Feedback Page # 2.
Regarding the listing of
Counselors alleged to be unethical
or unprofessional in their use of
MFT, MHC, & MAP credentials.

A.

Recently one afternoon, I was working away on my home computer when my telephone began to ring.  When I answered and identified myself, the irate caller identified herself as Heather J.   She was complaining that a client had contacted her and told her that she was listed in my CounselingSeattle.com page for unethical counselors.

"Well," she said, to me, "I think it was very unethical of you to list me without letting me know.  I told her that I had sent her an email before listing her.  She brusquely dismissed that!  "Well, email is not dependable.  You should have called me!"

While she went on talking, I checked her website and found that the misleading wording was still there.  So I told her, no problem, just reword the offensive sentence so that it doesn't imply you are licensed and I will remove you from the page.

Before she rang off, she advised me that she had contacted several of her supervisors about my criticism of her. 

A few days later, I received the following email.
 

B.

To: Floyd Else
From: Heather J.
Subject:   <none>
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008

Changes have been made (to my website).  FYI... The staff AAMFT attorney said that I was ABSOLUTELY not in violation of their code of ethics. Any issue would be with the state (I have not found anything to this point that says that there is) not with the AAMFT as you refer to when accusing me of being unethical and in violation of the AAMFT Code of Ethics.

Take me off your site immediately.
 

C.

October 29, 2008

Dear Heather Johnson:

The American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists" attorney is not someone to ask about ethical standards.  The same AAMFT attorney emailed me a year or so ago because I had criticized use of the MFT initial on their site.

But I left my criticism on the site unchanged and wrote a letter to the AAMFT administration explaining my criticism of counselors who use the generic MFT acronym in counselor's professional credentials, as violating Washington Law and the AAMFT code of ethics. I found that AAMFT had subsequently defined the MFT on the AAMFT site as:

"Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are mental health professionals trained in psychotherapy and family systems, and LICENSED to diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders within the context of marriage, couples and family systems." (emphasis added). 

You are NOT a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. 

Your telephone call caught me unprepared for your criticism. But after your call, I remembered the circumstances around your listing to the unprofessional counselors page. Originally I had contacted you about another person on the M-----n Center site who was using the questionable credential "PhD (C)"-- which turned out to stand for "PhD candidate." After that person was removed from the site, I contacted you and asked you not use MFT in your credentials, and you did so.

Then several months later, I received an email from a viewer complaining about your website listing you as, "Heather is a Marriage and Family Therapist"..." and that you were falsely implying--by using the capitol letters--that you were a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, which you are not.

I forwarded the email complaint to you saying that I agreed with her complaint and that you should drop the use of the capital letter that made it sound as though you were a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I added that if you did not make the change, it would earn you a spot on my "unprofessional, unethical counselors page."

Now, I see that you have now reworded your webpage and removed the confusing and objectionable capitol letters. Your revised website looks very nice and I like the smiling photo of you. And I am happy to hear that you are accumulating your hours of supervision and will soon be licensed. It is a long and arduous process.

However, I see that you are listing yourself as a "Marriage & Family Therapist" on the M-----n Center site, so I will just change your web address on the "Unprofessional, unethical counselor" page to reflect the other web page listing.

I hope this is clear and adequate notice.

Floyd Else, MA, LMHC, NCC

D.

From: Heather J.
Sent: Wed 10/29/08 9:24 PM
To: Floyd Else and [Staff Member]

We did discuss the phd c and it was removed immediately. We did not discuss anything about mft behind my name. There has never been a mft behind my name only ma. That was not a conversation with me. Had it been it would have been promptly changed as I had my colleague's changed.

Save yourself the effort. My associate has been notified and it will be changed tomorrow. There is no reason to have me listed on your page any longer. I have no issue with changing to lower case. Seems our attorneys disagree but I, in no way, am trying to mislead anyone and am happy to change it.

I am interested in why you have not addressed your willingness to take my advertising money while bashing my name on the same site???

 I will be out of town for the next week but my collegues will be in contact to make sure our website meets your approval in all ways and I am no longer listed on your site AT ALL....

Note to Heather and all counselor advertisers on CounselingSeattle.com:  I am careful about making sure that objectionable acronyms are not used on CounselingSeattle.com.  However, the counselors on my site may have used these acronyms on their personal site or on a listing elsewhere on the web.  When I discover such problems, I notify the counselor and ask that the problem be corrected.  Most counselors are most cooperative and make the necessary corrections without delay.  However, on occasion the counselor--such as Heather--does not cooperate and is removed from the site.   [See "H," below.]

