Roy Huggins, LPC, NCC, is one of mental health's top experts on technology and ethics. Roy is the Director of Person Centered Tech, an organization that provides continuing education, consulting and support services for mental health professionals around utilization of tech in their practices in an ethical and HIPAA compliant manner. Roy also has a private practice in which he specializes in providing counseling services to tech workers, "geeks" and startups. Roy was himself an independent web developer for many years before making the transition to a therapy private practice. He quickly found that the mental health profession needed expert guidance on technology topics. Roy founded Person Centered Tech in 2010 after helping answer a colleague’s questions about legal and ethical use of email. His research to answer that first question exposed him to the industry’s difficulties applying the HIPAA-mandated risk assessment perspective to issues of technology.

Since 2010, Roy has continuously worked to expand his understanding of his colleagues’ needs and stay up-to-date with the ever-evolving digital world. He’s also found the time to teach ethics at Portland State University, serve on the board of the Oregon Counseling Association and the Zur Institute Advisory Committee, consult with counselor licensing boards and individual therapists on issues relating to technology in therapy practice, as well as co-authoring or authoring 2 book chapters and contributing to numerous publications.

Roy's combination of experience as a techie web developer and private practitioner give him a unique understanding from which to provide accessible and actionable guidance to mental health professionals seeking knowledge and direction on how to use tech in a legal and ethical way.

A few fun facts about Roy: he speaks Japanese and has an online therapy practice with clients in Japan; he loves "kittehs"; and fully embraces the use of emojis in text-based communications ;-).