Professional Counselor Needs help with Online Counsleing

[brandonnkim]

My jurisdiction is: Tennessee, USA

I have to explain the situation before I post my questions so please bear with me.

I'm a professional counselor licensed in Tennessee. I would like to provide online counseling services. I called the state board of professional counselors to ask if I can provide distance counseling services. They told me that distance counseling is not in the scope of practice for Tennessee counselors but it's not forbidden either. When I asked what that means they didn't elaborate just that its not forbidden.

So I consulted with an attorney who told me that I would be ok to offer distance counseling from a legal standpoint since it is not expressly forbidden in the Tennessee scope of practice, however, I should check with my liability insurance provider to make sure that I would be covered in case someone I was counseling decided to sue me.

After checking with my liability insurance provider I found out that since Tennessee does not specifically state that distance counseling is acceptable in their scope of practice guidelines that they would not cover me for distance counseling services.

This leads me to 3 other questions that I'm hoping someone will be able to help me with:

1. If I decide to proceed with distance counseling is it acceptable to have my clients sign a waiver waiving their right to sue if I provide them with distance counseling (since I will not be covered by liability insurance)?

2. If so, is it something I can write up myself or would an attorney have to do it?

3. If not - to questions 1 - how can I petition the Tennessee state board of professional counselors to add "Distance Counseling" to their scope of practice so that I can be covered by insurance?

I really appreciate any help you can offer with this. I've been trying to get an online counseling business going for almost 8 months now and this is what is holding me up. I would already be doing it except I'm not willing to risk being unprotected should anyone try to sue me.

Brandon

 

[seniorjudge]

No document is going to protect you from liability.

If your malpractice carrier won't cover you, then forget it.

 

[brandonnkim]

Thanks for your help. What about my third question? Any ideas how to proceed with petitioning the board to add distance counseling to the scope of practice?

 

[seniorjudge]

3. If not - to questions 1 - how can I petition the Tennessee state board of professional counselors to add "Distance Counseling" to their scope of practice so that I can be covered by insurance?

Why don't you ask the board?

 

[brandonnkim]

Hmmmm... why didn't I think of that?

Thanks anyway.

 

[seniorjudge]

Hmmmm... why didn't I think of that?

Thanks anyway.

Well, I don't know.

It's the obvious answer.

You want the board to change its rules, then you use the system to change the board's rules.

 

[brandonnkim]

I know what the "obvious" answers are. I've come to this site looking for answers from a legal perspective. Well, I'll take responsibility for the miscommunication. Perhaps I should have been more specific. Please allow me to rephrase my question...

What legal channels, if any, should I consider when petitioning the board that would help expedite change to their rules for distance counseling?

You see, I'm afraid that my letter will be ignored if it simply comes from me. Are there any legal tips you, or anyone here, could provide that would help get my letter noticed and increase the chance that it would be taken seriously and addressed promptly? Would a letter be more powerful and have more impact coming from an attorney?

This is a matter of Tennessee Law. I seriously doubt that one lone voice from a private citizen will provide the power to effect change.

I hope that clarifies things a bit. I apologize for being too generic in my original questions.