealth & Telemedicine webpage."
Thinking of starting an online counseling practice and have questions? Maybe you don’t know where to start? Well I work with therapists every day to answer their questions on how to get started and always felt – I should record these conversations! Today – I get to! Sue Bates, a therapist in Seattle with over 40 years experience is starting a new adventure. She wants to travel and begin doing online counseling and has lots of great questions! She agreed to record our conversation so that you can learn along with her. What platforms should you use? How do you get set up with your web cam? What are the state laws? Who is appropriate for online counseling? Who isn’t? What about liability insurance? We cover it all. It’s a one stop shop for how to get started. Enjoy!
Suebates.com How to look up license reciprocity? Here is the link Sue mentioned: http://www.counselor-license.com/articles/counselor- license.html
State by state guide from Epstein Becker and Green for online therapy regulations: http://psychology.ohio.gov/Portals/0/MISC%20PDFs/EPSTEIN-BECKER- GREEN- 50-STATE- TELEMENTAL-HEALTH- SURVEY.pdf
Kat Love has a passion for helping psychotherapists. She also has an incredible skill of creating beautiful websites. She has combined these into Kat Love Designs where they work with therapists all over the world to create gorgeous custom designed websites that speak to clients in need and help therapists take their practices to the next level. They do incredible work and they split their time between the US and Greece. Today I got to speak with Kat about their work, about being a digital nomad and about how online therapy changed her life. Such a wonderful guest – I know you are going to love getting to know Kat Love of Kat Love Designs.
http://www.katlove.com/
Ever wonder about mental health care in Africa? Today we get to talk to Funmilade Taiwo who is passionate about ending Mental Healthcare stigma in Nigeria and improving access to care. In his upcoming project – he will be assisting mental health care providers to create an online presence and helping clients find counselors that can meet their needs. He has created PsyndUp which is going to become the Psychology Today of Africa. He’s working to elevate the field and bring transparency and ease to finding the counseling help that his fellow countrymen need. A fascinating man – he is impacting his world in a massive way!
Psyndup.com
@psyndup
Today I have the honor of interviewing the one and only Joe Sanok. He has been my business coach for the last year and I can’t tell you how much value he has brought into my life. He is an expert consultant for therapists who are hoping to start or grow their practice. Along with being the owner of a successful multi-therapist practice in Traverse City, Michigan – he is the founder of Practice of the Practice – where he consults with counselors all over the world to take their businesses to the next level. He is the co-founder of the “Most Awesome Conference” and his website and blog and podcast is just a treasure trove of great information for any counselor out there hoping to build their practice. He’s always up to something new – so be sure to follow him!
http://www.practiceofthepractice.com/
Georgia is – quirky. I love Georgia, but there are some things you should know if you are going to do online counseling in the Peach State. It’s not enough to be licensed in Georgia – you also have to have special training in online counseling – and to keep up that training every 2 years. Today we get to talk to Stephanie Cook, who is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a thriving practice in Atlanta, Georgia. She works with some individuals, but her passion is with couples. She uses the Gottman method and does both pre-commitment and premarital counseling as well as discernment counseling for couples considering divorce. But her big draw for me is that she does trainings for therapists in Georgia for their online counseling certification. She is a wealth of knowledge on this subject and I’m thrilled to have her on the podcast. One warning – unfortunately we had some sound issues on this podcast – there are a few glitches, so please be patient with us.
http://counselingatl.com/
Today we get to hear about Online Counseling in Colorado from one of the state’s leading therapists. Dr. Lisa Marie Bobby is the founder and clinical director of Growing Self Counseling and Coaching in Denver, Colorado. Since 2010, Dr. Bobby has been meeting with her clients through online video, in addition to meeting in person. Dr. Bobby is the host of the Love, Happiness and Success Podcast and the author of Exaholics: Breaking Your Addiction to an Ex Love. She’s an incredibly passionate and knowledgeable clinician who has supported her love of travel by taking her practice online. A Coach AND a counselor, Dr. Bobby has lot’s to teach us.
While most guests of the show are experts or practitioners of online counseling, sometimes I am able to interview someone in the field that may not exactly be an expert in online counseling – but who is a “must know” person in the field of counseling. Melvin Varghese is one of those people. He has a passion for helping therapists grow and improve in what we do. He is a learner – who started out with questions about private practice and decided to go talk to experts in the field – and then record what he was learning. So we get to learn with him! And Selling the Couch was born! It is hugely successful and now there is a facebook community with almost 2000 members – all working to help one another. He is a leading voice in our field and has really helped thousands of counselors be better people and practitioners.
