Retiring Ethically From Clinical Practice

Posted on October 12, 2017 by Gina Ulery

Course excerpt from Ethics & Risk Management: Expert Tips 8

Retiring is a huge step, professionally, financially and personally. It requires thought, reflection and planning. Like starting our careers, for the most part the decision to retire should both make sense and feel right. It should ideally be a decision of the head and the heart.

The professional aspects include preparing ourselves emotionally, preparing our clients and getting numerous ducks in a row. Once we have decided to retire and feel confident it is right for us, we need to address these aspects.

Preparing Ourselves Emotionally

This might not sound like much because we have decided it is in our best interest to do so in many cases. If the decision is based on outside forces, like the needs of a spouse or an illness, then we may have other emotional work to do.

However the decision is made, we must confront two issues, the loss of professional identity and letting our clients down or at least losing those relationships with people for whom we have cared. It is best to work through these issues before sharing our decision with our clients. We have spent our professional lives taking care of our clients and we are about to tell them we are no longer going to do that.

We need to confront our own losses so we can better deal with our clients and their loss. We need to take care of ourselves before we take care of them. A therapist, a supervisor or a peer group are helpful venues for this process. We can talk it out, address our feelings and concerns and prepare ourselves for client reactions, such as anger, disappointment, or worse yet, no reaction. (Maybe they are glad or relieved we are going.)

Preparing our Clients

The APA Ethical Principles (Standard 10.10 (c) Terminating Therapy) requires that we provide pretermination counseling for our clients when ending treatment. Part of our retirement plan should include a timeline for telling clients because some may need more time than others to address termination issues.

For me it was important that clients hear it from me and not anyone else. I gave a few clients six months’ notice and one client even more because a new, serious issue had arisen and I didn’t think it could be addressed in the time left. I informed the client of my plans and gave the client the choice of working with me until I retired or start this new issue with someone else.

I then took one month to inform the rest of my clients, so everyone had at least three months’ notice. This gave us time to wrap up some issues, review our work together and plan for additional treatment, either immediately or in the future.

It was helpful to me to write a letter to give to my clients at our last session. It included a personal note as well as the names of three professionals whom they could contact for treatment. I placed a copy of the letter in their files.

(I transitioned some clients with the new therapists and wrote letters to the colleagues I had listed letting them know of my retirement and that some clients may contact them for treatment. I included information on how to contact me, along with blank Release of Information Authorizations.)

Getting Ducks in a Row

This includes things ranging from moving out of our office, stopping or changing services such as liability insurance, professional memberships, phone, internet, ads and websites and notifying collaborating professionals. Ethically, and in many cases, legally, it includes record keeping issues. APA Ethical Principle (Standard 6.01 Documentation of Professional and Scientific Work and Maintenance of Records) requires that we maintain records in such a way that they can be used by additional therapists to ensure continuity of care and we must securely store our files and keep them for a time specified in state regulations.

We must also adhere to state regulations regarding the closure of a practice. For example, in New Jersey we must place an ad in an appropriate newspaper once a month for three months, starting with the first month after we have closed our practice. The ad must include information about where clients may contact us if they want their records.

Finally, with all the tasks and changes surrounding retirement we should make sure we have revised our professional wills. The revised will should include how to access our records with instructions for their appropriate and timely disposal. Once the i’s have been dotted and the t’s crossed, enjoy!

Click here to learn more.

Ethics & Risk Management: Expert Tips 8 is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE) course that addresses a wide variety of ethics and risk management topics, written by experts in the field. Course #30-99 | 2017 | 49 pages | 20 posttest questions

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Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Target Audience: Psychologists, Counselors, Social Workers, Marriage & Family Therapist (MFTs), Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs), Occupational Therapists (OTs), Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs), School Psychologists, and Teachers

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Why Therapists Need Ethics

Posted on September 21, 2017 by Gina Ulery

By Claire Dorotik-Nana, LMFT @pdresources.org

There is a good reason that ethics is a required component of our continuing education for license renewal. Ethics alone can be grounds for losing your license. It can also be grounds for a lawsuit. And more often than not, it is the source of client harm – even when it is not meant to be.

