CCE Set to Launch First BC-TMH Code of Ethics

The Board Certified-TeleMental Health Provider (BC-TMH) is the leading credential for mental health providers who offer virtual services to clients. Developed by the Center for Credentialing & Education, the BC-TMH gives mental health professionals the credibility to offer safe and effective services.

All BC-TMHs and candidates for the credential will be accountable to the new BC-TMH Code of Ethics, which addresses important topics to protect clients. This is the first official code of ethics for the BC-TMH. Prospective BC-TMHs have traditionally learned about ethics pertaining to the credential as part of the required training and are tested on this knowledge through the TeleMental Health Examination; however, they have not had a specific credential code of ethics to reference.

Dr. Brenden Hargett, NBCC’s Vice President of Operations and Director of Ethics, says that the new Code was partially informed by the National Board for Certified Counselors’ Distance Technology Policy (published in 2016), the updated NBCC Code of Ethics (published in 2023), and telemental health guidelines from the American Counseling Association. “The scope of the work is to ensure that credential holders are operating within the parameters that are necessary,” he shares.

Important topics covered in the new Code include:

• Confidentiality: Ensures clients are informed of the limits when using technology and that the clinician exercises due diligence to protect client confidentiality to the best of their ability.
• Accessibility: Explains standards and steps to make telemental health inclusive. Discusses accommodations, such as interpreters, closed captioning, and alternative text, which allow more individuals to benefit from telemental health services.
• Discrimination: Requires clinicians to refrain from unlawful discrimination.
• Emergency services: Requires that clinicians are informed of emergency services where the client is located in case clinical risk factors, including self-harm, suicidal ideation, or domestic violence, emerge or escalate.

Other important topics the Code covers include multiple relationships, assessing the efficacy of telemental health services for each client, and staying updated on telemental health best practices.

“No credential holder should move forward in performing counseling work without being thoroughly familiar and well versed in the codes of ethics that are prescriptive to their particular credential or their profession,” Dr. Hargett says.

The BC-TMH is recommended to Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, Social Workers, and other behavioral health professionals who provide telemental health services. Stay tuned for the official publication of the Code and find information on BC-TMH requirements at https://www.cce-global.org/credentialing/bctmh.