Overview
Compassionate Counseling Consortium
The Compassionate Counseling Consortium (CCC) is a group of behavioral clinicians that provides outpatient counseling services to uninsured and underinsured persons for a five dollar ($5) cash fee per contact or session. The fee is subsidized by funds donated by individuals, groups or organizations who value quality behavioral healthcare that dignifies consumers with the reasonable assessment of an affordable fee, and respects the values and validity of those consumers with explicit positive regard. Consortium members agree to clear-cut ethical guidelines, and agree to work routinely either in clinical consultation or under clinical supervision.
The CCC is to be a Limited Liability Corporation, pursuing non-profit incorporation {501 (C) 3}. It is governed by a 3-member board, consisting of at least two non-clinicians. Funds collected are used to purchase supplies, pay clinicians, and provide a stipend for coordination of services. Clinicians who choose to do so may waive reimbursement from the consortium.
The CCC has three primary objectives. First, to fill gaps in the public mental health system driven by limited funds and practice administration philosophy. CCC clients or consumers pay for their counseling, and consequently, are owners of their treatment. Secondly, the CCC seeks to provide alternatives to those who receive inadequate services due to prejudice among providers. This prejudice is often driven by a lack of understanding, or outright contempt towards mandatory counseling clients referred by family or criminal courts. Thirdly, the consortiums offering of low-fee services to individuals with histories as unsuccessful consumers of behavioral healthcare provides them an opportunity to become more effective, benefiting consumers.
Consortium Members: Consultants, Counselors & Allied Professionals
Consultants in the consortium are comprised of behavioral healthcare providers licensed at the graduate level from any of the following fields: Psychiatry (MD, DO), Psychology (EdD, PhD, PsyD), Psychiatric Nursing (RN-CNS, RN-NP), Clinical Social Work (LCSW), Professional Counseling (LPC), Marriage & Family Therapy (LMFT) or Addictions Counseling (LAC) in the state of Colorado. Certified Pastoral Counselors (per AAPC) also serve as consultants in the consortium.
Counselors are credentialed academically at or above the undergraduate level, and are candidates for either graduate academic or clinical credentials in a specific field of behavioral health. Counselors may be interns in graduate academic programs that are oriented towards behavioral healthcare (i.e., counseling, psychology, social work).
Many professionals who provide care from alternative disciplines are valuable resources for persons facing mood, anxiety or other behavioral care issues. For this reason, allied professionals whose practice philosophies are aligned with the consortium are recruited and enjoined. Occupational Therapists, Speech Pathologists, Massage Therapists and others are available for direct attention to clients, or as consulting resources to traditional behavioral care providers.
Ethical Guidelines
Consortium members agree to respect the validity and dignity of all lifestyles among those they counsel under the auspices of the CCC, including but not limited to: Gay; lesbian; bisexual; trans-gendered; undocumented; criminally charged or convicted; actively or pathologically addicted; politically or religiously aligned; culturally or ethnically unique; or any other orientation that may be subject to covert or overt discrimination by conventional providers. Consortium members agree to openly & routinely discuss and review their own potential for unfair discrimination in confidential consultation or supervision.
Consultants spend a minimum of one-quarter hour per month in consultation, by phone or in person, with another designated consultant within the consortium. Counselors spend a minimum of one hour per month in face-to-face supervision, individual or group, with a designated consultant within the consortium. Allied professionals also spend a minimum of one-quarter hour per month in consultation within the consortium.
Service Settings
The CCC operates in the private offices of practitioners or confidential counseling space provided by human services organizations that refer to the consortium. Counselors maintain clinical records of services provided under double-locked security, which they make available only to persons with the written consent of consumers, including designated CCC consultants or supervisors.