A therapist who means well but doesn’t fully understand client privilege or confidentiality can harm a client just as much as therapist who simply ignores ethical protocol. Today, with the explosion of social media, it has become even more difficult to decipher the difference. For example, let’s say a therapist runs groups for a treatment facility and happens to post on Facebook about a particularly challenging group session, tagging her workplace in her post. While one could argue that she meant no harm, she has exposed the identity of the clients in the group because she identified the facility in which she works.

This becomes even more important because today many therapists work in a variety of capacities – even virtually. Let’s say, for example, that a therapist becomes well known in a particular subject area and is now asked to give radio interviews about his subject matter. What is the ethical protocol here? Or, perhaps the same therapist is asked to create webinars on his area of expertise. Can he reference places that he has worked in the past? Can he mention clients he has worked with if he alters their names? What if he is asked to write a book on the subject? What ethical measures should he take then?

Ethics, as you can see, is no less important to the seasoned therapist than the new one, and in many ways, it is actually more important. With more experience comes more opportunity and with more opportunity comes more risk.

This is risk that can easily be avoided with a thorough understanding of ethics that are relevant to today’s therapist. Through learning about topics such as managing negative online reviews, taking on supervisees, being asked to write letters for clients who seek to have Emotional Service Animals, conducting group treatment, managing a social media profile, creating cloud storage for notes, purchasing liability insurance, correcting records, closing a practice, giving professional commentary on public figures, and doing media presentations, therapists can enjoy a wide variety of working capacities in a safe and ethical way.

So where do therapists go to find this information? Professional Development Resources, an accredited provider of online continuing education courses, offers ethics courses for psychologists, counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists (MFTs), occupational therapists (OTs), speech-language pathologists (SLPs), and registered dietitians (RDs). Click here to learn more.

Online Ethics Continuing Education Courses:

Ethics & Boundaries in Psychotherapy is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE) course intended to give psychotherapists the tools they need to resolve the common and not-so-common ethical and boundary issues and dilemmas that they may expect to encounter in their everyday professional practice in the 21st century. Among the topics discussed are definitions of boundaries; resolving conflicts between ethics and the law; boundary crossings vs. boundary violations; multiple relationships; sexual misconduct; privacy and confidentiality in the age of HIPAA and the Patriot Act; ethics issues with dangerous clients; boundary issues in clinical supervision; ethics and cultural competency; ethical boundaries in use of social media; ethical practice in teletherapy; fees and financial relationships; and a 17-step model for ethical decision making. *This course satisfies the ethics & boundaries requirement for license renewal of Florida counselors, social workers & MFTs. It also include teachings from the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics to meet the ethics requirement of West Virginia counselors. Course #30-77 | 2017 | 42 pages | 21 posttest questions

Ethics and Social Media is a 2-hour online continuing education (CE) course that examines the use of Social Networking Services (SNS) on both our personal and professional lives. Is it useful or appropriate (or ethical or therapeutic) for a therapist and a client to share the kinds of information that are routinely posted on SNS like Facebook, Twitter, and others? How are psychotherapists to handle “Friending” requests from clients? What are the threats to confidentiality and therapeutic boundaries that are posed by the use of social media sites, texts, or tweets in therapist-client communication? The purpose of this course is to offer psychotherapists the opportunity to examine their practices in regard to the use of social networking services in their professional relationships and communications. Included are ethics topics such as privacy and confidentiality, boundaries and multiple relationships, competence, the phenomenon of friending, informed consent, and record keeping. A final section offers recommendations and resources for the ethical use of social networking and the development of a practice social media policy. Course #20-75 | 2016 | 32 pages | 15 posttest questions

