1. letter to Virginia (below)  2. email to Health Department  2. Correspondence with the Health Department

Yes, Virginia, There are New Restrictions on the
term, “Private Practice Counseling.”

Dear Floyd—CounselingSeattle.com:

I am 58 years old. I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and I have been doing private practice counseling for 27 years.  Some of my fellow counselors say that I cannot continue to do private practice counseling after July 1, 2009.  My Papa used to say, “If you see it on CounselingSeattle.com, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth; will I have to give up private practice counseling?

Virginia [Anonymous], MA, LMHC

Dear Virginia,

Your counseling friends are right. All of you were affected--probably unintentionally--when the Washington State legislature passed a bill (2SHB 2674) eliminating the registered counselor (RC) credential and establishing several new credentials in its place.  The lower levels (in terms of qualifications) include two new categories--certified advisors and certified counselors--who are permitted to do private practice counseling within carefully defined and prescribed limits.

However, when a term is used in legislation, it is usually defined.  So the new law includes a definition of "private practice counseling."  For years, private practice counseling has been a common term meaning when a counselor has a business providing mental health services to clients for a fee.  But under the new legal definition effective July 1, 2009, "Private practice counseling means the practice of counseling by a certified counselor or certified adviser as specified in RCW 18.19.200."

So yes, Virginia, as I read the legislation, since you are NOT a certified counselor or certified adviser, you will NOT be able to refer to what you do as private practice counseling.  Nor will your 4,615 fellow Licensed Mental Health Counselors, 1,060 Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, and 3,209 Licensed Social Work Counselors in the State of Washington.

Oh, you will still be able to have a counseling business; you will still be able to help troubled clients; and you will still be able to charge for your services. You just won’t be able to say, “I do private practice counseling.” In fact, you may not be able to say that you are a counselor and that you have your own private practice. (Consult an attorney.  Otherwise you may accidentally break the law when trying to describe the kind of work you do.)

But private practice counseling will continue, Virginia.  It will exist as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give life its highest beauty and joy.  But alas! Private practice counseling’s most highly trained and most experienced counselors will no longer be able to use those words to offer that service to clients in need.

You and your fellow professional counselors will need to develop a new vocabulary.  Or, alternatively you and your colleagues could ask your representatives in the Washington State legislature to amend the law so all of you could keep using the old familiar term the way you used to.

Best wishes,

Floyd Else, MA, LMHC, NCC
Webmaster: http://www.CounselingSeattle.com
CounselingSeattle LLC, PO Box 6714, Bellevue, WA 98008-0714     more

References:
1. 2SHB 2674: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2007-08/Pdf/Bills/House%20Passed%20Legislature/2674-S2.PL.pdf 
2. See: RCW 18.19.020, Definitions. (Effective July 1, 2009.) Paragraph (10).
3. Numbers of licensed counselors in each category were provided November 5, 2008, by the Health Department, Health Systems Quality Assurance, Public Disclosure Record Center in Olympia.

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Email about "Private Practice Counseling" Issue

TO:         Betty Moe, DOH WA GOV
Date:      December 30, 2008
Subject:  Error in the meeting notes for December 12, 2008

Dear Betty J. Moe, DOH Program Manager

You know I drove down to Kent DSHS the morning of December 12, 2008, signed in a received a visitors badge, attended the full meeting of the Licensed Mental Health Counselors, Marriage & Family Therapists and Social Workers Advisory Committee.

I passed out to all in attendance (including yourself) materials dealing with my concern that the new counselors law had mistakenly restricted the use of the phrase, "private practice counseling" to the new counseling categories of "certified counselor" and "certified advisor." [Please see to paragraph 10 of the definitions in the counseling regulation RCW 18.19.020 Definitions. (Effective July 1, 2009.).]

There was an open discussion of my concerns and Bob Nicoloff (executive director of the state Department of Health’s Division for Mental Health Professions) referred the matter to Assistant Attorney General, Heather A. Carter, to determine whether the legislation had created a protected class in terms of the term "private practice counseling."  My actual concern, however, is whether this unfortunate definition serves any purpose in restricting the scope of practice for Certified Advisors and Certified Counselors.  I believe that other sections of the law clearly state the restrictions on these two classes of counselors and that the legal definition of private practice counseling should be changed to reflect its real, common law definition.

The search engine www.Google.com cannot find a definition of "private practice counseling" and I fear that the new legal definition may become the only definition available.  I would recommend the Washington legislature be asked to amend the definition to read: "Private practice counseling is the practice of the profession of counseling as an independent business and not as an employee."

Imagine my surprise, when I received your email containing the minutes of the December 12th meeting.  I discovered that I was not listed as having attended the meeting, there was no mention of the "private practice counseling" issue, the discussion that accompanied my handout was not mentioned, and there is no mention of referral to the AAG for findings and recommendations.

May I inquire how it happened that I and my concerns were omitted from the minutes, and may I request that the minutes of the meeting be amended to include my presence and my issues?

Sincerely,

Floyd Else, Webmaster: www.CounselingSeattle.com
CounselingSeattle LLC
P. O. Box 6714 Bellevue, WA. 98008-0714

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