E.

From: Heather J.
Sent: Wed 10/29/08 9:33 PM
To: Floyd Else

My colleague just informed me that he updated the M-----n Center website today. I check it and there is no violation on my part.

Please let me know if you disagree so that we can make the correction.  Please remove me from your site immediately.
 

F.

Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008
Subject: Heather J.
From: [Staff Member]

Please remove Heather from your unethical therapist page. If you check, you will see that the web pages are no longer using the phrase you disagree with.

G.

From: Floyd Else
Sent: Fri 10/31/08 4:43 PM
To: [Staff Member]

Greetings [Staff Member]:  Thanks for your notice about the changes on your site. I have removed your site from the list.  I appreciate your help.

H.
 And here is the original email complaint 5/07/07.

Dear Floyd:

Per your stated instructions on your website, I am notifying you of a Registered Counselor who advertises on your website: counselingseattle.com:

http://www.heatherj.......counseling.com/about.html

Heather J______, MA, RC advertises herself on her website (please refer to link above) as a "Marriage and Family Therapist"....

HOWEVER, she only holds an RC [Registered Counselor] and is NOT an LMFT [Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist] nor does she hold any other form of clinical licensure in WA State.

I would appreciate it if you could notify Ms. J______ of her misleading title as a "Marriage and Family Therapist" at once.

Thanks for a running a first-rate website and for helping to elevate clinical folks who are actually licensed and strictly abide by the RCWs & WACs. Your efforts are to be lauded!

I.
 And on 11/24/08, the original complainant concludes: 

Thank you Floyd for your advocacy and to help protect those of us who went through the time and expense of actually obtaining our post-master's supervision hours and to successfully pass the licensing exam!  I am more than happy to help with your efforts and will continue to forward more RCs and others who are misleading an unsuspecting public with inflated acronyms and/or faked licensing credentials.  As you already know, the WA State DOH is quite impotent in enforcing such basic standards of counselors' mis-representation....I find it sadly ironic that it takes an external entity (i.e. you) to effect such change.  

Keep up the great work--love your website and appreciate your efforts in putting such RCs on notice because the professional community (legitimately licensed counselors/social workers) regularly scan the Internet websites and report those that are unethical!

Sincerely,

"wishing to remain anonymous, MSW, LICSW"
 

RE: Use of the acronym "ABS"
Monday  3/24/08

Dear Floyd,

Hi, I just wanted to inform you that I have removed all the ABS acronym from every thing that I could think of.

As you know I have been LMHC for a long time and I do not need that title nor acronym. It took me a while to remove it and it just occurred to me that I have not informed you yet.

I would appreciate if you remove my name from your list or any other list that you have any control of.

Thank you.

sincerely,

F.                                     [I have done so.  Thanks, "F"--webmaster's note.]

1.

Sent: Mon 2/18/08 7:01 AM
Subject: Use of MA, ABS by author

Mr. Else,

FYI an author named Susan Leahy uses the above credentials for her book, "Nailing......Prepare and...!" [Book title partially obscured by webmaster--no free advertising here.]

As a consumer, I decided to look up the meaning of ABS, found your website, and would have otherwise been clueless.

I took the ABS as meaning the author had an extra professional certification in addition to her master's degree.  I agree the use of the ABS is unethical and misleading as I was taken in!

Thank you for you efforts, you are the only source I found on this matter, and it is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Dave, AAS, OVNMICA (overnight-awake mental illness chemical addiction counselor)...[haha]
 

2.

Dave:

Thanks for your note.  I did a brief search on line and was unable to come up with a phone number or email address for the author and unable to contact her to verify your suspicions.  So for all I know, her use of the ABS initials could mean she has an "Antilock Braking System" or operates an "Afghan Banana Stand."

My branding the use of the ABS acronym in professional counselor credentials as most likely both unprofessional and unethical has earned me a passel of critical letters--sent to me by those folks who felt wronged by such accusations.

You must be an unusually curious and confused person, since every counselor I confronted about misusing ABS as a professional credential, told me that they had never had a client who was confused by what ABS meant.  That may mean that you are the first known person (other than myself) to ever be confused or misled by this acronym!

So I urge you and others, who share the belief that this is unethical, to participate in my "Call for Action."   Get on your telephone or email and call or email the offenders and let them know that this disgusting practice does not go unnoticed.  Let the offenders know that there really are folks out there who feel that sticking misleading initials into their professional credentials is unacceptable to you.