Ethics for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology is a 2-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that presents an overview of ethical issues that arise in speech-language pathology and audiology practice. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and audiologists encounter ethical issues across the spectrum of practice settings, from pediatric treatment to care of elders in skilled nursing facilities. This course will discuss barriers to ethical thinking, evidence-based ethics, economics, discrimination, abuse, bullying in the workplace, boundaries, confidentiality, social media, and infection control. Course #21-04 | 2015 | 30 pages | 15 posttest questions

Ethics for Occupational Therapists is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that teaches OTs how to handle ethical and moral dilemmas in practice. Ethical and moral issues pervade our lives, especially in the healthcare arena. Occupational therapists are frequently confronted with a variety of ethical and moral dilemmas, and their decisions can have long-range effects both professionally and personally. Why does one decision win out over another? What does the decision process involve? How do these decisions impact those involved? Occupational therapists, by the nature of choosing this particular profession, are engaged in an “ethic of care,” where activities of daily living are not just a function, but also an expression of values. Helping people maintain their maximum possible functioning is seen in relation to society and the common good of all persons. This is an abstract ideal that must be put into practice in an imperfect world. How does the occupational therapist make decisions about what is best for the person when there are difficult choices to make? This course will address these questions from the framework of ethical decision models and the American Occupational Therapy Association’s Code of Ethics. Course #30-89 | 2016 | 43 pages | 20 posttest questions

Ethics for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists is a 1-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU/CPEU) course that addresses the ethics of practice in nutrition and dietetics and satisfies the requirement of the Commission on Dietetic Registration that RDs and DTRs complete a minimum of 1 CPEU of Continuing Professional Education in Ethics (Learning Need Code 1050) during each 5-year recertification cycle. The practice and business of nutrition and dietetics grow and change but ethical practices remain paramount regardless. Potential situations arise that require a review of what the ethical solution(s) should be. This course includes real-life scenarios so you can utilize the profession’s Code of Ethics to identify these ethical issues and come up with solutions and ways to avoid unethical behaviors. Course #10-60 | 2014 | 10 pages | 7 posttest questions

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Ghosting May Create Ethics Issue

Posted on August 17, 2017 by Gina Ulery

Course excerpt from Ethics & Risk Management: Expert Tips 8

In June, 2015, The New York Times published a story highlighting Charlize Theron’s decision to dump Sean Penn by suddenly refusing to respond to his texts. This widely shared article drew attention to the disappearing act known as “ghosting,” which also surfaces as a frequent topic in psychotherapy.

Rejection is painful, no matter how you slice it. The digital age has made it easy to reject someone without engaging in a direct conversation. This passive-aggressive strategy leaves jilted individuals longing for information and wondering what went wrong.

In addition to its role in terminating relationships, ghosting is also an unfortunate strategy for ending therapy. While not the norm, ghosting a therapist is an under-discussed phenomenon. Most, if not all, clinicians have experienced a client who calls to cancel a session, states intent to reschedule and then disappears. Equally unfortunate is the client who does not show up for a session, does not respond to attempts to follow up and is never heard from again.

It is much easier to ghost a therapist than it is to ghost a suitor.

Therapists are usually trained and ethically obligated to follow up once or twice, but anything more can constitute a violation of the client’s privacy. Most professions in the psychotherapy field have some ethical guideline stating the professional’s obligation to know who is currently in therapy and who has ended. Clinicians should consider difficult questions, such as whether a client is still in therapy if he or she does not show up for a session, does not return a clinician’s follow-up call and then weeks later causes life-threatening harm for himself or herself or another person.

To this end, it is ethically prudent for therapists to request that clients sign a “termination agreement” when the clinical relationship begins. Without such an agreement, therapists can unknowingly continue certain ethical responsibilities to clients long after the therapist has been ghosted. The agreement I use with clients explains: “Clients who have not had a session in over 30 days (or within a mutually agreed upon time) will be considered inactive…. It is always preferable to have a final session before ending therapy in order to review and evaluate the sessions and assess overall progress. Please be fully assured that anyone wishing to return to active therapy can do so by contacting me to make arrangements to resume the therapeutic relationship.”

