Today, we’re tackling one of the most important topics for location-independent therapists: liability insurance for traveling therapists. It’s the #1 question I get asked in my Facebook group—“What do I do about liability insurance?”—and for good reason. Practicing across state lines or internationally can be confusing, and knowing how to protect yourself, your clients, and your practice is non-negotiable. In this episode, we’ll dive into the ins and outs of liability insurance, explore how to stay compliant with licensing laws, and share tips for simplifying your portable practice.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
Mentioned in the Episode:
Portable Practice Method: www.kymtolson.kartra.com/page/PP-Waitlist
CPH & Associates: https://cphins.com/
HPSO (Healthcare Providers Service Organization): https://www.hpso.com/
International Therapist Directory: https://internationaltherapistdirectory.com/
European Association for Psychotherapy: https://www.europsyche.org/
Connect with me:
Instagram: @thetravelingtherapist_kym
The Traveling Therapist Membership: www.kymtolson.kartra.com/page/travelingtherapistmembership
Revolutionize Your Private Practice with AI Course: www.kymtolson.kartra.com/page/ai
Signup to learn more about life as Traveling Therapist: https://www.portablepracticemethod.com/free-training
The Traveling Therapist Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/onlineandtraveling/
Bill Like A Boss Insurance Billing Community: www.kymtolson.kartra.com/page/blab
Subscribe to the Podcast:
Apple iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcast | Stitcher | Amazon | Castbox
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Sponsored by Berries: Say goodbye to the burden of mental health notes with automated note and treatment plan creation! www.berries.icu/therapists
Sponsored by Alma: Managing a private practice can be challenging. There are obstacles at every turn — from navigating the credentialing process, to managing finances, to finding new clients. That’s where Alma can help. Alma is on a mission to simplify access to mental health care by focusing first and foremost on supporting clinicians. https://helloalma.com/kym
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Transcript:
Hey everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Traveling Therapist Podcast. I'm your host, Kim Tolson, and today we're diving into a topic that I really haven't talked much about on this podcast. On this podcast, but it comes up literally every day. There was a question about this inside of the Traveling Therapist Facebook group.
I also was just developing a module inside the portable practice method course that I'm getting ready to release, a beta release. I'm really excited about that, but it's a topic I have to touch on and that's liability insurance. So every single day somebody posts in the Facebook group and says, what do I do about liability insurance?
So the answer is, it's. It's sort of complicated, but sort of not complicated. So I want to dive into it a little bit, talk to you about my liability insurance, which is CPH and Associates, what they told me, and then, also do the disclaimer that of course, this stuff is subject to change at all times.
It's your due diligence. To go and research this on yourself, get it in writing, keep a record of it with you in case anyone ever asks you, in case anything comes up where somebody is trying to take you to court or, you know, file a complaint against you. You want to make sure you have really good liability insurance in place.
So let's talk about why liability insurance is a non negotiable for any therapist If you have a private practice or you're starting a private practice You probably have already learned that you're going to need liability insurance There's a couple out there.
Like the nesw offers liability insurance. There's one called cph and associates That's my liability insurance. There's one. Hpso I can't remember what it stands for but it'd be google liability insurance h p s o You'll find it and it'll give you more information about how to get liability insurance.
So You If a client files a grievance or a misunderstanding occurs having coverage in place can Save you from potential legal and financial troubles. It's also a good tool if You know you have compliance issues or if you're gonna work internationally Liability insurance they have lawyers on call.
I think mine I get two or Three hours a year if I want to through my liability insurance just to ask a lawyer a question So it's really important to have it. You need to protect yourself and your practice and all of that. Now, if you're insured through CPH and associates, there is some great news for us based therapists.
I reached out to them. I sent them a message and I just said, look, here's my situation. I'm going to be practicing, only in my state of licensure, which is Virginia. And I'm going to be traveling internationally. I might be in a different location all the time. Is it okay for me to, Do that.
