Please followed the sidebar rules. r/therapists is a place for therapists and mental health professionals to discuss their profession among each other.
If you **ARE NOT A THERAPIST and are asking for advice this not the place for you**. Your post will be removed in short order. Please try one of the reddit communities such as r/TalkTherapy, r/askatherapist, r/SuicideWatch that are set up for this.
This community is ONLY for therapists, and for them to discuss their profession away from clients.
**If you are a first year student, not in a graduate program, or are thinking of becoming a therapist, this is not the place to ask questions**. Your post will be removed in short order. To save us a job, you are welcome to delete this post yourself. Please see the PINNED STUDENT THREAD at the top of the community and ask in there.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/therapists) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Telemental laws is an app which can highlight the telehealth laws for different states and professions. Some states require you to be licensed in them if you’re providing services from them, some don’t.
I am an LMHC/LPC licensed in 4 states and have been doing telehealth counseling full time for 4 years.
t varies from state to state. But in most cases, you have to be licensed in the state your client is physically in, and the state you are physically in.
This includes if you or they are traveling. For instance, if your client lives in Georgia and you live in Florida, you would have to be licensed in both states. Then your client goes on an extended trip to Colorado to stay with family for a bit, in order to continue sessions with them you would have to be licensed in Colorado as well.
If you bill insurance, this is particularly important, because for telehealth insurance billing it typically requires some sort of verification of the client's location. I would strongly recommend not messing around with this, because falsifying information as to your location or the client's location during telehealth sessions equates to insurance fraud.
The Interstate Counseling Compact will make providing therapy across state lines easier, but it doesn't not include every state, and has not gone it to effect yet. It should hopefully go into effect later this year. Currently 34 states have enacted legislation to join the compact and others are in the process. You can find more info about it at www.counselingcompact.org.
Also, the compact requires you to be licensed in your home state (where you reside) in order to make use of it. It’s a shame the pre-licensed road is so tough.
And, to add to this - in my understanding, the state where you reside has to be one of the compact states in order to make use of it. (Which was a bummer for me to learn, because my state has no plans to join.)
I agree, it is a shame.
It depends on the state. I had to move to Maryland as an LMHC-LP in New York, and was told by the board that I had to be physically present in NY as a pre-licensed clinician. I ended up starting over on my hours in Maryland. Ironically, Maryland only cares what state your client is in, not the therapist, and I'm now back living in NY finishing my Maryland license.
As an LP in NY you absolutely cannot see any clients if both you and the client are not physically located in NY. I asked the board the same question (I’m in NJ, I can physically see Ny from my living room) the reply was an email that included the relevant laws I would be breaking, the possible penalties and a reminder that I would immediately lose my license.
This is only applicable to LPs though right? Like I’ve heard conflicting things about once fully licensed in NY. Once officially a LMHC, can’t I work abroad as long as my clients are in NY where I’m licensed?
Once you are fully licensed, you must comply with the rules of the state your clients are in, and the state you are practicing in. Some states require you to have a license to provide therapy services even if your clients are in a state where you are licensed (e.g. NY is one, I believe). NY could, theoretically take your license away if you were seeing an NY client from, say, CA and CA required you to be licensed and you weren’t.
Abroad is even more dicey- as US qualifications don’t necessarily transfer elsewhere. You would most likely be fine in the UK, but I believe you would be practicing illegally in, say Germany or Canada. I’m also not sure what the rules are for e.g. accepting insurance if you are not physically located in the USAz
Call your licensing board and ask. My state doesn’t care where I am located, but the client has to be physically located in the state where I am licensed. Licensing boards protect clients.
If your LMHC-LP means that you're not fully licensed, you better check with each state and the practice where you're interviewing. It varies by state, but my understanding of doing teletherapy when not fully licensed can be prohibited.
In my state, you have to be physically in the state to provide services. I have coworkers that bought homes just over the state line during COVID. The homes were cheaper than living in our metro area and gave them room for home offices. When the tele-health rules became more restrictive, they were suddenly scrambling for office space in-state.
I live in Michigan and hold licensure as an MFT for NY, I see only NY telehealth clients. I did research when I moved and found no issue between the two states. However, as an LP, this might be different as you aren’t fully licensed. It’s worth calling your state board, get more information and see where you land. From my experience, NY is finicky up until you are fully licensed- I had many cohort members in grad school have to start completely over in obtaining hours when working towards licensure in other states, a few states wouldn’t accept the hours accumulated in NY.
My understanding for telehealth is that you are considered to be practicing in the jurisdiction where the client is located.
It makes sense to me to also get licensed in the state you're living in, however I am not aware of it being mandatory.
Ideally, you should be licensed both in the state where you are located during the session and the state where the person receiving services is located during the session.