Prepare to have your mind blown with the interview of Tamara Powell – maybe the most unique private practice I’ve ever come across. She has an approach rooted in faith based counseling – which include Christian Counseling – but really working with several faiths. She works with those damaged by spiritual abuse. She also specializes in the LGBT community, Polyamorous community and kink community. She offers sex therapy and she works with those with gender identity issues. She is a faculty adjunct instructor in psychology at the University of West Florida and the founder of Arya Therapy Services in Pensacola, Florida – seeing clients face to face and online. She is one of the most interesting, kind and funny guests I’ve ever brought on the podcast and I can see why she has a thriving practice. She even offers Walk and Talk therapy – so we were bound to be fast friends!
https://www.aryatherapy.com/
Want to learn about email therapy? Think it’s not REAL therapy? Today’s podcast is for you. Carole Francis Smith is a counseling psychologist in Bristol, England. She is a chartered psychologist with the British Psychological Society and a member of the Association for Counseling and Therapy Online. She is also working with our friend Geoff Simons to develop The Online Therapy Hub. She is actually doing the reviews for the Hub – on all the different platforms that we can use to connect online – very valuable! She knows the ins and outs of online therapy – particularly therapy via email. She gives training to other therapists on email therapy and completed her dissertation on this topic. So you have questions? She has answers!
http://www.carolefrancissmith.co.uk/
Life Works Counseling is a massive (4 locations and 30+ therapists) in Texas that offers face to face and online therapy. Founded by Melanie Wells, they are incredibly collaborative and innovative in their approach – impacting their community by providing excellent mental health care, but also impacting the profession by providing training in excellence - from interns to master professionals. They give back to the world by being an example of good and keeping their standards extremely high. Fascinating most of all, for me, is their concept of franchising. They have honed the skill of running a private practice and now are allowing others to learn from them. You can have a private practice in a box – leaning on them to get it right! Today we get to talk to Deanne Moore and learn first hand how online counseling enhances Life Works’ services. She’s a fascinating person that really lets us get to know her.
http://www.wefixbrains.com
So for several episodes we’ve been talking to the experts in the field of online counseling and therapy – covering issues of HIPAA compliance, security, legal issues to consider, etc. We’ve also gotten to talk to people about SEO and website design –but the podcast started out as a way of interviewing other therapists who are working online so that we can all learn together from their experience. Today we return to our roots with an interview with Janeen Herskovitz. Janeen is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor based in Florida who works online with family members of children with Autism. As we know, the entire family is affected when someone is diagnosed with Autism. Janeen has been the mother of someone with Autism for 18 years and brings a ton of personal experience to her work. She is also an EMDR Trauma Therapist and we get to talk about how she applies this training to her work. She is a fascinating therapist that brings incredible value to her clients. I hope you enjoy the interview.
http://www.puzzlepeacecounseling.com/
Perry Rosenbloom, is the founder and CEO of Brighter Vision. What is Brighter Vision? – it’s all there in their tag line: We build beautiful websites for therapists. And they do. Today we get to hear from Perry who has been working with counselors throughout the world to improve their online presence – and of course that means websites. Your website is your hub – it’s where it all starts. Brighter Vision has worked with over a 1000 websites for counselors and Perry certainly has his pulse on where the field is going in terms of innovation and we do get to touch on his thoughts about online counseling. But if you are going to be a therapist who works online, you are going to need a website that is going to convey your expertise and professionalism – something custom and cutting edge – and Brighter Vision can be the team that brings that to you. I’m so glad that Perry was able to spend some time with us – he’s a great guy and someone you should know.
Geoff Simons announces his new project: The Online Therapy Hub, on today’s podcast. This site has incredibly valuable information on the particulars of doing online therapy in the UK – where he is based. They have blogs written by some of the experts in the field and he is collaborating with such leaders as Philippa Weitz, Kate Dunn and Carole Francis-Smith. If you are looking for information on starting or running an online therapy practice in the UK – this is your first stop. Geoff got his start being the top – if not the only – site for helping UK therapists grow their practices. His site: The Private Practice Hub has tremendous value to counselors looking to start or grow their businesses. His tag line is: The Business of Therapy. His newsletter is invaluable and has a huge reach. He also is the founder of The Coaching Hub – which provides business information to Life Coaches. So as you can see, Geoff Simons is a man who knows what he is talking about when it comes to private practices in the UK. It is an honor to have someone of his caliber on the show and I hope you enjoy the interview.
If you spend much time on any of the online forums that support therapists and help us think in a more business like way – you will see the name Daniel Fava pop up over and over. He seems to always be there adding bits of value and advice on marketing and web site design and I just had to meet him. So today – we get to talk with Daniel about his web design business: createmytherapistwebsite.com. From his home in Atlanta, Daniel talks to us about his journey (via his amazing wife) into the counseling world and about his process when getting to know a therapist and helping them find their voice – and then translating that message into amazing websites. He has invaluable information for free on his blog and you can learn all sorts of great things about online marketing, SEO, and his recommended tools for making a success of your site on search engines. I’m so happy to welcome the kind and giving therapist website guru: Daniel Fava.
