Ofer Zur, Ph.D., is an experienced licensed psychologist, psychotherapist, author, expert witness and forensic consultant and the founder and director of the Zur Institute. He has been teaching ethics at the graduate and post-graduate levels for almost 20 years, and he has published extensively in the area of standard of care as it pertains to issues such as confidentiality, record keeping, scope of practice, diagnosis, treatment and the broad area of therapeutic boundaries. In addition to his active psychotherapy practice, he consults with attorneys, psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, psychiatrists and counselors on issues of boundaries and the standard of care regarding licensing board complaints, personal injury and medical malpractice cases. For Dr. Zur's CV, click here.
Summary of Dr. Zur's Unique and Outstanding Qualifications:
He has trained thousands of psychotherapists in his ethics classes and workshops at graduate and post-graduate levels for almost twenty years.
Dr. Zur, Licensed Psychologist, has been in private psychotherapy practice since 1988 to present time.
In 2003 he authored the breakthrough best seller, The HIPAA Compliance Kit, distributed by W. W. Norton.
His online continuing education program has more than 120 courses and is approved to provide continuing education credit to psychologists, and also approved by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS), National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) and other accrediting bodies. For more information, click here.
In 2008 he was nominated as a fellow of American Psychological Association (APA), Div. 42.
His latest book, Boundaries in Psychotherapy, is widely considered the most comprehensive book on therapeutic boundaries to date, published in 2007 by American Psychological Association, APA Books.
Dr. Zur is a renowned expert in the area of standard of care and therapeutic boundaries and is one of the most prolific writers on the topics of dual relationships, sexual and non-sexual touch in therapy, self-disclosure, gifts, bartering, fees, telehealth, etc. Many of his publications are available online.
His work has been instrumental in changing the professional attitudes and understanding of the importance of flexibility and therapeutic context in legal, ethical and clinical applications of multiple relationships and other psychotherapeutic boundaries.
His writing has been a major factor in dispelling myths, such as the erroneous beliefs that:
Clinically appropriate boundary crossings often lead to illegal and unethical boundary violations.
Dr. Zur's expert consultations include the following areas:
Standard of care
Negligence
Confidentiality
Supervision
Psychotherapist-patient sex
Scope of practice
Duty to warn
Suicide & Danger to Self
Diagnosis
Inappropriate Termination & Abandonment
Treatment planning
Treatment of Borderline, PTSD, Major Depression, Bipolar, Anxiety, Addiction and other mental disorders
HIPAA Compliance and Violations
Dual relationships
Boundary violations
Record keeping
Conflict of interest
Risk management
Power and undue influence
Transference abuse
Psychotherapist-patient sexual involvement
Sexual & non-sexual touch
Fees & Bartering
Gifts
Therapy outside the office
Home visits
Adventure therapy
Home office
In summary, Dr. Zur brings a unique and non-dogmatic approach to his forensic consultations and expert witness work. His graduate teaching and broad clinical experience, combined with extensive research and professional publications, make him a most qualified and credible authority on the clinical, ethical and legal aspects of standard of care of psychotherapy and counseling. He is highly qualified in helping attorneys cross-exam rigid and uninformed expert witnesses who take the position that boundary crossings (gifts, touch, self-disclosure, etc.) are always harmful and that dual relationships are inherently unethical and below the standard of care, or those expert witnesses who, ignorantly, equate risk-management principles and the standard of care.
For Dr. Zur's C.V., click here.
For Dr. Zur’s publications, click here
To contact Dr. Zur regarding availability, fees, etc., email him at info@zurinstitute.com or call his office at 707-922-6422.
For ethics and clinical consultations for psychotherapists, click here.