The Online Counselling Podcast

So good to be back after quite a hiatus. As our field is rapidly changing due to the Covid 19 Pandemic and therapists all over the world are being forced to work from home, I thought it would be a great idea to put out a few new episodes. And I couldn’t think of a better guest that Raymond Barrett. He is the founder of Telehealth Certification Institute and has been training therapist on TeleMental health for years. He is incredibly knowledgeable about how the regulations are changing in the last few days and I’m thrilled he could join us and keep us up to date. And he has put together a huge Online Therapy Summit – a weekend of classes that will provide continuing education training. The link to his site and to the summit is below: https://telementalhealthtraining.com/ https://telementalhealthtraining.com/course-offerings/product/summit-2020-full-access

An interview with Jeff Guenther, founder of Therapy Den. Jeff Guenther is a licensed professional counselor and the founder of Therapy Den – a unique directory of psychotherapists that aims to be inclusive of all needs and works to promote diversity. Who better to talk about directories, than the founder of one?! Jeff has a wealth of knowledge and his site is full of information – including a great list of questions to explore on your initial consult call. Site: www.therapyden.com Consult questions: https://www.therapyden.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-therapy-part-2- what-to-ask-in-the-consult   Please subscribe and enjoy!

This is a teaser for my new Podcast, Finding Therapy! Fans of The Online Counselling Podcast will find the same great content with Finding Therapy. Thank you to the tens of thousands who have enjoyed The Online Counselling Podcast, I am glad to be back! Please subscribe and enjoy!

Today we get to talk with Dr. Carly McCord about how she helped develop the TeleHealth Counseling Clinic at Texas A & M. Seeing that there was a need in rural Texas for mental health care, but realizing that clients had huge obstacles in receiving it (digital divide, transportation, etc) and having many qualified doctoral students at the University – she worked to combine the need with her students and added in technology – developing a clinic that has provided online therapy to over 800 clients (that’s 8000 sessions!). We talk about tele-supervision and training tomorrow’s online therapists. www.telehealthcounseling.org

Forrest Pulley – Co-Founder Nicholas Fuller – Chief Technical Officer I am so fortunate to get to talk to Forrest Pulley (co-founder) and Nicholas Fuller (Chief Technical Officer) of iTherapy. iTherapy is an incredibly robust service that serves the field of online therapy. They offier HIPAA compliant video, EHR services, payment gateway, scheduling, notes and other services that are typical in the field. But they set themselves apart with their customer services and some of their higher offerings like business coaching, marketing guidance, virtual assistance and tips on how to jump start your practice as an online therapist. They’ve done a great job of listening to online therapists about their needs and then creating programs and services to meet those needs. They have a passion for serving the field and I’m so happy to get to interview them. www.itherapy.com

Today’s interview is with Martin Perry who is the founder of Nous Talk. Nous Talk is a new HIPAA compliant Audio / Video platform built specifically for online therapists. I’ve tried it out for the last month and am incredibly impressed. They are super HIPAA compliant – just not offering a BAA, but also addressing levels of HIPAA that other platforms do not – and they comply with malpractice insurers! They offer Group sessions, accepting online payments, arranging online scheduling – it’s a very robust platform and incredibly easy to use.

Synergy ETherapy Building an online private practice can be hard enough – but what about building a 100% Online GROUP practice? Well Lisa Herman of Synergy ETherapy has done just that and she has grown this practice to Minnesota and New York and now has 5 therapists in the group. She truly is a Therapy Entrepreneur and we are so lucky to have her tell us how she did it. In the podcast interview today, we talk about hiring theraists, managing them, learning and training on the technology part of everything and MARKETING! She has some great tips on marketing! And even if you aren’t thinking of creating a group practice, you’re going to get lots of tips from today’s guest. www.synergyetherapy.com