I am thrilled to have the one and only Philippa Weitz on the podcast today. She is arguable THE leading voice for ethical online counselling in the UK – if not the world. She is an online counselling supervisor and founder of pwtraining.com – where they offer training for mental health professionals who are working therapeutically online. She is also the Standards and Ethics Officer for the Association for Counselling and Therapy Online. And most recently she is the author of Psychotherapy 2.0 – Where Psychotherapy and Technology Meet. If you haven’t had a chance yet to get her book – it is a MUST read – exploring all aspects of online counselling. I haven’t been able to put it down. It’s a major work for our field. I am honored to have such a distinguished guest talk with us today.
Rob Reinhardt of Tame Your Practice, is a leading voice in the area where counseling meets technology. He brings his knowledge of tech, ethics, business and marketing to the world of counseling – and as a counselor himself with a successful group practice – he knows what he is talking about. You will find Rob to be a great advocate of online counseling – when done correctly and ethically – and today we talk about just how to do that. His motto is very similar to mine: it’s not about being afraid – it’s about being informed. Rob consults with therapist in a very tailored way to grow their practices to where they want to be – looking at areas of practice management, marketing, business models – and so much more. He has tons of free information on his site and will work hourly with you (or in 20 minute chunks) to get you on the right path. And his in depth reviews of cloud based practice management software – is gold. Please check out his sites:
https://tameyourpractice.com/blog/cloud-practice-management-system-reviews
We are just back from the 2016 Psychotherapy Networker Symposium in DC and it
was a blast. We talked with hundreds of therapists who are interested in doing
online counseling – but they have A LOT of concerns and questions. And they
should! There is much to consider. So I thought we should bring in a legal expert to
answer some of the questions that I got over and over again at the Symposium. So
why not get an attorney who is ALSO a counselor?! I found him: his name is Eric
Strom and he is a former Navy man who is in active private practice now and also an
attorney – providing “Legal Services to Mental Health Professionals”. Today – we
answer all the questions that are holding us back – online counseling across state
lines and in another state where the therapist is not licensed. Counseling
internationally. How do you check what each state says? HIPAA and how it applies
to skype, facetime, etc – and what changes may actually be coming to those
platforms. Ethics. Law. Clinical concerns – we talked about it all. This may be one
of the most valuable podcasts we have ever done and goes and in hand with our
great interview with Roy Huggins. And – you get to learn about his new project –
Counsel Chat. Hope you enjoy!
www.strom-consulting.com
www.counselchat.com
I’ve always wanted to make sure we have a global approach to this podcast, and today for Episode 13, we are talking with Hani Abughazaleh who is the CEO of Fadfid.com. Fadfid is an online platform bringing mental health counseling to the middle east. Their current particular focus is on Saudi Arabia and the UAE. But they really are trying to reach the entire Arab speaking world. They were the first platform in the Middle East where clients can find a therapist through their directory, Book the session, have the session through their secure technology and pay for the session – all in one place. It was a fascinating interview – looking into this growing field through the eyes of someone in a challenging part of the world.
Be sure to connect with us on facebook: www.facebook.com/onlinecounsellingpodcast and
Follow us on Twitter: @oncounselling
And please rate the podcast and subscribe so you won’t miss a single episode. We want to hear from you – so please leave comments and questions
Roy Huggins, LPC, NCC - Person Centered Tech Episode 12 is all about answering those questions that are holding us back and addressing the tech, security and ethic issues around online counseling. So many times I hear therapist talk about how they are thinking about having online therapy be a part of their practices – but are concerned about HIPPA issues, ethics, license, etc. So today, we go to one of the experts in the field: Roy Huggins of Person Centered Tech. He is one of the leading voices when it comes to advising psychotherapists on issues around online counseling. We talk about skype, HIPAA, ethics, license issues of doing counseling across state lines – we cover it all. This topic is so vast, we couldn’t possible go into depth on every issue – but I think we answer most of the pressing questions. We also talk about the very nature of counseling online and how the field may be changing in the future. You never know – 5 or 10 years down the line, there Virtual Reality Office could be part of the discussion. It was a fascinating interview and I learned so much more. I’m sure this only going to bring up even more questions. Don’t worry - Roy consults at a VERY reasonable rate on an ongoing basis to make sure you are in line with HIPAA and following your ethics. Be sure to listen until the very end, because Roy goes into how he consults and advises and discusses his different offerings. Be sure to look him up: www.personcenteredtech.com
And Roy has very generously offered a coupon for his services. Just use code: OCPOD and you can receive 20% discount off any purchase, no matter what, and it never expires!