We’re working with companies to provide counseling services to their employees. Sessions will be limited based on what the company determines and you will be notified of the client's eligibility in the assignment email. Should someone need more than that to stabilize (ex: after a trauma or break up or emergency), that can be authorized. Please reach out to us as soon as possible if you need to obtain this authorization.

In an emergency, please do what you need to in order to take care of the client. Feel free to refer the client to the appropriate emergency services in the event of a crisis.

We are primarily targeting concerns that include things like anxiety, depression, stress, work/career concerns, relationships, self-esteem, work/life balance, decision making, boundaries etc.

The regular kind! 😀 Do your usual thing. We are focusing on "supportive counseling" (definition below). You will still see people who have trauma concerns or SI or self-harm, but I think the question is how acute the issue is. If they need a lot of additional support or you're going to have a hard time stabilizing them, then I think that might be someone who we refer out. If this seems like the direction it's going, just loop us in.

The ones who we will be referring out are people who need a higher level of care (on a regular basis) and/or people who need ongoing crisis team care (hospital type programs).

When in doubt, do a first assessment session, give them a few tools and then let me know so we can decide what is best.

*SUPPORTIVE COUNSELING

Supportive Counseling aims to relieve emotional distress and symptoms without probing into the sources of conflicts or attempting to alter basic personality structure. It emphasizes reassurance, reeducation, advice, persuasion, re-motivation, and encouragement of desirable behavior. It is frequently applied to individuals with relatively minor or limited problems, and are expected to return to a full level of previous functioning. Supportive therapy would preclude long term treatment for issues that require higher levels of care (beyond an acute crisis), regular consultations with a treatment team, persistent self-harm, suicidal ideation, or addiction concerns. In such cases, clients will be referred to treatment through their health insurance and EAP services for psychotherapy.

Reference: https://dictionary.apa.org/psychotherapy.

1. After the employee fills out the interest form, they then fill out a "client bill of rights" which covers the relationship that GROW has with their company and with you guys. Basically, this is an informed consent with a little more information for them about the counseling process. You can read a copy of it here.

3. We get a notice when they are finished with the registration process and then we match them up with one of you!

4. You reach out and schedule them just like you would a regular client! Send your regular paperwork like they are your own client now...only someone else is covering the bill like a typical stipend or scholarship.

5. Complete the online session invoice form after every session so that we can properly invoice and pay you.

Anyone who works at the companies and if they are married, they can do couples counseling with their spouse. We will not be seeing any minors. We cannot provide counseling to the spouse without the employee present (we can meet with the spouse individually as appropriate during the course of couples counseling).

After each session (or at the end of the day of multiple sessions), please create an entry for every GCN session. The form is short, so it should only take you a minute to complete. We base your rate off of the standard rate you submitted when you applied to the network. Here is the direct link for submitting sessions.

All session entries must be entered by end of day Sunday for the previous week’s sessions. We will not invoice for late sessions. We cannot make exceptions on this.

Sessions will be invoiced to the companies on a recurring basis. You will receive a direct deposit every two weeks, which will include all paid sessions we have received (if you don’t have sessions included on a paid invoice, you will not receive a payment). The companies have a 45 day window to pay each invoice, so your first payment will see the delay but then you will receive regular payments after that.

On your Airtable billing link, you will see when sessions are invoiced and when they are paid. You can expect to see your direct deposit for those paid sessions included in the next scheduled payroll. The estimated direct deposit date will be included for your reference once we process the payroll.

You may charge whatever you decide to charge and that is decided on an annual basis when you sign or renew your contract with the network. You will be contracted with us at that rate for the entire year for all client sessions and we cannot change rates mid year.

That means you will have one rate all year for ALL clients, regardless of whether they were existing clients or if they are new clients assigned in the current year. We are going to prioritize assigning new clients to counselors with rates closer to $150, but will also be using people at higher rates as needed.

**All referrals depend on the needs and locations of clients.

Right now we can only reimburse at the contracted rate, which is your standard session rate. If you need additional time to complete a thorough intake, our suggestion is to space the intake over the first two sessions and use both two sessions to complete the intake process. If this is your approach, just inform the client about how the process will work so they can have appropriate expectations.

We have contracted with you at the hourly rate you provided us through the end of the contract year. Unfortunately, we are unable to make any rate adjustments once you sign your contract as we are in a contract with the company to provide services at the rate you gave us. You can adjust your rate when you sign your contract for next year.

This policy is clearly outlined in the paperwork the clients sign before we send them to you. It’s also in the FAQ section of their company website, but we think it’s important they hear this from you at intake, as well. The companies will only be paying for sessions provided. They will NOT cover late cancellations or missed appointments.

We would recommend not collecting a credit card when you see them for the first appointment, though. In the first session, we suggest you emphasize this policy. Then if they miss or cancel an appointment, you can waive the first missed appointment fee and remind them about the cancellation fee, while also collecting a credit card to have on file. If it happens again, you can charge them for the missed appointment.

Let us know if that happens or you start to see this becoming a pattern. It seems like people are taking it seriously right now, so hopefully we won’t see that happening.

Typically after an employee leaves or is let go, we provide them one additional session to terminate/transition. With the process the companies use for termination, most people aren't blindsided and they've been processing the transition before they are let go. Many haven't even wanted the additional wrap-up session. But if they do, we are happy to provide that. Of course they can always pay directly to the counselor and continue to see them as a regular client if they want to!

