BC-TMH Spotlight: Crystal Lockett-Thomas

As a young woman growing up in Chicago, Crystal Lockett-Thomas, MEd, NCC, BC-TMH, LPC-S, remembers her peers often confiding in her about their lives and the challenges they were facing.

“I was always the person whom my friends came to for advice,” she recalls fondly. “Later, as a young adult, I would also have the most random encounters with people who didn’t know me but would tell me their life story or a current issue, and I would find myself providing them with advice or trying to help them solve their problems, sometimes even while we were in the grocery store line.”

Her father was a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor: “I was able to witness him providing pastoral counseling practically my whole life and formal counseling services during his tenure in the field,” she says, remembering how fulfilled he was to see the progress his clients were making.

Those early experiences nurtured her interest in becoming a counselor.

“Something sparked within me, saying, ‘Hey, I wonder if this is something that I’m supposed to pursue?’ Once I took my first psychology class while in my bachelor’s program, I was hooked, and I haven’t looked back since.”

Today, Lockett-Thomas is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor based in Texas and the Clinical Director at her group practice, Bright Futures Family Counseling, where she offers clients the option to receive telemental health services. She oversees her staff, including LPC-Associates, and provides trainings and workshops for mental health professionals. She is also an Adjunct Professor for Collin College and University of North Texas and shares her expertise as a volunteer subject matter expert for the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC).

Lockett-Thomas has training and certification in motivational interviewing, trauma-focused therapies and she typically works with adolescents and adults experiencing depression, anxiety, grief and loss, trauma, suicidal ideation, and non-suicidal self-injury, among other issues. She also has extensive experience working with at-risk youth, including juvenile offenders.

She is passionate about her work and especially enjoys seeing her clients’ progress and their transformations along the way, she says.

“I like being able to spark an ‘aha moment’ for my clients, where they release the baggage they have been carrying with them for so long. I often tell them that it is my endeavor to empower and equip them so much so that they no longer need me and I somewhat work myself out of a job. Another thing I love to do is give back to the next generation of upcoming therapists by helping them find their therapeutic identity and skillset.”

She strives to be “warm yet tactful” when addressing self-sabotaging behavior, she says.

“Many of my clients appreciate that, and they liken it to a mirror showing them what they need to work on. The other quality that I appreciate is that although I have a CBT foundational approach, I consider myself an eclectic therapist. I have no problem pivoting modalities to help the person sitting in front of me.”

Lockett-Thomas began offering virtual counseling before pandemic protocols made telemental health more common.

“Our practice currently provides telemental health services through a secure video platform, but the funny thing is that I had been providing this service prior to 2020 on an as-needed basis for my clients,” she says. “I have seen it benefit clients in numerous ways, especially because a portion of my clientele are teens and young adults. Parents love the fact that they can save on gas and time while their child is still receiving the help they so desperately need. For some of my college-age clients who are 2–3 hours away, they don’t have to start all over with a new therapist but can continue services while they are attending school. It’s a win-win for everyone. My clients love it. It has made their lives so much easier, as they are able to be consistent and fit therapy into their normal routine. They see it as a perk and one less barrier to getting the help they need.”

“Clients sometimes think they can have their session in the mall or at their child’s baseball practice. After a few reminders of the rules and guidelines, they usually understand. Other times, it can feel like you need to be certified as an IT help desk person if your client is having technological issues. Although I always have plan A, B, C, and D, along with the platform options to go with them, it can be tough at times.

“One of the other challenges that I see is that you have to ascertain suitability of a client and ‘goodness of fit’ for telemental health services, and sometimes if a client isn’t suitable, you have to refer that client out,” she continues. “This can be disappointing, as I am someone who really appreciates seeing my clients progress through their healing journey, and sometimes that journey abruptly stops before it starts through no fault of anyone involved.”

Counselors can learn to navigate these challenges and others by understanding the special considerations needed for a positive outcome, she says.

“I am a firm believer that with in-person sessions you get a good grasp of that client’s energy and emotional state. Typically, you can feel it. However, with telemental health, you have to become really good at reading micro-expressions, picking up on what is NOT being said, and tailoring your questions so that you can really assess how that client is feeling and the issues that they are presenting with. Also, some clients need to ‘warm up’ to the idea of telemental health services and can initially present as guarded or nonchalant.”

To elevate her skills, in 2019 Lockett-Thomas decided to earn the Board Certified-TeleMental Health Provider (BC-TMH) credential offered by the Center for Credentialing & Education, an NBCC affiliate.

“The world was swiftly changing, and I saw that I needed to be able to shift with it,” she recalls. “I feel that as a clinician, it is my due diligence to keep my skills sharp and personally develop so that I am always giving my clients my best. Once I was made aware of the BC-TMH credential, I jumped right in! It was my way of demonstrating to them and myself that I have pursued the gold standard of practice in the telemental health space.”

She offers some advice to fellow counselors who work with clients virtually.

“Make sure you keep up to date on the changing dynamics of telemental health and the rules and guidelines that affect it,” she says. “Also make sure you have numerous resources and referral partners in the area or location that you are serving clients and are OK with saying no if a client isn’t a good fit for this service type. Last, network, network, network! This field can be isolating if you let it, so you must go out of your way to connect with others like yourself.”

Obtaining the BC-TMH can help counselors gain knowledge, expand their reach, and advance their professional development, Lockett-Thomas says. “Your clients will appreciate it, and you will find that you are a much better clinician because of it. I’m so happy that I did.”

Learn more about the BC-TMH credential requirements including eligibility, training, the TeleMental Health Examination (TMHE), and how to apply as a candidate here.

Crystal J. Lockett-Thomas is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor (LPCS), National Certified Counselor (NCC), and a Board Certified-TeleMental Health Provider (BC-TMH) who received her master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from The University of Akron. She is the Clinical Director at Bright Futures Family Counseling, a group practice in Plano, Texas. Lockett-Thomas has served as a supervisor to practicum students and counselors-in-training and currently fulfills this role for counseling associates obtaining their clinical hours toward full licensure. She also serves as an Adjunct Faculty member for Collin College and the University of North Texas.

**Opinions and thoughts expressed in NBCC Visions Newsletter articles belong to the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or practices of NBCC and Affiliates.