Recorded webinar.

Mental health professionals are charged with the legal and ethical responsibility to maintain professional boundaries, but the obligation isn’t always so easy to discern. This course brings real-world context to ethical concerns often experienced by professionals in practice in maintaining appropriate professional boundaries. This course will provide a framework to contemplate ethical dilemmas and make informed decisions that insulate professionals from legal liability while protecting clients from harm.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the ethical and legal responsibility of mental health professionals to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with their clients.
2. Define dual relationships.
3. Apply a framework to avoid dual relationships whenever possible.
4. Apply a framework to minimize potential harm to clients and the professional whenever dual relationships are not avoidable.
5. Describe how to demonstrate that a client has not been exploited or coerced, intentionally or unintentionally.

Research: Research information about this program can be found on the following websites:

• American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct (2002, amended effective June 1, 2010, and January 1, 2017). https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/
• American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2014-code-ofethics-finaladdress.pdf
• National Association of Social Workers. (2020). NASW code of ethics. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English
• Nordesjö, K., Scaramuzzino, G., & Ulmestig, R. (2022). The social worker-client relationship in the digital era: a configurative literature review. European Journal of Social Work, 25(2), 303-315.
• Reamer, F. G. (2020). Boundary issues and dual relationships in the human services. In Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships in the Human Services. Columbia University Press.

Target Audience: social workers, mental health practitioners, creative arts therapists, marriage and facility therapists, psychologists, addiction professionals, case managers, and other interested individuals.

We are happy to respond to any concerns or questions you may have. Please contact us at by email at sw-ce@buffalo.edu or by phone at 716-829-5841.

ADA Accommodations: If you require any support for your ADA needs in the United States, please contact us by email at least 3 weeks prior to the event by email at sw-ce@buffalo.edu or by phone at 716-829-5841.