Course fulfills the ethics requirement for pre-licensure for LPCCs in CA
Course also fulfills the ethics and law requirements for psychologists, MFTs, social workers and counselors in California and other states. Course may qualify for insurance discount. Check with your insurer.
This course is also offered as part of a Pre-licensing Savings Package of pre-requisite courses.
For more time and money-saving Online Packages, click here.
Simply follow these steps:
1. Sign up securely online.
2. Read/watch articles & videos.
3. Submit evaluation & post-test.
4. Print your certificate.
Course Materials:
GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION
This unique 18 credit (18 content/clock hour) course is one of the most extensive courses offered on the ethics of psychotherapy and counseling. Using videos, Power Point Presentations, and articles the course covers a very wide range of topics, issues and considerations regarding the standard of care, ethical-decision-making, codes of ethics, and more specific ethics concerns with confidentiality, record keeping, fees and insurance, and termination. It then reviews the important cutting edge developments in digital ethics and the impact of technology on the delivery of mental health services. Next it reviews specific concerns with ethical boundaries, such as touch, gifts, self-disclosure, and home visits. It then discusses how to respond to subpoenas and reviews more controversial topics of multiple relationships and risk management and therapy outside the office walls.
This extensive course consists of six sections. The first section of the course reviews the general ethical topics of the standard of care, confidentiality, record keeping, termination, and fees and insurance considerations. It also attends to issues relating to California law. The second part reviews the ethical issues resulting from the impact and utility of modern digital technologies in mental health services. The third section defines therapeutic boundaries, differentiates between boundary crossings and boundary violations, and discusses the specific boundary issues of self-disclosure, physical touch, gifts, dual or multiple relationships, home visits, and therapy outside the office. The fourth section reviews the ethical issues that are presented in three different settings: the home office, forensic settings, and rural areas. The fifth section outlines the issues involved in responding to subpoenas and discusses the controversial ethical issues of risk management, presenting ways to conduct risk-management without compromising the integrity of the clinical work. The sixth and last section provides an extensive list of the codes of ethics on a variety of topics, such as confidentiality, record keeping, gifts, and much more.
Educational Objectives:
This course will teach psychotherapists to
Review the elements that the standard of care in psychotherapy is based upon.
Specify how to protect confidentiality in the online environment.
Review the roles and importance of privacy, privilege, and confidentiality in the psychotherapy relationship.
Describe strategies for record retention and disposal that comply with ethics and legal requirements in California and other states.
Explain how to plan for termination and how to prevent abandonment and unethical practice.
Analyze the importance of handling money issues clinically and ethically.
Identify the ethical challenges that may arise from engaging in activities on the Internet.
Differentiate among boundary crossing, boundary violations and dual relationships in psychotherapy.
Summarize the importance of context and population in determining whether to disclose or not to disclose.
Discuss ethical and clinical guidelines for touch in psychotherapy.
Review the ethical and clinical complexities relevant to gift giving.
Identify when boundary crossings are likely to increase therapeutic effectiveness.
Describe when out-of-office intervention can increase clinical effectiveness.
Discuss ethical considerations regarding home office.
Report on the circumstances and manner in which a therapist can serve as an expert witness ethically and legally.
Identify the behavioral and mental health needs and concerns of rural residents.
Identify the legal and illegal issues that are involved in responding to subpoenas.
Explain how to minimize risk to therapists without compromising their clinical integrity.
Course Syllabus:
General Ethical Considerations
Standard of Care
Confidentiality
Transporting Confidential Clinical Records in Laptops (Addendum for California mental health practitioners)
Record Keeping: Ethics & Guidelines
Record Retention
Termination: Ethics, Guidelines, Resources, California law on termination
Fees and Insurance in psychotherapy and counseling: Ethics and Guidelines
Insurance Fraud
Addendum for California mental health practitioners
Use of collection agencies
Ethical Considerations in the Digital Age
Digital Ethics: Definitions and issues
Therapists Googling clients
Clients Googling therapists
Use of e-mail and texts in psychotherapy
When clients text during sessions
Record keeping of digital communication
The Facebook ethical dilemmas
Informed consent and digital communications
Privacy and confidentiality in e-mail, texts and social networking communication
Ethics of Therapeutic Boundaries
Defining therapeutic boundaries
On boundary crossings and boundary violations
Ethics of self-disclosure and transparency in therapy
Ethics of physical touch
Gifts and ethics: Gifts from therapists, clients and a third party
Ethical issues in therapy outside the office: Celebrations of clients achievements, adventure therapy, nature therapy, incidental encounters and other "out-of-office" encounters
Shifts in Attitudes towards Therapeutic Boundaries
Guidelines to ethical use of boundaries in therapy
Resources for therapeutic boundaries
Codes of ethics on therapeutic boundaries
Ethical Considerations in Special Settings
Home Office: Ethical, clinical and safety considerations
Multiple Relationships in a forensic setting, therapists as expert witness and codes of ethics on forensic dual relationships
Ethics of rural practice: Ethical concerns with privacy, confidentiality, dual relationships, transparency, and other ethical issues that are unique to rural practice
Subpoenas and Risk-Management
Subpoenas: Ethical and legal considerations
Patriot Act, Confidentiality & Subpoenas, Therapist as Informer
Ethical Risk Management: Preserving our clinical and ethical integrity while practicing risk management
This unique 18 credit (18 content/clock hour) course is one of the most extensive courses offered on the ethics of psychotherapy and counseling. Using videos, Power Point Presentations, and articles the course covers a very wide range of topics, issues and considerations regarding the standard of care, ethical-decision-making, codes of ethics, and more specific ethics concerns with confidentiality, record keeping, fees and insurance, and termination. It then reviews the important cutting edge developments in digital ethics and the impact of technology on the delivery of mental health services. Next it reviews specific concerns with ethical boundaries, such as touch, gifts, self-disclosure, and home visits. It then discusses how to respond to subpoenas and reviews more controversial topics of multiple relationships and risk management and therapy outside the office walls.
