Applied Sciences Signature Assignment

Our county has a Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) with two designated mental health providers to provide school-based therapy. They meet the specific requirements and guidelines of our state and district. These are the only providers we allow to meet with students and conduct therapy sessions during school hours. An intake process is completed and informed consent is provided by the parent/guardian. 

There is a private mental health provider that continuously tries to see his clients during school hours. He has been told that he is not allowed to conduct therapy on campus.  In response to this, he gets parents to add him to their child’s emergency contact list and permission to check-out list.  He has been seen driving students around town to run his errands, taking them to restaurants, going to the park etc., all while billing the students insurance for the time he has the client. He is now picking up 2-3 students at a time and states he is providing “group therapy”, while he is billing insurance for each client.  

School administrators are encouraged to express concerns with parents regarding the amount of instruction lost, potential misuse of funds/bills, and inefficient therapy provided. A number of administrators actually advocate to allow him to come because he often works with many of their “problem behaviors.” They have stated, “he actually answers when we call” or “I’m just glad to get this student off campus for a while.” This provider will also buy food, clothes, pay phone/light bills for parents/families, etc.,  so this makes it very difficult to explain to the parent the misuse of funds or substandard therapy he is providing.  They see him as a resource and  financial support to them. In addition to all of this, the provider’s wife is a private, licensed psychologist who provides diagnoses and recommendations for therapy services, so most of his clients are referred to him by his wife’s company.   

Use References below:

Rosenberg, N. E., & Schwartz, I. S. (2019). Guidance or Compliance: What Makes an Ethical Behavior Analyst? Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12(2), 473.

Brodhead, M. T. (2019). Culture Always Matters: Some Thoughts on Rosenberg and Schwartz. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12(4), 826.