Training Title:
Ethics II - Confidentiality Part A

Clock Hours: 1.5

Objectives:
• Learn guidelines for handling secrets • Identify ways to protect the client and the therapist

Description:
The field of mental health and psychotherapy, no topic is the subject of as much concern and confusion as the topic of confidentiality. Does the therapist take the approach of risk management, dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s? Or does the therapist stick to moral convictions and early ingrained values about confidentiality? Do we protect the patient? Or do we protect ourselves? Is there a middle ground? Barbara Alexander, LCSW, BCD "Risk Management" reports on interviews with a number of very conservative attorneys, they discuss the Tarasoff case and record keeping, and the position that the therapist must always keep detailed records, including specific information about what the therapist did and said, and how it relates to the treatment plan. Christopher Bollas, MSW, "The Betrayal of Confidentiality" states that many clients will not come to therapy in out of fear that they will be turned over to the authorities, and unconsciously begin to edit the material they present to the therapist in the current reporting system. Therapists should not break confidentiality under any circumstance.

Approval Bodies