Can a licensed mental health practitioner practice coaching across state and international lines?
Over the years, we have been approached with this question too many times to count. Many psychologists, counselors and therapists assume that if they want to practice across state lines or across international boundaries, they can simply call themselves a coach, separate their mental health business from their coaching business, hang their virtual shingle and call it a day.
Legally, it depends on who is defining counseling vs coaching. Theoretically there are differences- but from a risk management perspective for licensed practitioners the concern is that the practitioner truly knows how to extract purest coaching from the broadest definition of counseling: “…the provision of assistance and guidance in resolving personal, social, or psychological problems and difficulties, esp. by a trained person on a professional basis…” It is this broader definition (gleaned from a wide ranging Internet search of definitions held widely) that someone would be called to answer to should a complaint go before a licensing board or a therapist winds up in court.
… read the complete story ~ http://www.issuu.com/onlinetherapyinstitute/docs/tiltiss7/24
This article first appeared in the Summer 2011 issue of TILT Magazine ~ Therapeutic Innovations in Light of Technology.
Kate Anthony, DPsych, FBACP and DeeAnna Nagel, LMHC are joint Managing Editors of TILT Magazine and co-founders of the Online Therapy Institute.
