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SOC-OFE Doctoral Students - Field Experience Manual:
Telemental Health Counseling (TMH)

Telemental Health Counseling (TMH)

TMH counseling services are permitted if all the following requirements are met:

  • You complete Walden’s Telemental Health Training.1F[1]
  • The site supervisor has formal training in providing TMH.2F[2]
  • The site supervisor provides appropriate TMH supervision, including educating you about agency protocols for responding to a client emergency while providing TMH.
  • The technology system used for TMH is compliant with HIPAA.

For unlicensed students

  • The site supervisor establishes a system to join the call/video you are conducting if are not physically on site with the site supervisor. This can include the ability for you to put the site supervisor on speaker phone with the client in the event of an emergency.
  • The state board allows trainees to provide TMH.
  • The site supervisor must be licensed in the state where the TMH services are rendered as well as received, if different, in accordance with state regulations. For instance, if you and client are both located in Missouri, the site supervisor must be licensed in Missouri. If you are in Illinois and the client is in Missouri, the site supervisor must be licensed in both Illinois and Missouri.

Your site supervisor will be required to attest to these requirements in the Counseling Learning Agreement, submitted with your field experience application.

Note: Your field experience application must be approved with TMH counseling specifically indicated before you can provide TMH services during field experience.

[1] This training is required for all students applying for field experiences starting in the Summer of 2022.

[2] Site supervisors are invited to complete Walden’s TMH training to meet this requirement.