Choose the kind of help you are requesting
The State Bar describes TLAP support for lawyers, judges and law students. The current program website identifies therapist recommendations, local peer support and funding assistance among its services. These are different requests even when one person wants more than one kind of support.
Start with a short sentence such as, “I would like help finding a therapist,” or “I want to learn about peer assistance.” If you are unsure, say which practical question you need answered first. Do not turn your initial contact into a licensing explanation; ask the program where to direct any separate professional-regulatory question.
Sources: State Bar of Texas TLAP member benefit; Texas Lawyers Assistance Program
Clarify whether a connection is peer support or clinical care
The State Bar’s description of peer assistance involves a lawyer with recovery experience providing support and connections to resources. Its referral menu also includes mental-health professionals and evaluations. Ask which role a proposed contact has before deciding what information to bring.
For a peer contact, ask how the introduction works and what the peer relationship covers. For a clinician referral, ask who initiates the appointment request. A useful note has separate entries for the program contact, any peer introduction and the treating practice. That prevents a helpful conversation from being mistaken for a booked clinical visit.
Check the appointment with the receiving practice
When you receive a clinician’s name, prepare your own short booking checklist: the service requested, clinician, visit format, workable dates, payment route and documents the office needs. Ask whether the practice is considering new patients for that service and what its next intake step is.
If the practice cannot meet the request, return to TLAP with the practical obstacle: no suitable appointment, an unresolved cost question or a service mismatch. Avoid sending a lengthy clinical history merely to explain that a referral did not work. Ask whether another resource can address the specific obstacle.
Sources: Texas Lawyers Assistance Program
Ask separate questions about program information and payment
Use TLAP’s current confidentiality statement for questions about program communications and ask staff to explain how it applies to the contact you are considering. The treating practice has its own intake and privacy process. Do not assume one organization’s statement explains every record held by another.
If cost prevents a next appointment, ask about the financial-help route and what information is needed to explore it. The Sheeran-Crowley Trust has a separate application and decision process described in the linked guide. A therapy recommendation is not confirmation that a grant, insurance payment or specific practice relationship exists.
Sources: Texas Lawyers Assistance Program; State Bar of Texas TLAP member benefit
Your next-step checklist
- Name the requested help: clinician referral, peer support or funding information.
- Ask who initiates each proposed introduction.
- Confirm the receiving contact’s role before sharing information.
- Keep appointment, payment and program questions separate.
- Bring an unresolved referral obstacle back to TLAP.
Keep personal, insurance and medical information in the appropriate organization’s approved secure channel.
Common questions
Is a TLAP peer introduction the same as a therapy appointment?
No. Ask which role the contact has. The State Bar describes peer assistance separately from referrals to mental-health professionals; a clinical appointment needs its own confirmation.
Does this guide tell me how to answer a bar or licensing question?
No. Direct that question to the responsible authority or a qualified adviser. This guide helps organize a support request and the next appointment handoff.
Sources and verification
The sources below support the administrative information in this guide. Follow the responsible organization’s current instructions when requirements, forms or contact routes change.
- State Bar of Texas TLAP member benefit — checked .
- Texas Lawyers Assistance Program — checked .
- State Bar of Texas: How TLAP can help — checked .