Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Peer Reviewed Counselor?

The Peer Reviewed Counselor is a collaborative organization that connects and groups mental health clinicians, enabling them to share recorded therapy sessions for enhanced learning and support.

How does collaboration benefit clinicians?

Collaboration fosters a supportive community where clinicians can share insights, improve their skills through peer feedback, and develop effective referral networks, ultimately enhancing their practice and reducing burnout (see Research section for further information on literature that promotes the need for collaboration)

What services are offered?

We offer both in-person and telehealth based groups, tailored to meet the needs of our members. Groups consist of a maximum of 6 practicing mental health counselors. With this support, members can develop a more effective referral network for their clients.
Members are eligible to gain CE’s for their participation in the groups.
Members can gain the Peer Reviewed Counselor Credential and advertise to potential clients through referral of other members as well as through the Peer Reviewed Counselor online directory.
Individuals wanting to host their own group can contact the Peer Reviewed Counselor and identify ways in which to do so and how to provide CE’s to members.

Who can join the organization?

The organization welcomes mental health counselors and psychologists, both licensed and those actively seeking licensure in the state of Utah.

How can I promote my involvement?

Participants receive credentials that validate their membership, which can be showcased to clients, enhancing their confidence in the clinician’s professional support and collaborative approach. Members are also able to add their bio to our online directory which can be used to further advertise to clients.

How does this differ from traditional consultation?

Traditional consultation groups focus on discussion of caseload and the therapist’s individual clients. While this practice has its benefits, it is largely biased and contingent on the memory and observations of the presenting clinicians. The Peer Reviewed Counselor focuses on consultation over recorded therapy sessions with the counselor, diminishing bias and allowing direct and effective feedback on therapeutic practice. This provides the clinician support for things that occur in a session that the therapist may not see on their own. Additionally, the therapist is provided the opportunity to develop their skills through deliberate practice methods.

Direct observation of others work is an additional benefit of these types of groups as compared to traditional consultation.

How do groups work?

While the needs of each group may differ, the standard structure of a group is 6 members. These groups can range in their diversity, depending on the host providing the service and availability of members.
Groups will start with the host providing information about the Peer Reviewed Counselor and developing a structure with how the group will function. hosts’ will provide documentation, including models for consent forms that clinician may use to gain consent to record sessions with their clients. Hosts’ will additionally discuss HIPPA compliant technology that members can use to record and present recorded sessions.
Members will decide on how presentations will occur in the group and how much time each presentation will take. The standard for a 2 hour group is 3 presenters, each given a 30minute section of time in which to present.

How do I present a client?

You are welcome to share whatever content in a session you like. Groups will often encourage members to share whatever content helps the clinician. Clinicians may feel vulnerable sharing clips of their work for the first time. It is important for each group to develop norms to assist members with feeling safe sharing recorded sessions. Vulnerable moments may differ from clinician to clinician. Some therapists find it difficult to share a moment where they know something did not work well with a client, others’ find it difficult to share things that did work well. However you decide to share in your group, we encourage you to give yourself the space and freedom to learn and feel comfortable learning from your experience in the Peer Reviewed Counselor.

How do I ask my clients for permission to record sessions?

We have found, through our work developing groups, that clinicians tend to fear that their clients would reject or be offended when asked if they would like to participate. More often than not, we have found that traditional clients value the idea of their counselor recording sessions for the sake of consulting and collaborating.
Telling your clients about the service and that they have the opportunity to gain additional benefit from the service can assist them with being informed about their choice to provide consent.
If you have further concerns about asking your clients for consent, contact your host, discuss it further in a group, or reach out to the Peer Reviewed Counselor.

How do I maintain HIPPA standards while participating in the Peer Reviewed Counselor?

A consent form will be provided to interested clients and will indicate the therapists who are involved in the group. This will allow clients to determine initially if they know any of the therapists in the group and if there is a conflict of interest that exists. When sharing recordings during the meeting, presenters will first show the initial image of their client in the clip, will indicate the client’s name, and ask if anyone is aware of this individual. This will be the only time that the client’s name will be shared and is only done to ensure there are no conflicts of interest with other counselors.

We strongly encourage recording and presenting equipment to have automatic encryption to maintain PHI and HIPPA. This is currently the responsibility of the participating clinician. Note – We do have recommendations on equipment that you could effectively use that would meet the “double lock” standards and encryption of HIPPA.

With online groups, we utilize software that is encrypted and meets the standards of HIPPA, requiring Hosts to sign a BAA form. Meetings will be password protected by the host. Those presenting will open their recorded session files through the software screen sharing option. No information will be recorded or stored on a different server through this process. We encourage all members to work only with devices and software that do not record or store information on a server external to the therapist. This will allow the therapist to delete recordings on demand (we encourage anything older than a month to be deleted) as to prevent information from being taken by a court order/subpoena.

Are these Supervision groups?

These groups are not supervision groups. The Peer Reviewed Counselor provides a space for all therapists to collaborate/consult over shared recordings. We enter as equals here, regardless of time or experience in the field.

If you are working towards licensure in the state of Utah, you are required to gain 25 hours of direct supervision, meaning that your supervisor either has to sit with you in a session or review recorded clips with you for them to sign off on those hours. If permitted by your supervisor, this group can assist you instead with attaining those hours, so long as your supervisor appoints the host (a licensed counselor) to that function. This can assist both supervisors and counselor’s seeking licensure with fulfilling this obligation in the state of Utah.