About this course

Learning Objectives

• Identify ethics and risk management issues related to professional boundaries and dual relationships in the behavioral health professions.
• Apply relevant ethics standards to manage boundaries and dual relationships.
• Use protocols designed to protect clients and help prevent litigation and ethics complaints.

Learning Levels

• Intermediate
• Advanced

Target Audience

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Frederic G. Reamer, PhD

  Frederic Reamer is professor in the graduate program, School of Social Work, Rhode Island College, where he has been on the faculty since 1983. 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 recently 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 that 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 in various European nations. His books include 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.

Disclosure

References

• Celenza, A. (2007). Sexual boundary violations: Therapeutic, supervisory, and academic contexts. Jason Aronson.
• Gutheil, T., & Brodsky, A. (2008). Preventing boundary violations in clinical practice. Guilford.
• Reamer, F. (2021). Boundary and dual relationship issues in the human services (3rd ed.). Columbia University Press.
• Reamer, F. (2018). Ethical standards in social work: A review of the NASW Code of Ethics (3rd ed.). NASW Press.
• Reamer, F. (2018). The social work ethics casebook: Cases and commentary (3rd ed.). NASW Press.
• Reamer, F. (2018). Social work values and ethics (5th ed.). Columbia University Press.
• Reamer, F. (in press). Risk management in the behavioral health professions: A practical guide to preventing malpractice and licensing-board complaints. Columbia University Press.
• Steinberg, L., Alpert, J., & Courtois, C., Eds. (2021). Sexual boundary violations in psychotherapy. American Psychological Association.
• Zur, O. (Ed.). (2016). Multiple relationships in psychotherapy and counseling: Unavoidable, common, and mandatory dual relations in therapy. Taylor & Francis.
• Brownlee, K., et al. (2019). Exploring self-reflection in dual relationship decision making. Journal of Social Work, 19, 629-641.
• Dickeson, E., et al. (2020). Predicting boundary violation propensity among mental health professionals. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 27, 814-825.
• O'Leary, P., et al. (2013). The boundaries of the social work relationship revisited: Towards a connected, inclusive, and dynamic conceptualisation. British Journal of Social Work, 143, 135-143.