In concert with this ethical principle, I emphasize the importance of goodbyes and let clients know that I will respect decisions to end therapy. I make a deliberate effort to understand the urge to end without saying goodbye, and I encourage clients to schedule a final session to evaluate our work before they terminate. It was not until I read about it in The New York Times that I learned the term ghosting – and I’m glad to discover that such a suitable term for this troubling phenomenon has entered the public lexicon.

Interestingly, when clients open up about how much it hurts to be ghosted, they can often recall several stories in which they have ghosted others. Many times, they don’t realize that they have ghosted others until I ask. Even more relevant, such experiences often relate to primary formative relationships. These earlier experiences are usually more meaningful and worthy of exploration than trying to over-analyze the motivations of a random “match” on Tinder who seemed great until he or she became a ghost.

Our society shies away from endings. They are awkward and uncomfortable and it is easier than ever to avoid them all together. The same client who speaks of how much it hurts to be ghosted will describe skipping a friend’s going-away party, or convincing an employer to not plan a departure celebration so that they can move to a new job without saying a proper goodbye to co-workers that have been a significant part of their lives for years.

Each ending is an excellent opportunity for emotional growth. The passive-aggressive act of ghosting represents a missed emotional opportunity. Concluding a relationship with the respect it deserves demonstrates the ability to own and articulate an independent decision. Therapists who are willing to emphasize endings with clients are using the clinical relationship to help clients practice more adaptive relational patterns while simultaneously attending to important ethical obligations.

Click here to learn more.

Professional Development Resources is approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA Provider #3159); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy (#BAP346), Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635), Dietetics & Nutrition (#50-1635), and Occupational Therapy Practice (#34); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); and the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678).

New Ethics & Risk Management CE Course

Posted on August 9, 2017 by Gina Ulery

New Online CE Course @pdresources.org

Ethics & Risk Management: Expert Tips 8 is a new 3-hour online continuing education (CE) course that addresses a wide variety of really interesting ethics and risk management topics, written by experts in the field. Topics include:

Can Confidentiality be Maintained in Group Therapy? – Discusses ethical issues involved in conducting group psychotherapy.

A Short Course on Encryption and Cloud Storage – Provides answers to common questions about encryption, cloud storage, confidentiality, and HIPAA.

Retiring Ethically – Reviews the professional aspects of preparing for retirement and the various tasks and challenges involved.

Coping with Disruptions in Practice Due to Death or Disability – Shares two stories of a practice lost to sudden death, and the steps you can take to prepare for unexpected disruptions.

Informed Consent: Ethical Challenges and Opportunities – Provides an overview of the ethical obligations related to informed consent and outlines three ethical challenges.

Ethical Practice and the Challenge of Vicarious Trauma – Examines how vicarious exposure to traumatic material can dramatically impact clinicians both personally and professionally.

Competence for Execution: the Ethical Binds – Summarizes the complex issues involved in determining if a person is competent for execution.

Sorting through Professional Liability Insurance for Needed Coverage – Offers guidance and considerations for choosing between Occurrence Form Coverage and Claims Made Coverage.
Closing a Practice: Practical, Ethical and Clinical Dimensions – Reviews the tasks and challenges involved in terminating a psychotherapy practice.

Is it Ethics or Law? – Discusses the similarities and differences between ethics and law, and what to do when they conflict.

21st Century Changes Ethics for Private Practice – Shares personal experiences dealing with security breaches and offers guidelines for using technology in your own practice.

Ethical Considerations for Clinical Supervisors – Examines the impact of supervision on supervisees and their clients, including competence, clinical oversight, and informed consent.

Correcting vs. Altering Records – Discusses the importance of keeping good treatment records and offers guidance for what to do (and not to do) when needing to make a correction to your records.

Ethical Considerations for Media Presentations – Offers considerations to keep in mind when using the media for professional purposes (the article focuses on radio and television, but can also be applied to the internet).

