Telemental Health: The Basics

American Psychological Association (APA)

Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)

California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT)

National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)

New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work (NYSED-SW)

National Association of Social Workers - New Jersey (NASW-NJ)

New York State Education Department - Licensed Mental Health Counselors (NYSED-LMHC)

New York State Education Department - Marriage & Family Therapists (NYSED-MFT)

New York State Education Department - Psychology (NYSED-PSY)

Tania Malik, JD

Tania Malik, JD, is the Founder and CEO of Virtual Medical Group and Chair of ATA Telemental Health Special Interest Group. In addition to strong business acumen and deep knowledge of regulatory affairs, Ms. Malik’s notable expertise lies in bringing innovative healthcare technologies to market and translating vision and strategy into commercial successes. Over the course of her career, Ms. Malik realized several industry firsts including being first-to-market with a telemedicine offering and securing the first malpractice insurance for this entirely new category of service. 

Ms. Malik advises organizational leaders of innovative healthcare startups and lends her expertise to healthtech businesses and nonprofit organizations as board director, strategic advisor, interim director and investor. Dividing efforts between corporate and mission-driven work, organizations currently served include Excelerate Health Venture Fund and Triangle Angel Partners. Ms. Malik also serves on the strategic advisory boards for Omnysense, Inc. and for Innovatel Telepsychiatry, as well as Chair of the Committee of Trustees and as a member of the Executive Committee for the Montessori School of Raleigh. Other positions include Co-chair of the Outreach Committee at OnBoardNC, and President of In-Kind Friends, a non- profit organization she founded in 2015. 

Marlene M. Maheu, PhD, JD, MPH

Marlene M. Maheu, PhD has been a technologist-psychologist and pioneer since 1994. She has served various organizations to assist with the development of technology-focused standards and guidelines, including the American Telemedicine Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Counseling Association. She has overseen the development and delivery of telehealth training to more than 26,000 professionals worldwide and consulted with hundreds of hospitals, clinics, agencies, groups and independent practitioners seeking start-up guidance.

Dr. Maheu serves as the Founder & Executive Director of the Telebehavioral Health Institute, which offers over 64 hours of both basic and advanced telehealth training online and offering two Micro Certifications Telehealth. She is the CEO for the non-profit Coalition for Technology in Behavioral Science (CTiBS). She has authored five telehealth textbooks, including the Telebehavioral Health: Foundations in Theory & Practice for Graduate Learners (2020); the APA-published, A Practitioner's Guide to Telemental Health: How to Conduct Legal, Ethical and Evidence-Based Telepractice (2016), and Career Paths in Telemental Health (2016). Her insights will help you not only get started, but thrive with legal and ethical telehealth.

Keita M. Franklin, PhD, LCSW

Dr. Keita M. Franklin was Psych Hub’s, Chief Clinical Officer from 2019 to 2020.  In this capacity, she served as a key member of the executive team overseeing the development and production of all clinical content for Psych Hub’s ever-expanding repository of educational videos and informational materials. A nationally-recognized expert, Dr. Franklin, ensures all clinical content is on the cutting edge of the intersection between health care and information technology. Key to Psych Hub’s goal of revolutionizing how mental health care education and training are delivered, Dr. Franklin leads the esteemed Psych Hub, clinical team, ensuring all Psych Hub products are evidence-based and trauma-informed.

With over 25 years of progressively responsible experience, Dr. Franklin is spearheading efforts to improve mental health literacy across the Nation by championing the development of specialized evidence-based training for providers thereby improving mental health care outcomes for at-risk population groups.  A public health expert and transformational leader, Dr. Franklin has spent her career driving complex organizational change in the federal sector, always improving the systems that provide care for our Nation’s military, family members, and veteran populations. 

Before joining Psych Hub, Dr. Franklin served as a senior executive at both the Department of Veteran Affairs and the Department of Defense.  In these roles, Dr. Franklin served as the principal advisor to Department leadership for all matters on suicide prevention, and she is widely credited with leading a transformative, enterprise-wide shift from a crisis intervention posture to an upstream, broad public policy approach focused on continuous surveillance and early prevention.  Dr. Franklin was also responsible for leading a multi-disciplined team of experts in advancing evidence-based prevention practices for over 20 million Veterans and reaching our Nation’s heroes wherever they live, work, thrive, and receive care. A poised and articulate communicator of strategic messaging, Dr. Franklin has been frequently asked to testify before committees in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and led numerous caucus roundtable discussions with members of Congress.

While serving as a senior executive within the Department of Defense, Dr. Franklin was responsible for suicide prevention policy, programs, and oversight. During her tenure, she conducted a first-of-its-kind comprehensive, program review and authored new DoD policy directives and instructions, optimizing higher headquarter guidance for all military service branches. She also chaired several DoD senior leader committees charged with developing solutions for vexing mental health issues impacting our service members and their families. 

Adept at building partnerships and coalitions, Dr. Franklin was singularly responsible for bolstering relationships with both the private and public sector in the advancement of key suicide prevention initiatives.  An experienced manager of large programs, she proved critical during congressional-level advocacy for budget and programming activities while simultaneously directing a multi-million dollar research and evaluation program.  Her efforts resulted in high-quality service delivery for active duty, reserve, and National Guard members and their families.

Dr. Franklin is a licensed social worker with a specialization in children and families. She earned a Ph.D. in social work with specialized training and certifications from the Center for Advancement of Research Methods and Analysis (CARMA). Dr. Franklin began her career in child welfare and has dedicated much of her work to researching the impact of wartime trauma and post-traumatic stress on families. She serves on several national panels, including the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. Dr. Franklin has received numerous federal and civilian awards for her efforts leading military, family, mental health, and suicide prevention programs.  Dr. Franklin has published work in the areas of military social work, child abuse, domestic violence, suicide prevention, and substance abuse. She and has served as an adjunct professor in the graduate programs at Virginia Commonwealth University and George Mason University.  Dr. Franklin holds certificates from Harvard Kennedy School Executive Education on “Leading Large Organizational Change” and Women in Leadership” as well as the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School course on “Executive Leadership.”