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.

www.privatepracticehub.co.uk

www.onlinetherapyhub.co.uk

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.

http://www.createmytherapistwebsite.com/

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.

www.pwtraining.com

www.acto-uk.org

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/

https://tameyourpractice.com/blog/cloud-practice-management-system-reviews

http://www.describecards.com/

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!