JOIN OUR TEAM!

How do I know if this is a good opportunity for ME?

This opportunity is great for someone who:

• has a full-time job & wants some contract work on the side, or
• wants to be 100% independent as a full-time contracted therapist, or
• is already in a private practice and wants to contract elsewhere too, or
• is unhappy where they work now and wants to try something new.

What are you looking for?

We are always looking for these positions:

1. Therapists to see cases for counseling 
2. PSR Specialists to see cases for PSR services (see our homepage for details).
3. Case Managers to see cases for case management services.

Is is Telehealth or In-Person?

That's up to you. If you do in-person however, you'll get paid more and you'll have plenty of work opportunities as people really want in-person!

What if I don't know what a 1099 position is all about?

• You are not an "employee" (this not a full time "employment" position or vacancy)...it is 1099 Independent Contractor position
• It is like being independent, without the overhead and billing and other nightmares. We will not micromanage you. But we will expect you to write a Medicaid compliant note, follow documentation guidelines, contact your clients when supposed to, etc. 
• You can it to complement your full time job OR you can do this full time. We have 50% of our clinicians who do this part-time, 50% full-time.
• You keep your own schedule of when you work, meaning you arrange the session times with your clients. It is between you and the client.
• There are no paychecks or paystubs, only direct deposit payments, that we issue twice a month.
• Each payment cycle will be different. Unlike a regular job, you cannot count on a steady "paycheck" with the same amount each time, because we pay you when the claim is paid (usually 7-10 days after it's billed), and insurance companies pay claims at different times. So for example, one week your pay can be $250, and the next one $1,350, and the next one $510, etc. It varies.
• If you are applying to "make money fast" because you changed jobs and need to pay bills asap, this is NOT for you, plain and simple. It's not like a regular job where you start on Monday, and the next Friday you have your first full paycheck.
• Unless you are 100% on top of your cases and deadlines, there will always be some notes (sessions) that you won't get paid for. Why? Maybe you let your treatment plan expire, or you didn't pay attention to renew your authorization to get more sessions, etc.. meaning your note cannot be billed. This happens IF you don't keep track of your deadlines. For 95%+ of our clinicians that's not an issue, but there are always staff who fail to keep up with deadlines and they end up doing sessions for free, which is annoying!
• You do not get a W2 at the end of the year, you get a 1099 instead, and only if you made over $600 on that year.
• There are no health benefits or paid time-off. If that's an important factor for you, then this is not the right fit for you.
• You CAN advertise your services in psychology today etc.
• How much money can I make? - Every person is different, since everybody has a different amount of cases. We have issued payments of $36.00, and we have issued payments of $7,000.00, and everything in between. Obviously those higher amounts correspond to staff who do this full time. 

02 - REQUIREMENTS

What are the basic requirements?

1. For Therapists - Must have a Masters Degree in Counseling or Psychology -- AND -- Must be a Registered Intern or in the process of becoming one* in the next 30 days after joining us, or be Florida licensed (LMHC, LCSW, LMFT)
2. For Case Managers - You must have a Bachelor's degree in any field, plus at least 1 year of experience working with the mental health population - which MUST be documented in your resume and WILL be checked-upon to verify it. Case Managers must provide evidence of being Certified by the Board, which you can do once on board within 30 days.
3. For PSR Specialists - must have a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, Social Work, Counseling, Health Education, or related human-services field. Furthermore, you must show evidence of training in the following areas (via transcript courses, CEUs, or work experience): (a) Treatment of Behavioral Health Disorders, (b) Human Growth and Development, (c) Evaluations, (d) Assessments, (e) Treatment Planning, (f) Basic Counseling and Behavioral Management interventions, (g) Case Management, (h) Clinical Record Documentation, (i) Psychopharmacology, (j) Abuse Regulations, and (k) Client's Rights.

What if I have my Masters but I'm not a Registered Intern (R.I.) yet?

* If you are a therapist, and not yet a RI, you can get the info here at the Florida Board of Mental Health Counseling. 

What if my Masters is not in counseling or psychology?

Then we ask that you go through the Register Intern registration with the State of Florida FIRST. If your Masters is not in counseling, you may be asked to take more courses, and such thing cannot be completed in 30 days. Therefore, it is imperative that you FIRST find out IF you can become a Register Intern, so that you don't waste your time.

Do you provide Supervision?

We do not provide supervision for licensure (for your hours). We have a few qualified supervisors, but they are all full and cannot accept any cases. If you need to have a Qualified Supervisor to become a registered intern, we recommend looking in psychology today, or emailing the Board to see if they have a list of people.

