Ethics and Boundaries: Legal Issues Part II and the Internet

This class meets Wisconsin requirements for ethics and professional boundaries continuing education for licensure renewal and is designed for social workers, counselors, therapists, psychologists and other helping professionals. It is offered fully online via Zoom with instructor David Mays, MD, PhD.

Day one of this course looks at the relationship between legislative and professional ethical and practice standards. All mental health professional organizations have standards defining ethical practice. These include guidelines about boundaries, principled decision-making, and professional behavior. At times, the government also weighs in, setting certain legal requirements that mental health professionals must adhere to. Sometimes these standards are consistent with professional standards (confidentiality). Sometimes they add new expectations (Tarasoff duties). And sometimes they conflict (conscience clauses).

Day two will address ethical and boundary issues related to the internet. The electronic medical record is exposing clinicians to greater privacy and boundary challenges. Internet and social media pressures are also changing the landscape of mental healthcare. Add to this the opportunities and perils of "big data" and subsequent effects on risk assessment and the growing prevalence of telemedicine and you have a lot of change in a short amount of time.

Learner Level: Beginner to Advanced

Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Identify the basic components of confidentiality and Tarasoff Standards.
• Describe the difference between a privacy standard and a confidentiality standard.
• Describe how conscience clauses may conflict with professional codes of ethics.
• Assess themselves for risks of boundary crossings and ask for consultation if necessary.
• Describe how the electronic health record changes more than simply how we keep records.
• Discuss the importance of office social media policies for boundaries.
• Analyze how telemedicine is affecting mental health care.
• List examples of when searching for client data online may or may not be acceptable.