And are you going to cover me liability wise? And they came back and I can, you know, show it to you in writing if anybody wants to see it, but they came back to me and they said, it's absolutely fine for you to do that as long as you are following the licensing laws of your state of licensure. So for me, the state of Virginia says, The only thing they're concerned about is where the client is located at the time of the session They have no rules or regulations about where I can be located So cph and associates all they care about is that the client is sitting in the state of licensure because that's what my Laws say for my license type in my state and there's no regulations around where I am Now if I'm following that guideline and the client is in the state of Virginia and they decide to take action against me They will take action in the state of Virginia So if I'm living in Japan and somebody decides they're going to sue me CPH and associates is going to deal with the litigation basically in the state of Virginia.
So I, you know, if there were any proceedings or anything, I would need to physically come back to the state of Virginia to face any charges that were brought against me to my licensing board or, there's some sort of legal thing where I've got to go to court. All of that would take place in the state of Virginia.
And that's the only place CPH and Associates is going to cover that. And they're only going to cover it if they find that I am following the rules and regulations that they set forth for me to do so. if you have any questions about that, please reach out to me. Of course, I'm not a lawyer I don't work for an ethics board or you know a licensing board or anything like that So as I said before any of this can change at any time And the crucial crucial part is it's your responsibility to ensure that you understand and follow the guidelines Set forth by your licensing board and that you read your insurance policy or reach out to them get it in writing That's That it's okay for you to be located anywhere as long as your client is in the state of licensure
it's important to Realize and I say this almost in every episode in some form or fashion. It's all over the facebook group if you Live in a state Not all states are the same. So you'll see people post in the Facebook group constantly saying things like, Oh, it's not okay to practice outside of your state.
Or it's not okay to practice in this other state because of this or that. Don't listen to those first of all, because half the time they're wrong. I go research it and I find that, no, that's actually not correct. And I have to go back and correct it. But the important thing is to ensure that you are being compliant.
So, You have to make sure you're checking with your licensing board about what your state allows and then research the laws in your state, in your client's state to ensure that you meet their requirements. So what I'm saying there is you might be sitting in a different state, you might be sitting in a different country.
You have to always research where you're sitting to make sure it's okay for you to give services back to your state of licensure while you're sitting in that state. For example, Texas, this is not a law anymore, Texas used to have on the books, the the licensing board used to say, a clinician cannot even sit in the state of Texas and give services back to somebody in their state of licensure, like say Virginia, that you're not allowed to do that unless you're licensed in Texas also, which makes no sense, but they had that, On the books for quite some time and you'll still hear people saying that in the Facebook group, but it's actually not true you need to research that stuff But you need to do your due diligence for where you're sitting and where the client's sitting have that written down Have that you ask somebody and just keep a record of that if you're in a different country Same thing applies reach out to the country whoever the licensing board is In that country that regulates psychotherapy and make sure it's okay for you to be sitting and delivering services back somewhere else You I just cannot shout that loudly enough.
This is the most confusing thing for people every day. Somebody asked this question So I just thought why not just record an episode about this so you guys know exactly How to handle it and of course the portable practice method is coming. It has all this in excruciating detail. It's got checklists and walkthroughs on how to do this, the actual script to send to your licensing board and your liability insurance.
So you know exactly what to do step by step to be completely compliant.
Okay. And the next thing that people always ask is, okay, so what if I want to see clients in another country? Or if i'm living in another country and I want to see clients within that country So it gets a little more complicated one if you're living in a country and not in the united states But you want to see clients in that country.
Of course, you need to Research what are the licensing rules and regulations in that country? Will my credentials even transfer to that country and can I then start to build? You know a client base. Let's say you want to become an expat you want to get residency in another country You That's a whole totally different issue and it is possible, but your liability insurance back in the United States is not going to cover you if you do that.
It's not an international type policy. So CPH and associates, HPSO even through the NASW, they're not going to cover you internationally. Some things you can do about that if you are like gosh, yeah I don't even want to see clients in the u. s anymore. I want to be an expat therapist. I want to see clients around the world it it is okay because first of all your state of licensure has no Jurisdiction over what you do outside of your state of licensure.