Dr. Christopher Quarto is a licensed psychologist and professor in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and is the founder of the Distance Counseling Community Facebook Group. He is incredibly active on social media and always has very valuable information for therapists who have questions about online counseling. He’s very generous about his time and his comments are always spot on. He has also developed a framework for educators to use when training new and previously licensed therapist about online counseling. Today we get to talk about this framework, social media and some of the bias he has seen with therapists who are reluctant to add technology to their practices. I’m so happy Chris has had time to join us! www.chrisquarto.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/150248505543091/

Marc Lehman has come up with a brilliant approach to reaching college students and making therapy available to them. Dorm Room Counseling uses online counseling to help young adults through the very stressful process of adjusting to college. Transitioning from high school to a college is incredibly difficult and more so today – when teens are struggling with social norms, societal stress and academic pressures. Marc meets these college students where they are…online. Using text, email and audio/visual platforms, he allows them to access counseling in ways that are familiar to them. Sometimes college campus counseling centers are not the right fit – so he has developed this incredibly innovative approach of therapy and coaching to fill a need. So pleased that he has spent time with us today. www.dormroomcounseling.com

Today we get to know a therapist who was based in Austin, Texas – but wanted to travel the world with her family. Having a successful private practice, she worked to transition her face to face clients to begin working online with her. She then began to build up more online clients. She now lives in Costa Rica with her family and continues to work with her clients from Austin and is beginning to reach out to the population of “digital nomads” – people who work from their laptops anywhere in the world. Step by step she figured out what was needed to make this huge leap, and today we get to learn how she did it.

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve had a new episode, but I think this will be worth the wait! Today we speak with Beata Klarowska, who is the co-founder of TheraPlatform.com. She is a speech and language pathologist who saw a need for a tele-therapy platform that provided interactive forms and HIPAA compliant connection for therapists and clients. This platform has tons of great options and is very affordable. And they are designed for all sorts of disciplines, but it is perfect for psychotherapists who want a secure, affordable tele-therapy options. And most exciting: They Offer Group Therapy!!! Their Business Associates Agreement does not cost extra, and they are incredibly secure! I’m so excited for you to learn about TheraPlatform. www.theraplatform.com

To celebrate episode 50, we answer one of the top questions psychotherapists have when it comes to starting an online counseling practice: What needs to be in my informed consent? We all know that there are certain paperwork needs for private practice, but how do those needs change when we bring technology into the picture? Today we speak with Katie Lemieux, and Kate Campbell – co-founders of The Private Practice Startup. They spent a decade developing their paperwork and have had it reviewed by three different attorneys. And today they share what they have learned. And be sure to listen to the end for their huge giveaway! www.theprivatepracticestartup.com Free give-away: www.ht.gr8.com And Rob and Roy’s new podcast: www.therapytechrobroy.com

Philippa Weitz and Adrian Rhodes Face to Face Counseling vs. Online Counseling Today we have our first panel discussion! And what a distinguished panel it is: Philippa Weitz is a returning guest, she is the author of Psychotherapy 2.0 and Managing Director of PW Training, which is a training program for online therapists. Adrian Rhodes is a past president of European Association for Psychotherapy and has over 40 years experience in the helping field. Adrian is a recent graduate of Philippa’s training program and has written an article about looking to Online Therapy as a distinctly different approach to psychotherapy. We have a lively and friendly discussion about the differences of online counseling and face to face counseling and also explore how things are progressing in the UK for Online Therapy in general. Resources: PW Training: www.pwtraining.com Adrian Rhodes: http://adrianrhodes.net Blog article: http://pwtacademy.online/blog/

Today we travel to Switzerland to speak with Claudia Pluss, CEO of Perceptiko and developer of Catch Eye – a plug in technology that adjusts the appearance of our eyes online to improve eye contact. One of the few problems of doing online counseling is maintaining good eye contact with our clients. If we are looking at their image on the screen, we aren’t looking directly into the camera – which can make it appear that we aren’t making eye contact. It’s a nuanced thing – but as we all know as therapists, good eye contact is really important to the therapeutic relationship. This plug in solves the problem – and does so much more! It improves lighting and can even adjust our background. I think it’s a game changer and I’m so pleased to have the actual developer of this technology join us to talk about it. And it’s FREE! www.catch-eye.com www.perceptiko.com

