How To Perform Due Diligence When Looking for a Mental Health Provider
Due Diligence:
1. Law: the care a reasonable person exercises to avoid harm to other persons or their property
2. Business: research and analysis of a company or organization done in preparation for a business transaction (such as a corporate merger or purchase of securities)
www.merriam-webster.com
Due Diligence Explained
Before entering into any therapeutic relationship with a treating professional, it is important to perform due diligence.
Essentially, due diligence means doing your homework.
It involves researching your potential provider’s name, verifying credentials (i.e., licenses, certification), and asking relevant questions before you set foot inside their actual or virtual office.
Provider Due Diligence
Due diligence does not stop with just the client. Therapists and treating professionals have ethical responsibilities as well.
This process is known as informed consent in counseling (and in many other allied health or what I term “sister” professions).
Remember those codes of ethics we chatted about in previous blog posts? Informed consent is one of the many principles included in EVERY service provider’s ethical code, whether medical, mental health or allied health.
Informed consent is the process of informing a client, patient, or research subject of the risks, benefits, expected outcome of a research project, medication, medical procedure, or therapeutic approach in which they have agreed to take part.
GoodTherapy | Informed Consent
Therapy carries both risk and reward. In growth, there are often growing pains. Clients have a legal and ethical right to be informed of the pros and cons of seeking treatment. Clinicians have a duty to provide such information.
The Homeschool Counseling Network’s Members
HCN does not personally vet each professional who joins our network.
Instead, we endeavor to provide the homeschooling community with general information about the counseling process, red flags to look for when considering working with a provider, and how to research a licensed professional in your home state to verify credentials.
While the above tips are by no means comprehensive, it is a great starting point for helping homeschooling families research ANY potential service provider before entering into care.
Coming Up
Be sure to check back in with us next week where we talk about some common red flags to look for in service providers.
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Blessings,
Kimberly Bennett, LPC
IOH Mom
Founder/CEO, It’s Only Homeschooling
Founder/CEO, The Homeschool Counseling Network
This website is not a professional counseling website and nothing here should be construed as professional counseling advice. Although Kimberly Bennett, LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor, she is not your counselor, and no counselor-client relationship is established unless she has signed an agreement with you. All information provided through this website is for informational and educational purposes only.
