TPC Journal-V6, Issue 4- FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor /Volume 6, Issue 4 389 the guidelines and be able to correctly apply the guidelines to clinical practice. As Pabian, Welfel, and Beebe (2009) discovered, 76.4% of surveyed clinicians were misinformed about their state laws concerning duty to warn. If the majority of counselors did not fully understand their state guidelines for practice on this single issue, there are serious concerns about ethical telemental health practice regarding numerous licensure issues across state lines. These concerns highlight the need for clarity and understanding on licensure guidelines. For the purposes of this paper, the authors examine the current telemental health terminology used in state licensure laws located on their Web sites. Telemental Health Terminology As telemental health technology has become a promising option, new descriptive terminology has been developed. Several major organizations use the term telemental health . The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs describes telemental health as “behavioral health services that are provided using communication technology” (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2015, para. 3.). The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration Office for the Advancement of Telehealth funds 14 Telehealth Resource Centers located across the United States (Telehealth Resource Centers, 2015). Telehealth Resource Centers use the terms telemental health and telebehavioral health . The National Center for Telehealth and Technology uses the term telemental health in the Department of Defense Telemental Health Guidebook (National Center for Telehealth & Technology, 2015). The American Telemedicine Association, a primary force of the telemedicine industry, uses the term telemental health (American Telemedicine Association, 2015). Thus, the term telemental health is used henceforth to broadly describe using the Internet to provide mental health care. In the professional and academic literature and on the Internet, numerous terms are used to describe technology- or Internet-based mental health care including: online counseling, online therapy, video therapy, telemental health, telebehavioral health, e-therapy, cybertherapy, telepsychology, telecounseling, Internet therapy, Internet counseling, video counseling, video chat, e-mail therapy, clinical video therapy and Web therapy (Backhaus et al., 2012; Barak, Klein, & Proudfoot, 2009; Castelnuovo, Gaggioli, Mantovani, & Riva, 2003; Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, 2009; Day & Schneider, 2002; Maheu et al., 2005; Suler, 2004; Yellowlees et al., 2010). Some terms describe the medium used (e.g., e-mail therapy, clinical video therapy), while other terms describe the broad use of mental health services over the Internet (e.g., telemental health, online therapy). Inconsistent terminology among organizations or state licensure boards can lead to a number of problems for mental health providers, as well as researchers, educators and other mental health workers. Using varying terminology, mental health providers must identify and follow state laws regarding telemental health practice, in addition to ethical guidelines. The purpose of this research was to (a) determine whether individual mental health state licensure boards (counseling, psychology, social work, and marriage and family therapy) have a policy or service provision regarding telemental health services, (b) identify the terminology used in the state licensure board policies, and (c) compare the differences in terminology used in licensure board policies across mental health professions. Method Procedure Various terms, such as online therapy , telemental health and online counseling , were searched on the Internet and in the professional literature. We identified related terms in the search results and in the