‘Ghosting’ May Create Ethics Issue – Discusses the passive-aggressive strategy of “ghosting” and offers guidance for what to do when it happens to you, the therapist.

Reducing Risk in Treating Divorcing Families – Provides an overview of several risk management practices for therapists who work with divorced or divorcing families, particularly the children of divorcing families.

Who Let that Doggie on the Airplane? – Examines the growing trend of Emotional Support Animals (ESA) and what to do when you are asked to provide an ESA support letter.

Informed Consent: Records and Fees – Highlights areas of the treatment relationship and issues related to informed consent in the areas of providing records when requested and in establishing fees.

Cloud-Based File-Sharing Can be HIPAA Secure – Shares several options for storing and sharing information securely through the cloud, so therapists no longer have to rely on the burdensome methods of faxing or sending patient documents via proprietary networks.

Social Media and Ethics – Offers guidance to help clinicians engage in meaningful self-reflection prior to engaging in social media for the purpose of preventing ethical breaches.

Therapists Must Keep Pace as Technology Changes Practice – Discusses the change in the method of creating and maintaining patient files, evidenced by the increased use of electronic records, and the areas of concern involved.

Ethical Ways to Counteract Negative Reviews Online – Explains how to manage your online reputation, including what you can ethically do if you receive a negative review – real or not.

The Wounded Psychologist: Adverse Effects from a Licensing Complaint – Explains why licensing boards were created, how licensing board complaints are dealt with, and the negative effects of complaints on clinicians.

Disclosures for Forensic Evaluations – Discusses the requirements for disclosure in forensic evaluations.

Reimbursement Diagnoses may be Co-Morbid – Reviews the ethical, legal and professional challenges of balancing concern for diagnostic work with insurance reimbursement issues.

Giving Professional Commentary on Public Figures – Offers advice on what you can or shouldn’t say when asked to comment on public figures.

Managing Risk with Alcohol-Abusing Clients – Provides guidance on developing a dual-purposed informed consent agreement with working with special populations such as alcoholics or those characterized by high risk (e.g., suicidal or borderline personality disorder) behaviors.

Direct Secure Messaging is Best Electronic Option for Mental Health Records – Discusses use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), concerns about the potential unrestricted flow of Protected Health Information (PHI), and how Direct Secure Messaging (DSM) can help.

Course #30-99 | 2017 | 49 pages | 20 posttest questions

CE Credit: 3 Hours
Target Audience: Psychologists | Counselors | Social Workers | Marriage & Family Therapists | School Psychologists
Learning Level: Intermediate
Course Type: Online

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Click here to learn more.

Ethics & Risk Management: Expert Tips 8 is an online course that provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. After enrolling, click on My Account and scroll down to My Active Courses. From here you’ll see links to download/print the course materials and take the CE test (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document). Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. Click here to learn more. Have a question? Contact us. We’re here to help!

Ethics for Registered Dietitian Nutritionists

Posted on April 27, 2017 by Gina Ulery

Online CE Course @pdresources.org

Why an Ethics Course?

Do you need to disclose that a food company is paying you to write a blog? What should be added to your tweet if you’re tweeting on behalf of a client or sponsor? Could your tweet be considered misleading by the Federal Trade Commission? If you sell supplements and make money from them, must you disclose this financial incentive to your patients/clients? This course addresses the ethics of practice in nutrition and dietetics in today’s world. The practice and business of nutrition and dietetics grow and change but ethical practices remain paramount regardless. Potential situations arise that require a review of what the ethical solution(s) should be. Real scenarios are included so you can think about potential ethical issues. Utilize the profession’s Code of Ethics to identify these ethical issues and come up with solutions and ways to avoid unethical behaviors.

The Ethics Requirement for Recertification:

Responding to a recommendation from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Board of Directors, the Commission on Dietetic Registration voted to require that RDs and DTRs complete a minimum of 1 CPEU of Continuing Professional Education in Ethics (Learning Need Code 1050) during each 5-year recertification cycle in order to recertify. This requirement will be effective starting with the 5-year recertification cycle which ends on May 31, 2017, and will be phased in over a 5-year period for each recertification cycle.

