Can a Client Continue Working With Their Current Therapist While Receiving Neuromodulation Treatment?

Direct Answer

Yes, and it is the ordinary arrangement rather than an exception. A neuromodulation referral is a referral for a procedure, not a transfer of care. The client keeps their therapist, keeps their prescriber and adds a treating service for the duration of a course. For clients aged 15 to 21 the relevant clearances are adjunct clearances, which means continuing treatment is presumed rather than merely permitted.

What changes is coordination rather than the relationship. Three things should be settled before the referral goes out: a written consent that permits two-way communication between you and the service, an agreed cadence for what you will receive and when and explicit role boundaries so that nobody is guessing who holds medication decisions or who the client should call in a crisis. Set those up in advance and the arrangement is stable. Leave them to be worked out later and the client becomes the messenger.

The Fear of Losing the Client Is the Real Question

It is worth naming directly, because it is the reason some appropriate referrals are never made. A clinician who has worked with someone for two years, through a period where progress has stalled, may reasonably worry that sending them to a service with a procedure, a physician and a treatment protocol will end the therapeutic relationship by attrition rather than by decision.

That outcome is possible and it is usually preventable. It happens when the referral is made without structure: no release in place, no agreed communication, no conversation with the client about what is changing and what is not. The client attends a service that appears comprehensive and nobody contradicts the impression that they have moved on. The therapy then quietly lapses.

Professional Ethics Point Toward Coordination, Not Absorption

The receiving service carries an obligation here, and it is explicit. The APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct provides that in deciding whether to offer or provide services to those already receiving mental health services elsewhere, psychologists carefully consider the treatment issues and the potential client’s welfare, discuss these issues with the client in order to minimize the risk of confusion and conflict, consult with the other service providers when appropriate and proceed with caution and sensitivity to the therapeutic issues.¹

A companion standard is shorter and equally relevant. When indicated and professionally appropriate, psychologists cooperate with other professionals in order to serve their clients effectively and appropriately.¹ Parallel obligations sit in the codes governing counselors and clinical social workers.

Read together, those standards describe consultation as the expected posture when a client is already in treatment elsewhere. A referring clinician is not asking for a favor by requesting coordination. They are asking the receiving service to do what its own professional code contemplates.

Illinois Consent Is More Specific Than a Generic Release

A general release form may not satisfy Illinois law. Under the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act, mental health records are confidential and generally require written consent for disclosure, and a valid consent must name the person or agency permitted to obtain the record, state the reason for disclosure, specify the kind of records to be disclosed and give a date when the consent ends. It must also state the right to revoke consent at any time and the consequences of refusing, and it requires the signature of both the consenting person and a witness.²

Consent authority varies by age in ways that matter for an emerging adult caseload. A person aged 12 or older may consent to disclosure of their own records. For those aged 12 to 18, parents can access certain records covering current condition, diagnosis and treatment without the young person’s consent, while access to other records requires either the young person’s permission or a therapist’s determination that no strong reason exists to deny it. At 18 the individual consents for themselves.²

The practical instruction is to prepare a consent that names the specific service, states coordination of care as the reason, covers the records both directions and runs past the expected end of the course. A consent that expires mid-course, or that names only a one-way flow, produces exactly the silence the arrangement was meant to prevent.

Agree the Communication Cadence in Advance

Ask for three points of contact rather than an open-ended promise to stay in touch. A note after the initial consultation confirming whether the client is proceeding and on what protocol. A brief mid-course update. A summary at the end covering outcome and recommendations. Anything beyond that is a bonus, and anything less leaves you working blind on a client you are still seeing weekly.

Manufacturer guidance is that patients do not need to stop medication or psychotherapy to receive Deep TMS, and the adolescent clearances are adjunct clearances that presume concurrent care.³⁴ Those are useful facts to have in hand when a service is vague about whether therapy continues. Yellowbrick provides neuroscience technologies and neuromodulation services through an agreement with its sister company Synchrony Brain Health, whose outpatient services include Deep TMS and neurofeedback alongside psychotherapy services, and the coordination arrangement should be confirmed with the service directly rather than assumed from the referral.

