Submitted by Cognoscenti in AskRaddle (edited )
For reference, this is in the United States. Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but
I'm quitting my job and want to be therapist. I would be unlicensed, doing it on my own time, and doing it for free. I do have experience and knowledge from college. This will be my way of helping my community, away from capitalism, which is what I want to do in life. I would personalize my service to whoever's needs.
Is this legal, even if I'm doing it for no profit, no expectation of fees or donations? If doing this is illegal, are there any ways I could get around this? I just don't want to go to jail.
heckthepolice2 wrote (edited )
It's probably illegal to call yourself a therapist without a license, since that could be considered fraud. However, I'd imagine you could provide service equivalent to therapy so long as you called it something that isn't protected by licensing (at least officially), kinda like how the term "nutritionist" has no legal definition so anyone can call themself one.
Of course, you couldn't prescribe medications or anything, but talking to people about their mental health and offering advice is definitely not illegal in itself.
Basically, as long as you're open about the fact that you aren't licensed and don't have like a doctorate in psychcology, you should be fine, since unlike say a physician being a therapist doesn't necesarrily entail anything that's illegal without a license (since you are just talking to people). So the only problem should be fraud laws; basically, don't do anything that could make people think you're a trained professional.