Louisiana Bans Counselors from Saying “Psychology”

Julie Alleman and Juliet Catrett v. Harness

A Louisiana law that bans counselors from using the terms, “psychology,” “psychological,” or “psychologist” to describe their practice is leaving licensed professional counselors at a loss for words.

Under Louisiana’s law, only “licensed psychologists” may use the terms “psychology” or “psychological” to describe any part of their practice. Anyone else who uses those words to describe their work is guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to criminal penalties.

Julie Alleman and Juliet Catrett are professional therapists who co-operate a counseling practice, formerly known as the “Psychological Wellness Institute.” Although both are licensed to practice as therapeutic counselors, neither of them are “licensed psychologists.” After the state threatened them with criminal prosecution for using the word “psychological,” they had to change the name of their practice and completely drop the language “psychology” and “psychological” in client interactions.

The Center for Individual Rights and the Louisiana-based Pelican Institute for Public Policy filed a federal lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s unconstitutional speech restrictions under the First Amendment as a violation of the Alleman and Catrett’s rights.

Louisiana’s License to Speak

Alleman and Catrett have been professional therapeutic counselors for decades. In 2020, the two joined forces and established a counseling center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, called the “Psychological Wellness Institute.” There, they offer professional counseling service for adults struggling with trauma, mood, and anxiety disorders, but they never hold themselves out as “licensed psychologists.”

Both are abundantly qualified to serve the needs of clients who are suffering through difficult psychological conditions related to past trauma and other disorders. Alleman is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and a Licensed Addiction Counselor under the laws of the state of Louisiana. Catrett is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

Though they are not “psychologists,” Alleman and Catrett work closely with people experiencing intense psychological pain, using the psychological techniques and theory that they were trained and licensed to perform. Even so, Louisiana’s law categorically bans them from using the word “psychological” in any description of their work in any communication with their clients.

In January 2024, they received a letter from the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, threatening legal action for the use of “Psychological” in the name of their practice. Under threat of criminal prosecution, Alleman and Catrett agreed to change the name of their business from “Psychological Wellness Institute” to “P. Wellness Institute.”

Counselors Fight for Free Speech

The Center for Individual Rights partnered with the Pelican Institute for Public Policy to file a federal First Amendment lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s ban as a violation of the right to free speech. States may have an interest in preventing misleading advertisement or fraudulent psychological services, but they cannot address that issue by banning everyone in the state, including licensed professional counselors, from using a common word like “psychology” to accurately describe their work.

Louisiana law also makes it a misdemeanor for anyone who is not a licensed psychologist to provide services that constitute the practice of psychology.  This could include life-coaches, alcoholics anonymous members, and even parents and their children who have studied the principles, methods, and procedures of psychology and have attempted to make use of them.