Who Owns What During a Course

Setting Up the Arrangement

• Prepare a consent naming the specific service, stating coordination of care as the reason and covering disclosure in both directions.
• Set the consent expiry beyond the expected end of the course, not at 90 days by habit.
• Confirm who holds consent authority given the client’s age, and obtain the client’s own signature where they are 12 or older.
• Ask the service, before referring, what it routinely sends back to referring clinicians and when.
• Agree the three contact points: after consultation, mid-course and at completion.
• Establish who the client contacts in a crisis during the course, and tell the client explicitly.
• Tell the client in plain terms that therapy continues and that you are not handing them over.
• Keep your usual appointment schedule during the course rather than pausing it.
• Ask that any protocol or medication change be communicated to you with dates.
• Schedule your own review after the course ends, so the transition back is planned rather than assumed.

Key Takeaway

The client keeps their therapist. A neuromodulation referral is a referral for a procedure rather than a transfer of care, and for clients aged 15 to 21 the adjunct clearances presume that other treatment continues. The risk is not that a service will formally take the client, it is that an unstructured referral lets the therapy lapse by default. Prevent that with three things settled in advance: an Illinois-compliant written consent that names the service, states coordination of care as the reason, covers both directions and expires after the course rather than during it; an agreed cadence of contact after consultation, mid-course and at completion; and explicit role boundaries covering medication and crisis response. Say plainly to the client that therapy continues, and keep the appointments in the diary while the course runs.

Clinical Note

This article is general guidance for referring clinicians. It is not legal advice and it is not a substitute for individual clinical judgment or an individualized assessment. Confidentiality statutes, consent requirements and professional ethical codes vary by jurisdiction and discipline and change over time, and the summaries here are not a substitute for reading the current statute or your own code, or for consulting your legal counsel, licensing board or professional association. Confirm coordination arrangements, candidacy and clinical decisions directly with the treating service.

If a client is in immediate danger, direct them to emergency services. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline provides free, confidential crisis support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by call or text to 988.⁵

Glossary

• Coordination of care: structured communication between providers treating the same client, as distinct from an informal understanding that they may be in touch.
• Release of information: written authorization permitting a provider to disclose protected information to a named party for a stated purpose and period.
• Two-way consent: authorization covering disclosure in both directions, so that each provider may both send and receive information.
• Adjunct clearance: an FDA clearance for use alongside another treatment rather than as a standalone therapy.
• Transfer of care: a change in which provider holds clinical responsibility, which a procedure referral is not.
• Consent expiry: the date after which an authorization is no longer valid, which should extend past the expected end of a treatment course.
• Drift: the gradual lapse of an existing treatment relationship after a referral, occurring without any decision to end it.

References

1. American Psychological Association. “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct,” Standards 3.09 and 10.04. Adopted August 21, 2002, effective June 1, 2003. Accessed August 25, 2026. https://www.apa.org/ethics/code.
2. Illinois Legal Aid Online. “Confidentiality for mental and developmental disabilities,” summarizing the Illinois Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act, 740 ILCS 110. Accessed August 25, 2026. https://www.illinoislegalaid.org/legal-information/confidentiality-mental-and-developmental-disabilities.
3. BrainsWay. “Will I need to stop my medication or therapy?” BrainsWay patient FAQ. Accessed August 25, 2026. https://www.brainsway.com/patients-faqs/will-i-need-to-stop-my-medication-or-therapy/.
4. BrainsWay. “BrainsWay Receives FDA Clearance of Deep TMS as Adjunct Therapy for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in Adolescents Aged 15 to 21.” Company announcement, November 12, 2025. Accessed August 25, 2026. https://www.brainsway.com/news_events/brainsway-receives-fda-clearance-of-deep-tms-as-adjunct-therapy-for-major-depressive-disorder-mdd-in-adolescents-aged-15-to-21/.
5. 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Operated in partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Vibrant Emotional Health. Accessed August 25, 2026. https://988lifeline.org/.

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