Research Center » Law & Ethics
Mental health professionals are regulated by both laws and professional codes of conduct. However, there are many gray areas that require decision-making skills.
At-Home Practice Considerations
Many clinicians are backing away from the office-based group practices experts advised was the best way to go a few years ago and returning to the “old school” of establishing their office in their home.
Boundary Issues
Boundary issues come in all shapes and sizes and address some of the most fundamental aspects of a therapist’s practice...
Building Your Practice
One of the challenges mental health professionals experience is finding sound and viable ways to build their practice...
Cultural Competence
Culturally competent mental health professionals are aware and respectful of the importance of the values, beliefs, traditions and customs of the people they serve.
Dangerous Clients
Become educated in risk assessment and stay current with developments in the field in your ongoing efforts to be prepared for the possibility of having to deal with dangerous clients...
Dual Relationships
Dual relationships exist whenever a therapist interacts with a client in any capacity beyond the one role as therapist, for example, also being their client’s teacher, consultant, business partner, or sexual partner...
Duty to Protect
Therapists have ethical and legal obligations to prevent their clients from physically harming themselves or others. If you believe a client is dangerous, you must use reasonable and conscientious effort in taking decisive actions to both protect and warn the potential victim of your client's violence...
Family Violence and Abuse
If you even suspect that your client is either the victim of family abuse or is an abuser, you have an ethical duty to protect victims and, depending on local laws, may have a legal duty to report the situation...
On-Line Therapy
As clients begin to log on to online counseling sites, concerns amongst health professionals nationwide are mounting: Is therapy via the Internet ethical? Legal? Even dangerous?
Record Keeping
Many states are requiring licensed mental health professionals to keep records. Clinical records include your schedule or datebook, case records (intake forms, treatment plans, progress notes, referral notes, periodic summaries, termination plans), correspondence with clients and with others whom you’ve consulted about clients, etc....
Reducing Malpractice Risk
Malpractice is a legal concept involving the failure of a professional to render the level of services or to exercise the degree skill that is ordinarily expected of other professionals in a similar situation, which then results in injury or loss to the client...
Setting Your Fee
Among the many business aspects involved in the relationship with clients are financial matters. As you determine basic policies such as how much you will charge, when you will discuss your fees with the client, how you will handle insurance coverage, and how you will address delinquent accounts, choose options that seem fair, protective of both you and your client, and are enforceable—then communicate them clearly, both orally and in writing...
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