So they're only concerned about that So what you have to do in that case is move outside of the united states and think globally Around how to protect yourself if you're going to be seeing clients So, here's some, some ideas and thoughts around that. And of course, disclaimer, you've got to do your own research around this to make sure it's accurate and up to date and will help you in your specific situation.
first thing you can do, local professional associations, you can reach out to counseling or therapy associations in the country where your client resides or a business. the place where you plan to practice before you even go. Like I said before, and oftentimes these organizations, they can recommend or they even themselves will provide liability insurance options tailored to mental health professionals.
It really depends on the country. Some countries have no regulations around. providing any kind of mental health services at all. So a lot of people just call themselves therapists in some countries and they're able to see their clients and they don't really worry about you know, licensure regulations and liability and being sued and that sort of thing because there's no license.
to begin with. So in some countries you may not even have to worry about it. that's at your own risk, of course, but just something to consider and to take into account.
And then you can look for insurance providers based in the country you're targeting. They take, they typically will offer professional indemnity insurance, which covers liability for providing therapy services. So you can look into that or even a business insurance that covers liability. Look into something like that.
And it can really, like Go down the Google rabbit hole, or as I like to, ChatGPT now has an amazing search engine that will conglomerate all that information, give you resources, and even give you who to contact if you need help. I find that it's a lot better than trying to use Google to find some of this stuff.
It's getting very accurate and gives, gives you Great guidance around this stuff.
You can explore other international insurance options.
So there's something called global insurance providers companies like clements worldwide and alliance with a Z, offers professional liability insurance for individuals practicing across multiple countries. And I haven't researched this myself, but I've been told this, that some international professional organizations like the International Therapist Directory or the European Association for Psychotherapy provide access to liability insurance as a membership benefit.
So these are directories that have membership benefits around that. Again, I've never researched that personally, but somebody did tell me that. then of course, as I was saying before, you want to make sure you're complying with local laws and requirements. So licensing registration, many countries require you to register or obtain temporary licensing to practice legally or even remotely.
So ensure that you're meeting these requirements before you're seeking insurance. If you're going to get international insurance, there's going to be caveats or Places in the policy that you need to pay attention to to make sure that you're being compliant and that your insurance is actually going to cover you if there is some sort of suit brought against you in in a different country While you're doing all this you've got to take into account pay attention to what is your liability insurance say around ensuring that your telehealth tools comply with local laws, like in the United States, it's HIPAA, in Europe, it's the GDPR, in Canada, it's the PIPEDA, or in other countries, there might be other ones that I'm not remembering right now, but those are the main ones, HIPAA, GDPR, PIPEDA.
If you're in a different country and using liability insurance. That's international and following rules like in New Zealand. You need to check out what the privacy laws and rules are around that to make sure you're complying and using tools and software that meet those requirements or, you know, your insurance might be null and void if somebody tries to bring a suit against you.
So these are just a lot of things to think about when you're trying to practice with a portable practice or moving around a lot, or just seeing clients that are sort of outside of the box and not back in your state of licensure For a united states therapist.
just some other thoughts around that if you are trying to secure local liability insurance And it proves challenging for you Think it through and maybe consider focusing on expertise Pat clients provide therapy maybe to individuals from your home country like back in the United States. I tell people all this time, you don't have to complicate that much.
CPH and associates is fine as long as you're following your licensure laws. It's okay just to not have to like see clients. Maybe you decide you want to live in Belgium. You don't have to see clients in Belgium because you can do telehealth back in your state of licensure and it's fine and your liability insurance is probably going to cover you if you use one of the major ones that are okay with you being located anywhere.
Another thing you can do I hear people talking about this in the traveling therapist facebook group. There are international counseling like group conglomerates that offer services around the world You can reach out to them. You can become an employee for them They will normally have some sort of like huge umbrella liability insurance policy policy that will protect you that way if you're not feeling comfortable doing it on your own.
