Ethics For New York Mental Health Professionals
This course meets the New York State requirement for all mental health professionals for both ethics and maintaining appropriate professional boundaries. However, for more in-depth study of professional boundaries, we recommend the course in Dual Relationships the Ethical Way.
While ethics forms the foundation of professional activity for mental health providers, important details are too often misunderstood, and risk management concerns override sound clinical judgment. In this intermediate level course, an overview of the most important features of ethical practice is provided, along with a thorough discussion of how conflicting demands influence decision making.
This course is comprised of three parts, each of which contains written text with audio versions. In Part One, a definition of ethics is provided, along with a review of relevant content in its three governing aspects: standards of care, professional associations’ codes of ethics, and Federal and New York State laws. Content includes the most recent 2023 and 2024 updates to HIPAA and New York State law including the HIPAA Final Rule.
Part Two begins with an overview of current regulations pertaining to engaging in telemental health and segues into a discussion of why ethical conflicts arise, along with guidelines and recommendations in those situations.
Part Three contains two brief articles that discuss the nature of dual relations and professional boundaries and describe ethically-sound approaches to engaging in such relationships.
Educational Objectives
This course will teach the participant to
- Identify the three fundamental components that define ethical practice
- Identify key legal mandates and prohibitions as well as guidelines for mental health providers practicing in the State of New York.
- Identify the standards of care that apply to engaging in telemental health both within the State of New York and across state lines.
- Discuss ways to engage in dual relationships in an ethically-appropriate manner.
Syllabus
Part One
- What Constitutes Professional Ethics
- What Do Mental Health Providers in New York State Need to Know
- Standard of care
- Compliance with the standard of care
- Ethical Code of APA
- General Principles
- Ethical Standards
- Federal Regulations
- HIPAA
- Privacy Rule
- Security Rule
- Breach Notification Rule
- Safe Harbor Law
- Important HIPAA 2024 updates
- Confidentiality of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Patient Records
- Privacy Rule to Support Reproductive Health Care
- New York State Regulations and Guidelines
- Privacy and Consent Laws
- Unprofessional Conduct
- Professional boundaries
- Dual relationships
- Sexual relationships
- Sexual harassment
- Filing complaints of professional misconduct
- Court-Ordered Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT)
- Evidence-Based Practice
- Forensic Custody Evaluation Certification
- Diagnostic Privilege for Certain Mental Health Practitioners
- Mandatory Continuing Education on Child Abuse Reporting
- Pending Reforms: Daniel’s Law/Trauma-Informed Emergency Crisis Response
- HIPAA
Part Two
- Telemental Health
- Obligations prior to engaging in treatment
- Informed consent
- Privacy
- Practicing across state lines
- Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT)
- Why Do Ethical Issues Arise?
- Examples of Ethical Conflicts
- Risk management
- Giving a patient money
- Social media
- Texting
- Self-disclosure
- Notes
- Managing ethical conflicts
Part Three
- Dual Relations and Professional Boundaries
- What are dual relationships?
- When they are appropriate
- When they are not
- How to evaluate appropriateness of engaging in a dual relationship
- Ethical guidelines
- To whom is it beneficial
- Always keep the patient’s needs foremost
- Documentation
- Consultation
- Spotlight on Prevention