Risk Management: Towards Ethical Risk Management Practices

Fulfills requirement:Professional Ethics for all professions

Therapists have been warned by risk management experts, attorneys, and insurance companies to never touch a client, to limit self-disclosure and gifts, to avoid bartering or making home visits or leaving the office with clients and, by all means, to stay away from any form of dual relationship. This course will help therapists differentiate between boundary crossings and boundary violations and also to differentiate between clinical, ethical, and risk management issues. While minimizing risk is clearly important, the course is concerned with risk management practices that are carried out at the expense of clients’ welfare and of therapeutic effectiveness.

This intermediate-level course is comprised of two main articles available in audio versions with transcripts. It sheds light on the origin of and the forces behind risk management practices and realistically looks at the level of risk that therapists are facing in their line of work. More specifically, it provides basic guidance on issues such as gifts, fees, touch, and therapy outside the office. The course also reviews the ethical and legal considerations regarding risk management and proposes ethical ways to minimize risk to therapists without compromising their clinical integrity.