Best wishes,

Floyd Else, MA, DTJAW
Defender of Truth, Justice and the American Way (It's okay, Superman is playing to an international audience now and doesn't use this any more.)

Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:24:30 -0800            A.
Subject: Registered Counselors

Hi Floyd -

I read the information and letters regarding misleading clients with phony acronyms and I would like to add to the list the silly acronym of "RC" for registered counselors. I believe this to be the most ridiculous and misleading acronym out there. For a real counselor to use that in place of a LMHC because they feel that it isn't necessary because the state of WA doesn't require an LMHC is not only unethical, but completely misleading to unknowing clients who are seeking assistance. While it is true that we are in the helping profession and our clients needs are the most important factor here, people who have taken the 4 hour AIDS awareness class should not be allowed to use that as a bargaining tool and a way to obtain clients who do not realize that anyone off the street can obtain a registered counselor card.

Sincerely,

K. Anonymous, MA (and on my way to LMHC and NCC)

B.

Dear K. Anonymous:

In many ways I agree with you. However, the RC or Registered Counselor category is an official category created (with good intensions at the time) by our state legislature. The legislature's biggest mistake was to lump together in the RC category the many highly trained graduates with master's degrees in counseling or social work and who must use the RC while working for licensure.  The second biggest mistake is leave the RC category open to accept even more unqualified applicants to become new Registered Counselors without any additional requirements other than the four hour HIV/AIDS class and paying the $40 registration fee.

And it seems very irresponsible of state officials that current legislation does not require Registered Counselors to clearly state that they are an RC or Registered Counselor in their web pages, business cards or other advertisements.

The colleges who turn out counselors are also to blame.  Colleges should be required to tell students--before they begin work toward their masters degree in counseling, that the degree by itself will not qualify them to be licensed.  First they will have to work for more than a full year (3,000 hours) under supervision before they can be licensed.  And there are not nearly enough jobs in mental health agencies for all of them to earn a salary while they get their supervised hours to become licensed.

Individual state employees have told me that CounselingSeattle.com is in a better position than the state is, to expose these counselors who are unethically using phony acronyms to mislead the public.  So, CounselingSeattle.com has its invisible supporters in the Health Department, the Attorney General's office, and the state legislature.

If you, as a counselor, support this CounselingSeattle.com campaign for the ethical use of acronyms, I ask you to join in emailing and calling the counselors listed on the unethical counselors page to chastise them and shame them into shaping up.

Invite your fellow counselors to join you in this activity.  Ethical counseling standards must be supported and maintained by the professional members of the counseling community.

Thanks for writing,

Floyd Else, MA, LMHC, NCC, Webmaster
PO Box 6714, Bellevue, WA 98008-0714

1.

Floyd,

I just received an email from a colleague who was concerned that my reputation is at stake because she found me listed on your warning list for unethical practitioners.

Immediately after our last email and phone conversations, I removed all references to MHC and MFT from all of the web pages per our discussion.  While I had been advised differently, I took your concerns very seriously and actually now agree with your stance.  Within 30 minutes, I requested the changes be made to my webmaster and the provider listings.  I believe all the changes were made within 48 if not 24 hours.

I am concerned that I am still on your list of unethical practitioners as an example, when if anything I am an example of someone who was misinformed and immediately took steps to be ethical and clear and conscientious.

I would REALLY like you to immediately remove me from any list of bad examples, unless there is some other problem that I do not know about. This is of serious concern to my business and my reputation in the community.  I feel that I took your concerns very seriously. I respect very much the consumer advocacy that you do, and I want to be a positive part of your efforts.  Please do not let my name continue to be affected by remaining on this list!

If you need to, please go and verify the changes at my website.  Thank you for your time and prompt response,

B. Anonymous

2.

Dear B. Anonymous:

Thank you for your email. I have verified that the "MHC" and "MFT" acronyms have now been removed from all three websites on which you were previously listed, (although I don't know that the other sites were taken care of so quickly as your personal site was).

I thank you for your cooperation and positive attitude. I especially appreciate your telling me about checking with other, more senior, counselors who advised you that using the acronym MFT was acceptable.

I just wish that more ethics classes and ethics instructions would discuss this in their classes, but most do not. At a health department counselors advisory committee meeting, I asked all those present to raise their hands if they had ever discussed this issue in an ethics class. Not one hand went up.

