The Professional Counselor | Volume 13, Issue 3 178 across state lines, consideration of ethical and legal provisions of practice are critical. This article seeks to offer guidance to counselors in how to practice ethically within the privileges of the Counseling Compact. Exploration of ethical guidelines and legal statutes governing practice, a case example of ethical practice, and tools for establishing an ethical process of practice are offered. Legal and Ethical Considerations for TMH Provision of TMH may include use of various technology-supported methods of distance counseling. The National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC; 2016) differentiates between face-to-face counseling and distance professional services. Face-to-face services include synchronous interaction between individuals or groups of individuals using visual and auditory cues from the real world. Professional distance services utilize technology or other methods, such as telephones or computers, to deliver services like guidance, supervision, advice, or education. NBCC (2016) also differentiates counseling services from supervision and consultation for counselors. Counseling represents a working partnership that enables various people, families, and groups to achieve their goals in terms of mental health, well-being, education, and employment. This type of professional relationship differs from supervision, in that supervision is a formal, hierarchical arrangement involving two or more professionals. Consultation is an intentional collaboration between two or more experts to improve the efficiency of professional services with respect to a particular person. NBCC also offers guidance in defining various modalities for the provision of TMH related to counseling, supervision, or consultation (see Table 1). TMH can enhance accessibility to mental health services (Maurya et al., 2020). Barriers to care via TMH include lack of access to video-sharing technologies (e.g., tablet, personal computer, laptop), reliable internet access, private space for using TMH, and adaptive equipment for people with disabilities, as well as a lack of overall digital literacy (Health Resources & Services Administration, 2022). However, with some shared resources and community partnerships, these barriers can be addressed, and TMH can offer broad access to mental health professionals with various expertise and specialty training to begin addressing health disparities (Abraham et al., 2021). Another barrier is the lack of mental health professionals offering TMH services, in part due to challenges in counselor licensing (Mascari & Webber, 2013). TMH barriers also include challenges in counselor training as well as technical and administrative support to implement TMH services with certain client populations (Shreck et al., 2020; Siegel et al., 2021). Table 1 Common Modalities for Provision of Telemental Health Modality Definition Telephone-based Information is conveyed across synchronous distance interactions using audio techniques. Email-based Asynchronous distance interaction in which information is transmitted via written text messages or email. Chat-based Synchronous distance interaction in which information is received via written messages. Video-based Synchronous distance interaction in which information is received by video and or audio mechanisms. Social network Synchronous or asynchronous distance interaction in which information is exchanged via social networking mechanisms.
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