Can You Verify the Credentials of your Cyber-shrink?

Here's an idea who's time came and went. Beginning in 1997 it was possible to verify the credentials of someone offering online counseling or therapy. You just looked for the "Credential Check" emblem at the counselor's website, or surfed to the Credential Check homepage and see if the person was listed. The service was free for clients, and it cost a nominal fee each year for therapists. By 2001 the site had folded. Like many Online enterprises, it never paid for itself.

The site explained itself this way:

Welcome to the original and official online verification center for checking out the credentials of an online therapist. Here you will find therapists who have registered for a credential check with us and have had their identity and credentials independently verified. This is vital to ensuring that individuals who are providing online therapy services are not misrepresenting themselves, their background or training, their education, licensure, and other credentials. This is the only online service of its kind which does the legwork for you, providing you with the reliable, accurate information you need to properly choose an online therapist or counselor. (Credential Check, 1997)

Information provided at the site includes the highest advanced degree that the person received, their current license status, and up to three professional associations that they belonged to. This information was independently verified by Credential Check, so you no longer had to take the therapist's word for it.

Credential Check was a joint project of Mental Health Net and Metanoia. This basically meant that it was joint project of John Grohol, Psy.D. and Martha Ainsworth. John is a psychologist who is building his career online. His work is widely respected. Martha is someone who found internet counseling helpful in her life. She has been outspoken in letting people know that these services can be valuable.

Since the Credential Check site folded there has been no independent verification service for e-therapists. Maybe someone will step up and fill the void.

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