How Do Online Courses Work?

This online course provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. After enrolling, click on My Account and scroll down to My Active Courses. From here you’ll see links to download/print the course materials and take the CE test (you can print the test to mark your answers on it while reading the course document). Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion.

CE Information:

Professional Development Resources is a CPE Accredited Provider with the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR #PR001). CPE accreditation does not constitute endorsement by CDR of provider programs or materials. Professional Development Resources is also a provider with the Florida Council of Dietetics and Nutrition (#50-1635) and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within 1 week of completion).

About the Authors:

Catherine Christie, PhD, RDN, LDN, FADA, FAND, is Vice President of Professional Development Resources. She is a Past President of the Florida Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Cathy is co-author of four books including The Latino Food Lover’s Glossary, Fat is Not Your Fate, Eat to Stay Young and I’d Kill for a Cookie. Dr. Christie is also Editor of the Manual of Medical Nutrition Therapy. A Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Fellow of the Preventative Cardiovascular Nurses Association and Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dr. Christie earned her PhD from Florida State University and served for six years as the Chairman of the Dietetics and Nutrition Council, which regulates the nutrition profession in the state of Florida. Dr. Christie is the recipient of several awards and/or certifications including Florida’s Distinguished Dietitian, Florida Dietetic Association Outstanding Service Award, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Outstanding Dietetic Educator Award, and the Excellence in Practice Award for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics.

Susan Mitchell, PhD, RDN, LDN, FAND, is a nutrition consultant in digital and traditional media and communicates evidence-based health messages thru social media, radio, TV, video, and print. She also provides continuing education for health professionals through speaking, webinars and written articles/courses. Along with Dr. Christie, Dr. Mitchell is co-author of three books, Fat is Not Your Fate, I’d Kill for a Cookie, and Eat to Stay Young and is a contributing author to Macmillan Reference USA’s Nutrition and Well-Being A to Z. A Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and Distinguished Florida Dietitian, Dr. Mitchell earned her Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee and taught nutrition and health science at the University of Central Florida for over 8 years. She serves on the University of North Florida’s Department of Nutrition & Dietetics Advisory Committee and the advisory board of Family Circle magazine. Drs. Christie and Mitchell have taught the Preventing Medical Errors in Dietetics Practice 2-hour course for over six years at the annual Florida Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics meeting.

Video Chat Therapy and Virtual Doctor Visits are Becoming Much More Mainstream

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Gina Ulery

By Taylor Tepper

This articles talks about how teletherapy is becoming much more mainstream – fast. Also notable is that more states are requiring health insurers to cover telemedicine, or virtual doctor visits by phone, text, or video link.

When you need help with depression, anxiety, or any other mental health condition, finding affordable care can be a challenge. A shortage of qualified doctors and therapists means just getting an appointment can be tough. Plus, since finding in-network care can be harder than it is for medical care, you may have to shoulder a hefty portion of the price of your treatment. Now an emerging trend in health care may offer some relief.

More and more states are requiring health insurers to cover telemedicine—doctor visits that are conducted by phone, text, or video link—and more companies are adding the service as an employee benefit. Almost all large employers will offer telemedicine over the next four years, according to a recent National Business Group on Health survey.

Last year UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest insurer, announced that it would offer “virtual physician visits.” The Department of Veterans Affairs has invested $1 billion in tele-health.

Telemedicine increasingly includes mental illness treatment. In May, Walgreens teamed with Mental Health America and MDLive to create a portal where you can access more than 1,000 mental health providers. Consultations start at $60, and you can use the video chat service from anywhere.

“Virtual therapy can be as effective as traditional therapy,” says Willis Towers Watson senior health management consultant Allan Khoury, especially for people who don’t want to be seen walking into a therapist’s office, or don’t have one nearby.