For Therapists - Do my Registered Intern hours count?

Yes. Registered Interns are allowed to provide services anywhere (school, community, homes) without a licensed person in the same setting, this is per the FL Board and AHCA, only to apply to Community Mental Health Agencies. (This would not apply to private practices). I have been doing this since 1998, and no Registered Intern has ever said that their hours did not count towards their licensure.

• Hours - Two (2) years of post-master’s supervised experience under the supervision of a licensed supervisor. These hours must be documented on the Verification of Clinical Experience Form. The supervision experience must have consisted of: At least 100 hours of supervision in no less than 100 weeks; 1,500 hours of face-to-face psychotherapy with clients; and, 1 hour of supervision every two weeks.

03 - SELF-REFERRING CASES vs BEING ASSIGNED CASES

Can I self-refer cases and build my own caseload?

@ For Therapists - You may either wait for cases to be assigned to you, OR you can self-refer.

@ For Case Managers - Currently, we get TCM-referrals in the Orange/Seminole area. If you are applying in the Orange/Seminole area, we might be able to get you clients, although it is never a guarantee. If you are a TCM wanting to work with us outside of Orange/Seminole (meaning, anywhere else in the state of Florida), we welcome you! But in order to build a caseload, please note that you will need to self-market your services in your local community and self-refer clients. Maybe you are working at another agency and you want to switch things up. Or you are good or have lots of community contacts that can give you referrals; this can be a great opportunity!

Please note - that for Case Managers, if you come on-board with us, you must agree to have at least 5 cases assigned to you. This means that if we get a case that needs to be assigned to someone, you must be willing to take it if we cannot find another Case Manager that's available.

What if I choose self-referrals... can you give me some guidance?

We will provide you with business cards and marketing brochures, and if you need more, we will provide you with the templates to print business cards, brochures, rack cards, on your own too. Some clinicians already have community contacts who can refer clients to them, if you don't, you can always approach daycares, retirement homes, schools, community centers (like YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, etc.), and doctor's offices. Some therapists found success in advertising on psychology today as well.

How many cases will I be assigned?

That's not an easy answer. Although we get referrals each week, the number of referrals may vary greatly. If you are only interested in us assigning you cases, then it takes time to build a full time caseload, please remember that. After your HR process is done, you get to tell our Office Managers how many cases you want. Then we will work towards getting you to that number.

Am I required to have a specific number of cases?

No. We have staff with 1 case per week. Others with 45 cases per week. Case Managers have caps that are required by Medicaid.

04 - BASIC EXPECTATIONS

Communication with us and the clients is a MUST. For example, being assigned a client and not contacting them for 3 weeks is completely unacceptable and unprofessional. When we assign you a new client, you MUST contact them within 48 hours, no exceptions (put yourself in the client's shoes -you would not like for someone to wait 7, 14, 20 days to reach out to you for services! - - We take this very seriously, and we have let-go several counselors in the past for failure to do this). 

What are the general expectations?

1. Perform counseling sessions in-home, in-school (as allowed), or via Telehealth (or TCM sessions for case managers - or intakes for licensed intake specialists).
2. Submit documentation (e.g. progress notes etc..) on a timely manner.
3. Complete all notes in a Medicaid-compliant manner according to our simple instructions.
4. Maintain regular communication with our office.
5. Keep track of deadlines (we suggest you keep everything organized on a spreadsheet so you know when everything is due, we can give you a template)

About 50% of our staff have other full-time employment, and do this part-time. We are straightforward about this point however, if you are not able to put the dedication and motivation into this contract position, then please do NOT apply. We are only interested in clinicians and case managers who care about the clients and about following simple policies and procedures, even if they do this part-time.

05 - BACKGROUND CHECKS

What about background checks?

If you are already cleared by AHCA as far as background checks, we'll be able to look it up in their system, otherwise you might have to be fingerprinted for clearance.

Do I have to do the Local Background Check Form if I already have a Level-2

Yes! They are completely different things. You will need the local background check and your notarized Affidavit. See forms to download at the end of this page.

What if I live in Alabama, or somewhere outside of Florida?

If you live outside of Florida, you MUST have your FL license or Registered Intern license, to be able to work with us.

Do I need liability insurance?

You must have professional liability insurance (if you don't currently have any, we recommend www.cphins.com as a possibility) within 30 days of signing your contract.

