Managing Multiple Relationships in Psychotherapy and Counseling: Ethical and Clinical Considerations

Fulfills requirement: Ethics for all professions. Check with your state board if you have questions.

Once expressly prohibited by professional mental health organizations, multiple relationships or dual relationships for psychotherapists are now acknowledged as not only often unavoidable, but when used with good clinical and ethical judgment, they can be an important and even beneficial part of treatment. While the old, rigid boundaries supposedly kept psychotherapists safer from sanctions and lawsuits, the more flexible, humane, and realistic boundary considerations create a murkier area. In addition, the digital revolution—social media, email, text, video platforms, etc.—have inevitably both enriched and complicated issues of boundaries and multiple relationships. Whether in private practice, working with organizations such as the police or military, recovery treatment centers, education settings, or just about anywhere where effective psychotherapy is practiced, today’s psychotherapists must be apprised of the advantages and pitfalls of dual or multiple relationships.

This 6 CE intermediate level course consists of seven sections and each includes audio presentations with text transcripts. This course is primarily based on Dr. Zur’s 2017 edited book, Multiple Relationships in Psychotherapy and Counseling: Unavoidable, Common and Mandatory Dual Relations in Therapy, published by Routledge. Section One presents an overview of the issue. Section Two describes the different kinds of multiple relationships that psychotherapists are almost inevitably going to encounter. Section Three covers multiple relationships in rural, faith, and recovery settings. Section Four covers multiple relationships in educational settings. The Fifth section covers the ever-evolving complexities involved with multiple relationships in cyberspace. Section Six covers multiple relationships in supervision settings. Section Seven presents the codes of ethics of mental health professional organizations governing multiple relationships.