Product Detail

1. Describe how to minimize litigation dilemmas, licensing complaints and malpractice actions.
2. Analyze the legal and ethical considerations for the treatment of minor populations in Missouri with regard to age of consent, confidentiality and custody concerns.
3. Explain how an understanding of common boundary and dual relationship issues/dilemmas can help you maintain appropriate relationships with your clients.
4. Identify the ethical challenges you should consider when responding to subpoenas that request disclosure of client records.
5. Discuss the limits of confidentiality as it relates to duty to warn in Missouri.
6. Demonstrate how risk management strategies regarding technology can keep client information secure and avoid violating HIPAA.

Clinician-Client Relationship

• Law vs. ethics
• Elements of legal informed consent
• Nuts and bolts of office policies
  • Records vs. psychotherapy notes
  • What to put in a record
• Limitations on confidentiality
  • Missouri case law & danger to others
  • Missouri duty to warn potential victims
  • HIPAA
  • The latest updates you need to know

Practical Approach to Risk Management

• Elements of consent
• Competence & scope of practice
• Boundary violations/crossings
• Issues with modern technology
  • Texting, cell phones, e-mail, video psychotherapy
• Perils of supervision

Litigation

• Licensing complaints & malpractice lawsuits
  • Missouri-specific statutes
  • Missouri rules and regulations
  • Case law and how to find it

Navigate the Legal System

• Roles of attorneys
• Confidentiality/privilege
• Subpoena & disclosure of confidential information
• Depositions, interrogatories, expert testimony

Treatment of Minors

• Missouri age of majority
• Consent to treatment
• Privilege/confidentiality
• Separation & divorce

Case Studies

Susan J. Lewis, Ph.D., J.D., is a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist and lawyer. She has over 25 years of experience in clinical practice with unique populations that have included female sexual offenders incarcerated at a woman’s prison, self-injurious individuals, forensic patients and individuals who suffer from severe and persistent mental illness. In addition to clinical practice, Dr. Lewis has served in leadership roles as clinical director, program manager, and supervisor for psychiatry residents and post-doctoral psychologists.

Currently, Dr. Lewis teaches courses on Law and Ethics in Mental Health that are state specific to the laws of each state. She has also lectured nationwide on the DSM5® and differential diagnosis. She taught courses at Harvard’s Extension School and Northeastern University on the Psychology of Criminal Behavior. She is the author of Legal and Ethical Issues for Mental Health Clinicians: Best Practices for Avoiding Litigation, Complaints and Malpractice (PPM, 2016) and her latest book From Deep Within: A Forensic and Clinical Psychologist’s Journey (2018).

A sought-after consultant, Dr. Lewis works with attorneys on controversial issues such as dangerousness, competence to stand trial, criminal responsibility evaluations, and civil and criminal commitment. She works with attorneys on strategies of how mental illness might impinge of legal decision-making. Dr. Lewis has been adjudicated an expert in almost all of the district and superior courts in Massachusetts.

Speaker Disclosures:

Financial: Susan Lewis is in private practice. She receives a speaking honorarium from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.

Non-financial: Susan Lewis is a member of the American Psychological Association.

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CE Information Coming Soon
Continuing education credit information is coming soon for this non-interactive self-study package.

CEs may be available for select professions, as listed in the target audience. Hours will be dependent on the actual recording time. Please check with your state licensing board or organization for specific requirements.

There may be an additional fee for CE certificates. Please contact our Customer Service at 1-800-844-8260 for more details.

**Materials that are included in this course may include interventions and modalities that are beyond the authorized practice of mental health professionals. As a licensed professional, you are responsible for reviewing the scope of practice, including activities that are defined in law as beyond the boundaries of practice in accordance with and in compliance with your professions standards.

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners. For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Case Managers
• Addiction Counselors
• Therapists
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Other Mental Health Professionals
• Nurses