So, yes, I agree that there is honest confusion about the use of counselor professional acronyms and that many counselors who make this mistake do so in ignorance, thinking that it is accepted procedure.

Please extend my special thanks to your colleague who contacted you about this matter. This is what I urge people to do in my "Call for Action." When enough people focus their attention on this issue, the problem will go away.

I respect you and salute you for reacting so promptly when the issue was brought to your attention.

Sincerely,

Floyd Else

3.

Dear Floyd:

Although I appreciate your consumer advocacy, I do not appreciate the tone of your website's unethical therapist list.  When you stereotype therapists who misuse acronyms as  people who, "deliberately mislead people searching for a counselor--people who are in pain and despair, distressed, often temporarily or chronically mentally ill, or their loved ones who are searching for qualified help,"  I feel very concerned about your leadership role the community.

 I believe that you are misrepresenting therapists and actually misleading consumers to believe that therapists are predatory.  Although some therapists may in fact intentionally mislead consumers, I believe that majority are simply confused and misguided, but certainly not unethical or manipulative.  I know many of therapists you have placed on your blacklist and I have experienced them as sound, caring, compassionate, skilled and sincere. 

I myself have been misinformed by senior therapists about this issue.  When people I trusted such as supervisors and professors told me that it was OK to use MFT to differentiate between a licensed marriage and family therapist and an unlicensed marriage and family therapist, they too must have been confused.

From this  I wonder if there is a systemic confusion at work and not predatory manipulation as you suggest.  I think it is dangerous to assume such things and hurtful.  I believe that many people including myself have been hurt by your assumptions and incomplete analysis. I urge you to include this e-mail as a small reconciliatory step and to include a more contextual analysis.  I welcome you to use my name as the author of this e-mail.

B. Anonymous, MA 
[I have decided to use his first initial rather than his name. FE]

4.

Dear B:

Thank you for your letter. I am only too happy to publish it in the interest of balance and clarity.  Many in our profession have not given any thought to these issues.  Several of these misguided professionals are in leadership roles in counseling organizations.

The fact of the matter is that MFT is a meaningless acronym, in that the public doesn't know what it means.  Actually, most people don't know what LMFT means, either.  So they give them both equal credibility!

Essentially those unlicensed counselors who use "MFT" as part of their professional credentials are cheapening the accomplishments of those who have put in the time and effort to become Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT).  In my humble opinion, every counselor who uses MFT owes an apology to every licensed marriage and family therapist.

And because MFT is only defined on the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapists web site and not in state laws (except in California), anyone--with or without a degree in marriage and family therapy--can claim to be an MFT, simply on the basis that "marriage and family therapy is what I do."

Of course you have failed to address your use of "MHC" in your counselor credentials--an equally offensive gesture to the licensed mental health counselors (LMHC).  You haven't mentioned all the senior counselors who said that using "MHC" would be all right since, "mental health counseling is what you do."  (You also can apologize to all the LMHCs.)

But most important, get in touch with each of those faculty members or senior counselors who opinions you sought before.  Let them know why you now believe that the practice is wrong. Otherwise, they are likely to continue misleading and embarrassing new counselors in the future!

Respectfully yours,

Floyd Else 

                  1.      September 2007

(At the end of an email I alerted an MFT offender [who I will call CXS] with the following warning.)

"On a separate issue, you should be aware that in 2007-2008 I am targeting counselors who inappropriately use the misleading initials "MFT" and "MHC" in their professional credentials. I don't want you to be shocked or surprised if you end up on my list."

Sincerely,

Floyd Else

2. 

Floyd: As for the acronym MFT, it simply stands for what I earned my degree in: Marriage and Family Therapy.     CXS

3.

Floyd,

I’m not married to the acronyms that follow my name. They do not improve or take anything away from counseling; they not even identify one’s skills. They only represent that we earned a master’s degree and passed the state licensing board, should we have done so. But what does that mean? It means that one received supervision and counseled people for so many hours. It doesn’t speak to the insight one has gained in this process; it doesn’t speak to one’s skill; it merely attests to our cultural conditioning, in essence.

Anyhow, I am in the process of redesigning my website where I won’t use any acronyms. The counseling field is populated by therapists who have deep issues with self-esteeem, which is probably why that’s one of the few fields where a master’s degree gets you a job in a mental health agency for sixteen dollars an hour; that’s probably why therapist strive to earn a PhD in this field, thinking that it will improve their skills; it helps to impress their clients.

