Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships in Behavioral Health: Managing Ethics Challenges and Risks
Information
Date & Time
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Learning Objectives
Participants will be able to:
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Identify at least three boundaries any dual relationship challenges in behavioral health
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Describe two or more prominent ethical standards that can be applied to boundary and dual relationship issues
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Design two ethics-based protocols to protect clients
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Identify two risk management strategies that will be implemented to prevent litigation and licensing board complaints
Educational Goal
The educational goal of this workshop is to expand participants’ understanding of the ethical concerns, considerations and complex challenges related to boundary issues and dual relationships.
Description
Behavioral health practitioners face many complex challenges related to boundary issues and dual relationships. Key challenges concern the ethics of intimate relationships with current and former clients; the healthy parameters of practitioners’ self-disclosure; the giving and receiving of gifts and favors; managing boundaries in small and rural communities; and online communications with clients and former clients, among others. Dr. Frederic Reamer will draw on his extensive research on these issues and experience as an ethics consultant and expert witness in many litigation and licensing-board cases throughout the U.S.
Target Audience
- Marriage & Family Therapist
- Counselor
- Psychologist
- Social Worker
- Substance Use Disorder Professionals
Presenters
Frederic Reamer is on the faculty of Rhode Island College School of Social Work. His teaching and research focus on professional ethics, criminal justice, mental health, health care, and public policy. Dr. Reamer received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and has served as a social worker in correctional and mental health settings. He chaired the national task force that wrote the Code of Ethics adopted by the National Association of Social Workers in 1996 and served on the code revision task force. Dr. Reamer also chaired the national task force sponsored by the National Association of Social Workers, Association of Social Work Boards, Council on Social Work Education, and Clinical Social Work Association, which developed technology standards for the profession. Dr. Reamer has lectured nationally and internationally on social work and professional ethics, including in India, China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and various European nations. His books include Risk Management in the Behavioral Health Professions; Social Work Values and Ethics; Risk Management in Social Work; The Social Work Ethics Casebook; Ethical Standards in Social Work; Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships in the Human Services; Ethics and Risk Management in Online and Distance Behavioral Health; Moral Distress and Injury in Human Services; and The Social Work Ethics Audit, among others. Dr. Reamer has served as an expert witness in many court and licensing board cases throughout the United States.