So that's something else to think about. This is obviously for the traveling therapists that want to be international, maybe don't feel comfortable, but want to work on under the umbrella of an organization that's going to protect you that way. Another thing you can do always is legal protections, consult with an international attorney to draft agreements. that limit your liability in jurisdictions without coverage. If you, if you're finding you're in a country, you want to see clients in that country, and you can't find any sort of liability, meet with a lawyer, have him draft up some protections for you, have the client sign it, just in case.
It doesn't hurt to just protect yourself that way. Other things you might want to consider to protect yourself is emergency protocols. So have clear plans for handling a crisis, including referrals to local resources. So, if you are, you know, decide you're going to get licensed to 15 states in the United States and you're going to live.
You know over in Australia somewhere you need to know what the local resources are to protect yourself. You don't want a client who all of a sudden is suicidal on a telehealth call in another country and you have no idea how to get them help that's opening yourself up for liability So you need to make sure that you research that stuff and have a ton of good information about that There's a Wikipedia page.
I can't think of the actual web address here, but if you type in like Wikipedia, 911 in all countries, there's this huge list of emergency phone numbers in almost every single country, a way to like reach out in case of an emergency. So familiarize yourself with that local resources, how to get help if your client's in trouble and you're having a telehealth session.
finally make sure you document everything keep detailed records of all your communications with your clients With your licensing board with your liability insurance Keep it all in one place in case you ever need to pull up on something and say Yeah, well, I talked to this lawyer. This lawyer said I could do this this and this here's how he told me to write My consents.
Here's the signature where my client signed the consent You know, here's the licensing law in this country. Here's what my liability insurance says. You want to be able to just put your finger on that stuff. And have it with you digitally stored somewhere in case anything comes up. And you need to, protect yourself.
So, make sure you do that. Stay flexible. Consider offering non clinical services. Coaching really helps take away a lot of this liability. If you don't want to worry about licensing rules and regulations and liability insurance and all of that, you can always do coaching. I'm a coach. I help people become coaches.
I have 15 income streams. I only see a few clients. These days and the more that the insurance companies and all of these places start to kind of clamp down or where we can practice like most of you probably know Blue Cross Blue Shield is really cracking on down, cracking down on where the clinician could be located during the session.
Simple practice. A couple other EHRs have these and Alma. You know, I love all my love them so much. But they're starting to have regulations around where the clinician could be located at the time of service because blue cross blue shield is dictating this. So you've got to be really careful and if it all starts to seem just like too overwhelming, consider coaching you, you as a therapist have tons of skillsets and you could probably be an awesome coach if you want it to be, if you want it to not worry about this stuff.
So reach out to me if you need help with setting up your coaching business. I have six week packages. Where I can walk you through the whole thing, how I set it up, how I manage all of that stuff. So it's totally doable if this is seeming too overwhelming. And then the last little tip is networking.
Engage with other internationally practicing therapists for recommendations and advice. So the traveling therapist group is great for that. We've got, I think we've got like 20 or 30 chat threads for different countries. You can come over there and just talk to people that are already living in these other countries.
Ask them, how are you doing this? And there's a wealth of knowledge over there to help you, to walk you through it. There's also expat groups out there that you can join for each country to get more information around that. And the portable practice method, my course has got all of this in, like I said, excruciating detail, with a ton more resources than I've even talked about today.
But I just wanted to touch on this literally because it comes up almost every day in some form or fashion in the Traveling Therapist Facebook group. So I thought I would record this. I can share this episode now when I had this question come up in the group. And of course, if you're listening to this and you have resources, please reach out to me.
I love to add resources to the show notes of these episodes just so I can point people back to them really quickly and say, look, here's all the resources for this stuff or here is an international. Liability insurance that people in Europe are using use this reach out to them, get liability insurance.
So there's tons of ways to do this. Let me know if you have questions and thanks for listening.