I guess, this field is in pretty disarray if we bicker over acronyms, as if that would benefit our clients in any way. What does it say about us, as professionals? I’m not married to the acronyms that follow my name.

Thanks,

CXS

4.

Dear CXS

I will have to disagree with your comment that "this field is in pretty disarray if we bicker over acronyms, as if that would benefit our clients in any way."

As I understand it, you are not a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. Therefore, your use of MFT in your credentials is unprofessional and unethical in that you are not authorized to use those those initials. By using them, in violation of AAMFT guidelines, you mislead potential clients by implying that you have licensure that you do not possess.

Bickering over acronyms, as you call it, is something that I do as a public service and is one of my personal contributions to the standards of our profession.

I greatly dislike confronting fellow counselors such as you, because I am concerned with the ethical issue, not personalities. But unless I confront offenders directly, they never seem to ask themselves, "What does my deliberate misstatement of my credentials say about ME as a professional?"

I am glad that you are in the process of redesigning your website and not misusing any acronyms. Thanks for letting me know. I appreciate it.

Also, let me strongly agree with your assertion that people in the mental health professions tend to be grossly underpaid for their work. It is one of the burdens of this career field.

Floyd Else

5.

Floyd,

MFT in California amounts to LMFT in Washington. You may run the risk of being sued for accusing others of assumingly misleading the public, if they, in fact, don't, neither ethically nor legally. I, like probably most other people, do not gain anything from debating this issue and whether it serves the public is equally highly questionable.

I am aware that you are rather invested in the aforementioned issue for whatever reasons; I would be too if someone would fragulently use "LMFT" if they aren't licensed.

But, let me ask you this: what do you gain and whom do you serve by putting master's level counselors on a black list?

Thanks,  CXS

6.

Dear CXS:

Thanks for mentioning MFT use in California. Please go to http://www.counselingseattle.com/acronyms/i-m.htm#-M- and read my definition of MFT.

I do not place "masters level counselors on a "black list."  Occasionally, master's level counselors volunteer to be listed on my "unethical counselor" list. (And I consider as volunteers, all those who unethically and unprofessionally use misleading initials in the credential they list on websites.)  As soon as the misused initials disappear from their websites, I take their names and other information off the unethical counselor page.

I benefit by receiving letters such as yours, to publish on my website to entertain other counselors around the world.  Regarding who else will benefit, I hope to benefit the consumers and new counselors who are just entering the profession--especially those counselors who never had an ethics class or those (as is so often the case) whose ethics teachers did not include a discussion of the unethical and unprofessional use of misleading initials in counselor credentials.

Around the world, when people use http://www.Google.com to search for the meaning of unethical counselor they find these pages and find information they don't find elsewhere.  [To be fair, I should say that the same is true, if you use http://www.live.com OR http://www.yahoo.com]

Floyd Else

(ATTENTION READERS: if you agree with me, please help in the call to action.)

A.

Wed, 22 Aug 2007

Hi Floyd:

Please don't "publish" this note, as I am shy and quiet by nature.

I support your acronym/ABS "crusade."  You're my kind of nut job.  Keep up the good work.

I admit I was a bit shocked when one of my fellow Seattle U. alums was going on about MAP,  and then joyfully relieved when she checked with faculty and got the straight answer.

Keep your eyes open for other misleading TLA's (three-letter-acronyms.)

Shy Anonymous, MA, LMHC

B.

Dear Shy:

Thanks for the good humored and encouraging note--and for agreeing to be an anonymous contributor.

Floyd

Call to Action:

CounselingSeattle.com holds that it is unethical and unprofessional for counselors to advertise their counseling or coaching practice with the misleading degree acronyms or meaningless generic initials.  In doing so they are falsely implying that they have some special training certification or licensure beyond their degree and deliberately mislead people searching for a counselor--people who are in pain and despair, distressed, often temporarily or chronically mentally ill, or their loved ones who are searching for qualified help.  [Please see the extracts from Washington law and various professional ethics codes and see if you don't agree!]

If you agree with CounselingSeattle.com that counselors, therapists or coaches who continue to use the unauthorized or misleading generic professional initials such "BA, MFT," "MA, MHC," or "MA, ABS" are confusing and misleading the public, please help us by communicating your concern.  Give these counselors a call or an email and let them know how YOU feel about it--and why!

Perhaps YOU with your personal experiences either as a user of mental health services or as a mental health professional, can explain it to them in a way that they will understand.  Your help is appreciated.

Floyd Else, MA, LMHC, Webmaster

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