A 2011 study out of the University of Amsterdam that was published in Studies in Health Technology and Informatics found that “online cognitive behavioral treatment is a viable and effective alternative to face-to-face treatment.” A 2015 large-scale review of various tele-health practices by the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group reported that outcomes for those seeking mental health treatment remotely—along with other medical conditions—were no different than for those who got in-person care.

With employers still determining coverage levels, costs are evolving, says Khoury, who has seen an initial 90-minute session go for $200, with subsequent 30-minute follow-ups priced at $90, similar to in-person costs.

One reason people go without therapy is that there are simply are not enough qualified doctors and nurses to treat mental illness. Nearly 103 million Americans live in area designated as having a shortage of mental health professionals. That’s 63% more than those who don’t live near a primary care doctor, and twice as many as those without speedy access to a dentist, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Read More of the Original Article: http://time.com/money/4589987/therapy-telemedicine-phone/

Related Online Continuing Education Courses

E-Therapy: Ethics & Best Practices

This course is focused upon the ethical principles that are called into play with the use of e-therapy. Among them the most obvious concern is for privacy and confidentiality. Yet these are not the only ethical principles that will be challenged by the increasing use of e-therapy. The others include interjurisdictional issues (crossing state lines), informed consent, competence and scope of practice, boundaries and multiple relationships, and record keeping.In addition to outlining potential ethical problems and HIPAA challenges, this course includes recommended resources and sets of specific guidelines and best practices that have been established and published by various professional organizations.

Ethics and Social Media

Ethics and Social Media is a 2-hour online continuing education (CE) course that examines the use of Social Networking Services (SNS) on both our personal and professional lives. Is it useful or appropriate (or ethical or therapeutic) for a therapist and a client to share the kinds of information that are routinely posted on SNS like Facebook, Twitter, and others? How are psychotherapists to handle “Friending” requests from clients? What are the threats to confidentiality and therapeutic boundaries that are posed by the use of social media sites, texts, or tweets in therapist-client communication?

Ethics & Boundaries in Psychotherapy

Ethics & Boundaries in Psychotherapy is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE) course intended to give psychotherapists the tools they need to resolve the common and not-so-common ethical and boundary issues and dilemmas that they may expect to encounter in their everyday professional practice in the 21st century. Among the topics discussed are definitions of boundaries; resolving conflicts between ethics and the law; boundary crossings vs. boundary violations; multiple relationships; sexual misconduct; privacy and confidentiality in the age of HIPAA and the Patriot Act; ethics issues with dangerous clients; boundary issues in clinical supervision; ethics and cultural competency; ethical boundaries in use of social media; ethical practice in teletherapy; fees and financial relationships; and a 17-step model for ethical decision making.

Professional Development Resources is a nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) organized in 1992. Our purpose is to provide high quality online continuing education (CE) courses on topics relevant to members of the healthcare professions we serve. We strive to keep our carbon footprint small by being completely paperless, allowing telecommuting, recycling, using energy-efficient lights and powering off electronics when not in use. We provide online CE courses to allow our colleagues to earn credits from the comfort of their own home or office so we can all be as green as possible (no paper, no shipping or handling, no travel expenses, etc.). Sustainability isn’t part of our work – it’s a guiding influence for all of our work.

We are approved to sponsor continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within one week of completion).

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Ethics CEUs for SLPs

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Gina Ulery

@pdresources.org

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) encounter ethical issues across the spectrum of practice settings, from pediatric treatment in schools or clinics to care of elders in skilled nursing facilities. Every decision the SLP makes should be made with the code of ethics in mind. Several state licensing boards now require that licensed speech-language pathologists and audiologists complete a course on ethics as part of their continuing education (CE) requirement for renewal (i.e. Ohio, Texas, DC, Kentucky, Wisconsin, etc.).

Ethical decision-making is based on awareness, intent, judgment, and behavior. Then a judgment must be made with the intent to make the ethically correct decision, and action taken. Ethics is about deliberate decisions made to benefit the people involved or to have the least harmful repercussions if a positive outcome is not possible.

