(The Center Square) — Two Baton Rouge based therapists filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to challenge a Louisiana law governing specific terms you can use in a counseling practice.
Title 37 of Louisiana law defines the practice of psychology and makes it a misdemeanor for those who are not licensed as psychologists under their interpretation to represent themselves as such.
This includes using the terms “psychology,” “psychological,” or “psychologist” to describe their services.
The law also makes it a misdemeanor for anyone who is not a licensed psychologist to provide an array of services that suggests they practice psychology.
This could include life coaches, alcoholics anonymous members, or parents who have studied the principles, methods, and procedures of psychology and have attempted to make use of them.
However, plaintiffs Julie Alleman and Juliet Catrett feel Louisiana’s blanket prohibition on the use of terms like “psychological” makes it more difficult for counselors and social workers, who often have other professional licenses, to communicate accurate information about the services that they provide to people in need.
They said the law makes counselors strain for less clear and accurate language to explain their practice in fear of facing criminal penalties.
The DC-based Center for Individual Rights and the Louisiana-based Pelican Institute for Public Policy are representing the two therapists, who filed their lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Middle Louisiana.
Catrett and Alleman co-operate a practice, formerly known as Psychological Wellness Institute. Their practice specializes in the treatment of trauma-related disorders, mood disorders and anxiety disorders.
Earlier this year, the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists sent them a letter threatening criminal prosecution for using the adjective “psychological” in their business name, forcing them to change the name of their practice to P. Wellness Institute.
The therapists want to have the right to change their name back.
“Our business is built on helping people relieve their suffering by promoting psychological wellness,” Alleman said in a news release from the Pelican Institute. “This law criminalizes us for using the word ‘psychological’ in the name of our business to accurately describe the services we are providing and prohibits us from using common words people expect to hear from their counselors.”