Yes! If you are part of a group, we’re happy to pay the group. We have an agreement that will be with you as the counselor (keeping your license and insurance current, etc.) and an agreement with the practice (billing and payment, etc.). All session fees can be paid directly to the practice.

Technically, anytime you get paid by someone else for a service when you’re not an employee, you’re most likely an independent contractor or subcontractor. Sometimes people have formal agreements about how this process works and sometimes it’s just based on an understanding. We value honesty and transparency. We want to be clear about what we are going to do and how you can count on us as a partner. We want the same from you.

We know legal agreements can feel scary if you’re not used to them. If you have any questions, we recommend you ask your lawyer or reach out to us and we will be happy to clarify. If you’re in an individual private practice, we have one contract for you. If you are part of a group practice, we have an agreement for you as the counselor and a separate agreement about billing with the practice.

Click HERE to update the number of client openings you have (look for the survey midway down the page). This is how we will determine how many new clients to assign to you.

We believe that more coverage is better than less coverage when it comes to insurance. It’s a quick call (or form online) to add us to your policy declaration. We will add you to ours, as well. This way, should there ever be a suit brought against you, you will be covered by our policy and us by yours. If we don’t take these steps, it’s possible that there would be a gap in coverage and you or GCN could be left open to liability.

1. Fill out an application (including references)

2. Complete a background check

3. Review and sign subcontractor agreement

4. Submit your direct deposit information for payment (we will send you what you need to do this securely online through our payment processor, Gusto!)

4. Watch an online training session for counselors. This video is linked on the Counselor Hub (password: Healing2022)

5. Receive client referrals!

The Right Counselor is a free advertisement database (similar to Psychology Today, Theravive, etc). It’s designed to allow counselors to endorse and review other counselors. We launched TRC in 2020 and are offering to create a profile for you with the information you provide us on the application. It’s totally voluntary and not required. If you choose not to have a free profile, please email us and let us know.

Companies will be paying in full for the sessions. Initially, you do not need to collect a credit card from clients. See the note under cancellations.

Keep us in the loop as you need to handle cancellations, higher level of care issues, etc.

No notes or treatment plans will ever be collected. The only billing information that will be collected from you is Your Name, Client Name, and Date of Session. The fee will auto-populate on the billing side based on what you submitted as your standard rate. When the companies are billed, there is no client identifying information provided, so the companies will not know who is being seen.

At various times, surveys will be sent to clients to gather information about the program and their experience. These are voluntary and are completely anonymous. The information will be used to help companies understand the value in the program and for us to get data on how to better structure or administer the program. Clients will never be identified in the survey and only aggregate data will be used/provided.

We really want to handle these referrals well and make sure that people feel seen and cared about. When possible, we want to avoid anyone falling through the cracks. Please take good care to reach out quickly to these clients once they are placed with you (within 24 hours). If you’re not going to be able to do that, please let us know and we can help with the connection.

Also, this company has very high cyber security, so sometimes emails go to spam. We’ve found it’s helpful if you don’t hear back from someone within about 48 hours to reach out by phone or text to connect. If you don’t hear from them after 3 touch points (initial email, follow call/text), please let us know and we can put them back on the waiting list and give you another client!

The disclaimer here is that we (GCN) do not use Simple Practice so this is information counselors in the network have sent us. Please let us know if there are any updates here so we can help others with this platform.

1. Turn off notices to clients about billing.

2. Set up a 3rd party/insurance payer that you name GCN. Then assign the clients to that payer on their chart. Set the copay to zero.

Our understanding is that all informed consents need to have the name of the counselor on them, credentials, supervisors/directors rates, length of sessions, thorough information about the process, HIPAA notifications, mandated reporting, limits to confidentiality.

In the GCN, we have counselors from all different disciplines - some are clinically trained to do FMLA/Disability/Accommodation evaluations and others are not. We rely on you to know where your boundaries of competence are.

Additionally, given that we are paid by the client's employer, it's important to consider several things in making an ethical decision about providing such evaluations including dual relationships, boundaries of competence, and beneficence. We do require that the client pay directly for any evaluation as this is not covered in the scope of "supportive counseling" (See handbook for more information on this definition).

Generally speaking, it's probably cleaner if the evaluation is conducted by someone outside of GCN, but it's not something we're taking a firm position on since every situation is different.

Typically the way it works on the employer side is that the HR Department and/or their lawyers have a process they follow when someone makes a request and you might get some follow up questions during that process from HR/Legal as they work to find the appropriate path for accommodation.

Please change your availability to "0" and when you are back and ready to pick up clients, just update that availability.

- For the clients who will wait for you and don't need anything, you can just pick up with those clients after you start back. No need for us to track anything.

- For the clients who want a temporary assignment (either now or while you are out) just have them email us and we will get them connected with someone else. Sometimes, they want to stay with the new person but often when you reach out to let them know you are back they will switch back to you. If that is the case, just send us an email with their ID and we will add them back to your caseload.

- For the clients who want a new assignment moving forward they can make a new assignment request.

If a client reaches out to someone you refer them to who is not in the network, IG/GCN will not cover the cost of those sessions while you are out.