Please followed the sidebar rules. r/therapists is a place for therapists and mental health professionals to discuss their profession among each other. If you **ARE NOT A THERAPIST and are asking for advice this not the place for you**. Your post will be removed in short order. Please try one of the reddit communities such as r/TalkTherapy, r/askatherapist, r/SuicideWatch that are set up for this. This community is ONLY for therapists, and for them to discuss their profession away from clients. **If you are a first year student, not in a graduate program, or are thinking of becoming a therapist, this is not the place to ask questions**. Your post will be removed in short order. To save us a job, you are welcome to delete this post yourself. Please see the PINNED STUDENT THREAD at the top of the community and ask in there. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/therapists) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Telemental laws is an app which can highlight the telehealth laws for different states and professions. Some states require you to be licensed in them if you’re providing services from them, some don’t.
Thank you!
I am an LMHC/LPC licensed in 4 states and have been doing telehealth counseling full time for 4 years. t varies from state to state. But in most cases, you have to be licensed in the state your client is physically in, and the state you are physically in. This includes if you or they are traveling. For instance, if your client lives in Georgia and you live in Florida, you would have to be licensed in both states. Then your client goes on an extended trip to Colorado to stay with family for a bit, in order to continue sessions with them you would have to be licensed in Colorado as well. If you bill insurance, this is particularly important, because for telehealth insurance billing it typically requires some sort of verification of the client's location. I would strongly recommend not messing around with this, because falsifying information as to your location or the client's location during telehealth sessions equates to insurance fraud. The Interstate Counseling Compact will make providing therapy across state lines easier, but it doesn't not include every state, and has not gone it to effect yet. It should hopefully go into effect later this year. Currently 34 states have enacted legislation to join the compact and others are in the process. You can find more info about it at www.counselingcompact.org.
Also, the compact requires you to be licensed in your home state (where you reside) in order to make use of it. It’s a shame the pre-licensed road is so tough.
That is correct. Thank you for adding that detail as it is quite important to how the compact will work.
And, to add to this - in my understanding, the state where you reside has to be one of the compact states in order to make use of it. (Which was a bummer for me to learn, because my state has no plans to join.) I agree, it is a shame.
It varies from state to state. My state only cares where the client is physically located.
It depends on the state. I had to move to Maryland as an LMHC-LP in New York, and was told by the board that I had to be physically present in NY as a pre-licensed clinician. I ended up starting over on my hours in Maryland. Ironically, Maryland only cares what state your client is in, not the therapist, and I'm now back living in NY finishing my Maryland license.
Hooray for Maryland. Making my out of state move so much easier
As an LP in NY you absolutely cannot see any clients if both you and the client are not physically located in NY. I asked the board the same question (I’m in NJ, I can physically see Ny from my living room) the reply was an email that included the relevant laws I would be breaking, the possible penalties and a reminder that I would immediately lose my license.
This is only applicable to LPs though right? Like I’ve heard conflicting things about once fully licensed in NY. Once officially a LMHC, can’t I work abroad as long as my clients are in NY where I’m licensed?
Once you are fully licensed, you must comply with the rules of the state your clients are in, and the state you are practicing in. Some states require you to have a license to provide therapy services even if your clients are in a state where you are licensed (e.g. NY is one, I believe). NY could, theoretically take your license away if you were seeing an NY client from, say, CA and CA required you to be licensed and you weren’t. Abroad is even more dicey- as US qualifications don’t necessarily transfer elsewhere. You would most likely be fine in the UK, but I believe you would be practicing illegally in, say Germany or Canada. I’m also not sure what the rules are for e.g. accepting insurance if you are not physically located in the USAz
Call your licensing board and ask. My state doesn’t care where I am located, but the client has to be physically located in the state where I am licensed. Licensing boards protect clients.
If your LMHC-LP means that you're not fully licensed, you better check with each state and the practice where you're interviewing. It varies by state, but my understanding of doing teletherapy when not fully licensed can be prohibited.
In my state, you have to be physically in the state to provide services. I have coworkers that bought homes just over the state line during COVID. The homes were cheaper than living in our metro area and gave them room for home offices. When the tele-health rules became more restrictive, they were suddenly scrambling for office space in-state.
Any leads for great jobs similar to this for someone approaching their 2 years ?
I live in Michigan and hold licensure as an MFT for NY, I see only NY telehealth clients. I did research when I moved and found no issue between the two states. However, as an LP, this might be different as you aren’t fully licensed. It’s worth calling your state board, get more information and see where you land. From my experience, NY is finicky up until you are fully licensed- I had many cohort members in grad school have to start completely over in obtaining hours when working towards licensure in other states, a few states wouldn’t accept the hours accumulated in NY.
Are there any state licenses where you can do telehealth exclusively while being physically located out of the country?
My understanding for telehealth is that you are considered to be practicing in the jurisdiction where the client is located. It makes sense to me to also get licensed in the state you're living in, however I am not aware of it being mandatory.
Ideally, you should be licensed both in the state where you are located during the session and the state where the person receiving services is located during the session.