What are the legal implications of serving a client with online counseling if the client lives in a state outside of where I am licensed in?
A. You should understand that because Online Therapy is new, the legal profession has not addressed interstate (i.e., between states) psychotherapy practice boundaries. Therefore, professional organizations and state licensing bodies have not been willing to offer reciprocity to licensees in other states. This results in a system that cannot adequately protect, you, the consumer. As one example, if my Online counseling is physically located in Rhode Island and you are in Montana, my Online counseling practice could not be held accountable to Montanas licensing laws-even though I took and passed the same national licensing exam that Montana uses to license its clinical social workers. The good news is that since my Online counseling practice is licensed in Rhode Island and Massachusetts , the Rhode Island and Massachusetts licensing boards can investigate and take corrective action(if needed)-even though you are physically located outside of Rhode Islands and Massachusettss geographic b