Diann is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has taken the leap into Life Coaching. She has a fascinating story of how she used coaches to grow her Private Practice and found that the process really resonated with her. As a result, she has gotten extensive training in Life Coaching and is now embarking on a new phase of her career – focusing on Women in Mid-Life who also have ADHD. She has extensive experience with connecting with her clients online and I was captivated by her story. www.diannwingertcoaching.com

Once we leave grad school and start out as professional counselors, it is of the utmost importance to keep learning! My wife once said she wanted to be known as a “Life Long Learner” and that should be all of us. It’s important to know the latest developments in our field and to keep abreast of different approaches. But it’s difficult to do this. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a library of video chats that provides continuing education for helping professionals? Well John Wilson and his sister Sandra have done just that. At Online Events, they have over 500 hours of seminars and interviews with some of the leading professionals in our field – exploring amazing topics that will help us to continue to ‘sharpen our tools’ and keep us fresh and up to date on developments across our field. As an online therapist himself, John is using the power of video connection to bring education to a wide audience from students all the way up to the seasoned professional. This is a great resource for all of us! Online Events http://octia.org.uk/ Association for Counselling and Therapy Online http://acto-org.uk/ Annual Online Counselling Conference http://octia.org.uk/

Catherine is a LCSW and certified coach, working online using Energy Psychology / Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)and other modalities to help her clients heal from past wounds – particularly doing trauma work. She has been a life long advocate for women and minorities. Her journey to the online world is fascinating – she even created Tele-Summits to highlight the expertise of 21 different health professionals – and this was back in 2008. She is an inspiration for all of us to embrace the technology of our time and think outside of the box, while listening to our inner wisdom. www.sacredheartalchemy.com

Two heads are better than one, goes the old saying. And when starting a business, especially a private practice, maybe it’s better not to go it alone – especially when you and your partner complement each other’s skill sets. This is the story of Jennifer Labanowski and Shelly Smith – two Marriage and Family Therapists who have come together to launch a team private practice – serving clients online in four different states! As they and their family prepare to move, they are adjusting their already successful practice to go online – increasing their reach and impact and they are inspiring professionals. They have surrounded themselves with a team of web designers, social media experts and marketing folks who are helping them make their dream of a successful practice come true. Why go it alone when you can have a partner share the burden and inspire you to keep going in when the struggle can seem too much? www.unitedcounselingwellness.com

Today we continue our series of exploration into HIPAA compliant platforms that are available to psychotherapists when connecting with our clients. One of the biggest questions we get about online therapy is: If I can’t use skype or FaceTime, what services should I use? So we are trying to answer that question by interviewing the leading platforms that are encrypted and HIPAA compliant. Zoom is a leading provider of audio / visual connection and they are particularly popular outside the US, but have a strong following here as well. In only a few short years, they have over 600,000 businesses that use their program and they are growing every day. Their application, which must be downloaded onto your computer, is designed to make the connection seamless and clear. Their basic program is free, but if you want the BAA you must upgrade to a higher level which allows up to 10 sign-in accounts and a fee of $200 a month. Derek is incredibly informed on all of the offerings of this growing company and I am very grateful that he was able to spend some time with us! Zoom.US Derek’s email: Derek.pando@zoom.us

I love when we get to interview successful online therapists so we can learn from them. Today, we talk with Viktoria Ivanova, who began her online therapy practice 1 year ago after deciding to move from Canada to The Philippines. Having a love of the ex-pat lifestyle, she needed a way to make her therapy practice mobile, and she has done just that. She talks about her journey in finding the right platform for her and how she is learning social media and networking to grow her practice. Lots of great information for all of us! www.globaltherapy.online Resources: www.fliffr.com www.buffer.com www.ring.md www.internationaltherapistdirectory.com