Introduction to The Risky Business of Risk Management

 

This introduction is part of an online course for 6 CE Credits titled: The Risky Business of Risk Management.

This course critically examines the concept of risk management in psychotherapy. While managing risk to us, therapists, or to our clients is very important, risk management practices have taken the idea somewhere else. Therapists have been frightened by risk management experts into never touching a client, to limiting self-disclosure and to avoiding bartering, gifts or making home visits. While minimizing risk is important, this course looks at the risk management practices that are carried out at the expense of clients’ welfare and of therapeutic effectiveness. This course explores the concept of risk management, it origins, the forces behind it, its relationships to law, ethics and clinical practice. Finally, the course proposes ethical ways to minimize risk to therapists without compromising their clinical integrity.

Article #2, “The Risky Business of Risk Management”, provides the bulk of the text for this course and looks at the numerous aspects of risk management, including its origin and current practices. It provides detailed ethical risk management guidelines that do not compromise clinical integrity. This article also includes special sections on the codes of ethics and relevant parts of California law.

Article #3 provides additional examples and explanations of how certain risk management practices may negatively effect clinical practice. The article illustrates how the avoidance of certain interventions, such as conducting therapy outside the office or giving a client a hug or a gift may decrease the quality of our services. Written in simple language, the article provides therapists with guidelines on how to practice responsibly and protect themselves without compromising the quality of their clinical work.

Article #4 is written by Martin Williams, Ph.D. and is titled “The Curse of Risk Management”. In this article Dr. Williams focuses on three potential negative effects of risk management practices: (1) Risk management may insidiously change the field of psychotherapy and, therefore, make the services of psychotherapists less desirable. (2) Risk management, rather than decreasing ethics and negligence complaints, actually creates more of these complaints. (3) Risk management destroys creativity among psychotherapists.

Article #5, by Ofer Zur, Ph.D., defines and differentiates the constructs of boundary crossing, boundary violations and dual relationships. Additionally, it provides ethical and clinical guidelines for handling boundary crossing and dual relationships.

Article #6, also written by Ofer Zur, Ph.D., is titled “Out-of-Office Experience: When Crossing Office Boundaries and Engaging in Dual Relationships are Clinically Beneficial and Ethically Sound”. This article asserts how certain out-of-office experiences can increase therapeutic effectiveness and claims that the total avoidance of all such interventions can reduce therapeutic effectiveness. The article reviews three forms of out-of-office experiences: (1) When the out-of-office experiences are part of a thought-out, carefully constructed, research-based, treatment plan. (2) When the out-of-office experiences are geared to enhance therapeutic effectiveness. And (3) When the out-of-office encounters are naturally occurring as part of normal living in one’s community.

Article #7 is written by Marlene M. Maheu, Ph.D. and is titled “Telehealth: Risk Management in the Re-Tooling of Mental Health Care”. This is a more specific article focusing on a new field of practice in our contemporary era. Because of its newness extra cautiousness is required and Dr. Maheu provides helpful guidelines.

Article #8 is written by Jeffrey E. Barnett, Psy.D. & Kristen S. Reese, M.S. and is titled “Risk Management for Psychologists: Some Suggestions for Practice”. It covers the areas of prevention, informed consent, working with families, competence, documentation, requests for records, confidentiality, supervision, consultation, boundary issues, multiple relationships, termination and abandonment.

 
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