The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy Our Take on Texts
It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.
In this episode we talk about:
- A disciplinary action related to a therapist accidentally texting her client with something the client found offensive
- An argument made related to whether or not therapists should ever text with their clients
- Informed consent related to texting (including when your signed consent doesn’t protect you)
- Why it is important to think closely about anything you’re putting out there in texts, social media, or any written communication
- How to manage boundaries related to potentially being available 24/7 when your clients text
- How to discuss with your client any missteps with boundaries
- Telehealth considerations
- Password protecting your phone
- Decreasing your liability by making sure you’re HIPAA compliant
- Email mistakes that aren’t really protected by your email disclaimer
- All the nuances that can be misunderstood while texting – emojis, punctuation, abbreviations
- How to handle private messaging on social media
- How to engage in our Facebook Group
Resources mentioned:
We’ve pulled together any resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links.
California Board of Behavioral Sciences
Disciplinary Actions by the CA BBS
Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide Group
Articles:
The Legalities and Ethics of Texting Your Psychotherapy Clients
Psychotherapy by emoji: Mental health community wrestles with texting
Text therapy: once my therapist sent me an emoji, I knew it was game over
Other Episodes Mentioned:
Making Your Paperwork Meaningful
Our events this year:
The Brand Called “You”: Legal & Ethical Issues in Developing a Personal Brand
The Therapy Reimagined Conference in Los Angeles in October 2018!!
Who we are:
Curt Widhalm is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in private practice in the Los Angeles area. He is a Board Member at Large for the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, a Subject Matter Expert for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, Adjunct Faculty at Pepperdine University, and a loving husband and father. He is 1/2 great person, 1/2 provocateur, and 1/2 geek, in that order. He dabbles in the dark art of making "dad jokes" and usually has a half-empty cup of coffee somewhere nearby. Learn more at: www.curtwidhalm.com
Katie Vernoy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, coach, and consultant. As a helping professional for two decades, she’s navigated the ups and downs of our unique line of work. She’s run her own solo therapy practice, designed innovative clinical programs, built and managed large, thriving teams of service providers, and consulted hundreds of helping professionals on how to build meaningful AND sustainable practices. In her spare time, Katie is secretly siphoning off Curt's youthful energy, so that she can take over the world. Learn more at: www.katievernoy.com
A Quick Note:
Our opinions are our own. We are only speaking for ourselves – except when we speak for each other, or over each other. We’re working on it.
Our guests are also only speaking for themselves and have their own opinions. We aren’t trying to take their voice, and no one speaks for us either. Mostly because they don’t want to, but hey.
Stay in Touch:
Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide Group
https://www.facebook.com/therapyreimagined/
https://twitter.com/therapymovement
https://www.instagram.com/therapyreimagined/
Credits:
Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/
Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano http://www.crystalmangano.com/