06 - COMPENSATION

Direct Deposit payments are 2-3 times per month on specific dates. Effective now, you are paid for your notes* before the insurance reimburses for the claim! (*only exception are notes for which we know there's a billing issue with, then those get paid when the claim gets paid by the insurance co. (approx. 7-14 days, or longer if the client has commercial, restrictive insurance)

Rates

Our rates are listed below. 

That said , if you are CURRENTLY working at another Agency, comparable to what we do (e.g. doing counseling sessions or case management, as a fee-for-service Contractor, working with Medicaid plans), then we can look at matching your rate! Simply let us know where you work, your rate, and evidence of such payments, and we will try our best to match it! - While we can't guarantee that we will, we will surely try! This is not a requirement - you do not have to provide this information, it's only optional.

Case Managers - 53-min TCM session:

• If you are a Certified TCM Supervisor, add $5.00 to the rates below; otherwise...
• $25.00 to $27.00 - regular rate depending on experience

Therapists - 53-min TELEHEALTH session:

• If you are licensed, add $2.00 to the rates below; otherwise...
• $36.00 - regular rate
• Extra $3.00 if the case was referred by OCPS Schools 

Therapists - 53-min IN-PERSON session:

• If you are licensed, add $2.00 to the rates below; otherwise...
• $38.00 - regular rate
• Extra $3.00 if the case was referred by OCPS Schools 

Pay Period = Most are 2 weeks

We also pay a flat rate for other non-frequent services (biopsychosocials; CFARS, Treatment Reviews) - 50% of Insurance Payment.

Non-Medicaid sessions (e.g. healthy kids, commercial plans), pay differently, usually $35.00 per session; 

Self-Pay sessions pay 50% of the client's cost. 

PSR Sessions are $20.00 per hour or $5 per unit

Pro-Bono cases, if available, are $30.00 for a 40-min session.

How can I track everything?

You have a secured link to view your caseload, deadlines, and payments, at anytime you want!

First

Download the following 2 documents (they're on 1 file called "Affidavit & Local"), print them, and sign/complete them.

(1) Affidavit of Good Moral Character - Have it notarized at your bank (probably free) or UPS Store (approx $8)

(2) Local Background Check (or Records Search) - Take this form - download below -, to the Sheriff's office in the county where you live, and have them run a local check on you. This usually involves $5-10 in cash, beware. - With COVID-19, some Sheriff's offices require doing it online, please check in your county - if that's the case, you MAY send-in all of the other documents below, and THEN email us the local background screen (simply attach a blank document in the form below).

When you have both completed, scan them to your computer. You will need to upload them later on. If you don't know how to scan something back into your computer, we suggest you download an app on your smartphone that lets you scan to PDF. There are many options.

Then...

We need you to gather the following documents: 

@ If you have an NPI, get an NPI printout from this site: https://npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov/ (see PDF below for more info). Otherwise, see page 4 or 5 in the PDF at the bottom of this page (PDF is called Look Up Your NPI) if you've never had one before, you can sign up for a free NPI there. https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/#/

@ For Therapists - College diploma (with conferred degree) or transcripts

@ For Case Managers - College diploma (with conferred degree) AND transcripts

@ For Licensed or Registered Intern Therapists - License (LMHC, LMFT, LCSW, Reg interns) - copy of license (okay) OR printout from the Board's site (preferred).

@ For Registered Interns - You will need the phone number, email, and name of your Qualified Supervisor when you fill out the forms. If you don't yet have one, that's okay, leave blank, but make sure you get one within 90 days.

@ Any specialty Certifications, if applicable (TCM, CAP, CANS, play therapy, sex therapy, etc.)

@ Copy of driver’s license (current & valid)

@ Proof of auto insurance (current & valid)

@ Proof of professional liability insurance (now or within 30 days of hire date) - some options are www.cphins.com or www.hpso.com

@ FARS and CFARS certificates (if you do not have FARS/CFARS numbers, please take the trainings here: http://outcomes.fmhi.usf.edu/ and submit your certificates) - WE NEED BOTH!

@ Two (2) reference letters or forms. Please note these must be forms or letters of recommendations, not simply emails of references. There is a PDF below to download in case you need one.

@ If you are planning on having cases in Orange/Osceola/Seminole - Training Certificates for DCF General Information courses. These you must turn in within 30 days of starting! Certificates are only valid for one year and all contractors are required to renew every July. If you have certificates from another employer, we will accept them if they were completed AFTER July 1st. 

http://www.myflfamilies.com/general-information/dcf-training

• Service Delivery for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing - Modules 1-3
• HIPAA
• Security Awareness

http://www3.fl-dcf.org/RCAAN/

• Identifying and Reporting Abuse and Neglect