Behavioral health professionals frequently encounter complex ethical challenges involving boundaries and dual relationships. Examples include proper management of confidential and private information when practitioners live and work in small or rural communities; practitioner self-disclosure; friendships and social contact with current and former clients; favors, gifts, and invitations; hiring of former clients; and online and social networking relationships and communications, among others. Using extensive case material, Dr. Frederic Reamer will acquaint participants with a typology of boundary issues and dual relationships. Participants will learn how to identify and respond constructively to complex boundary issues, protect clients, prevent professional malpractice, and avoid licensing board complaints. Key topics will include the nature of boundary issues, types of dual relationships, ethical standards, and risk-management strategies.
Learning objectives: At the conclusion of this training, participants will be able to
- Identify challenging issues related to boundaries and dual relationships in behavioral health
- Apply prominent ethical and legal standards
- Design protocols to protect clients
- Implement protocols to help prevent litigation and licensing board complaints
How it works:
This course contains two video lessons, each followed by a short quiz. You will watch each video, then complete the quiz before moving to the next section of the course. A completed course evaluation is required to receive a certificate.
- Two 20-25 minute videos
- A brief quiz
- Course evaluation
About the Presenter:
Frederic G. Reamer has been on the faculty of the School of Social Work, Rhode Island College since 1983. His research and teaching have addressed a wide range of human service issues, including mental health, health care, criminal justice, public welfare, and professional ethics. Dr. Reamer received his Ph.D. (social work) from the University of Chicago. He has served as a social worker in correctional and mental health settings. He has also taught at the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration, and the University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Social Work.
Dr. Reamer has served as Director of the National Juvenile Justice Assessment Center of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; as Senior Policy Advisor to the Governor of Rhode Island; and as a Commissioner of the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation, the state housing finance agency. Dr. Reamer served on the State of Rhode Island Parole Board from 1992 to 2016. He also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Social Work Education. He serves as Associate Editor of the National Association of Social Workers Encyclopedia of Social Work (Oxford University Press and National Association of Social Workers). Since 2012, Dr. Reamer has served as the ethics instructor in the Providence (RI) Police Department Training Academy.
Dr. Reamer has conducted extensive research on professional ethics. He has been involved in national research projects sponsored by The Hastings Center, the Carnegie Corporation, the Haas Foundation, and the Scattergood Program for the Applied Ethics of Behavioral Healthcare at the Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania. He has published 25 books and more than 190 journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia articles.
Contact hours:
Certificates will be issued upon completion of an online course evaluation.
No partial credit will be given.
- 1 CONTACT HOUR for social workers, licensed professional clinical counselors, psychologists, continuing health education specialists, and behavioral healthcare workers.