Clinical Example

Mrs. Stuttgart has brought in her husband for an evaluation by the speech-language pathologist. Mrs. Stuttgart is concerned that her husband is in the early stages of dementia. He does not seem connected to what is going on around him, she says, and makes strange replies when she speaks to him. Assessment reveals that Mr. Stuttgart has a severe hearing loss. The speech-language pathologist refers the couple to an audiologist, but Mrs. Stuttgart declines. “He always said he didn’t want to spend money on hearing aids. He hates them. I know he won’t wear them even if we buy them.” In light of the potential for safety concerns, depression and the adverse cognitive effects due to auditory deprivation, what is the ethical thing for the speech-language pathologist to do? What obstacles need to be overcome?

ASHA (2003) suggests a 10-step process for ethical decision-making. Although the process was developed for school system use, it is also applicable in other settings. The process steps are:

Identify the problem.
Gather data. This includes regulations, laws, professional practice guidelines, and one’s professional ethics code.
Decide if the problem is a regulatory one.
Compare the issue to the code of ethics; is there a standard that can help in decision-making?
Identify the person(s) who have power (and thus control) in the situation.
Identify what is and is not in your control.
Identify people who can be resources for more information or brainstorming.
List potential actions with their positive and negative consequences.
Make a plan.
Take action, and then evaluate the plan. Are next steps needed?

Professional Development Resources is approved by the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA Provider #AAUM) to provide continuing education activities in speech-language pathology and audiology. See course page for number of ASHA CEUs, instructional level and content area. ASHA CE provider approval does not imply endorsement of course content, specific products or clinical procedures. CEUs are awarded by the ASHA CE Registry upon receipt of the CEU Participant Form from the ASHA Approved CE Provider. Please note that the completion date that appears on ASHA transcripts is the last day of the quarter, regardless of when the course was completed. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Florida Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (Provider #50-1635) and the Ohio Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within 1 week of completion).

ASHA Reporting

When you create an account, you will be asked if you want your credits reported to ASHA. If you do, check yes and enter your 8-digit ASHA number. All course completions will be submitted quarterly. If you already have an account, click the My Professions tab on your account dashboard. Then click the profession listed. A box will open (pictured below) where you can edit your state license information as well as your ASHA reporting options. If you check no to reporting, we will NOT submit any completions to ASHA – and we cannot report after the fact (ASHA does not allow us to submit outside of the established reporting cycles).

Final Hours to Save on Ethics & Domestic Violence CE

Posted on October 31, 2016 by Gina Ulery

From PDResources

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Save $10 on Domestic Violence: Child Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence during October in support of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

This course will teach you to detect abuse when you see it, screen for the particulars, and respond with definitive assistance in safety planning, community referrals, and individualized treatment plans. There is a special section on the complexity of an abuse victim’s decision about if and when to leave an abuser. This course meets the Domestic Violence license renewal requirement of all Florida licensees. Course #21-12 | 2016 | 42 pages | 15 posttest questions

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Professional Development Resources is a non-profit provider of online continuing education courses accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners; and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within one week of completion).

Ethics & Domestic Violence Specials End Monday

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Gina Ulery

From PDResources

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There are only 3 days left to save in our 50% Off Ethics and $10 Off Domestic Violence promos. Don’t miss out!

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2 Hours CE $14.50! (reg $29)

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Save $10 on Domestic Violence: Child Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence during October in support of Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

1 Hour CE $7!

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Offers valid on future orders only. Sale ends October 31, 2016.

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3 Days Left to Save on Ethics CEU Sale for Speech Language Pathologists

Posted on October 28, 2016 by Gina Ulery

From PDResources

There are only 3 days left to Save 50% on Ethics for SLPs. Don’t miss out!

CE Credit: 2 Hours | Learning Level: Introductory | Price: $19! (reg $38)

This course is offered for .2 ASHA CEUs (Introductory level, Professional area).

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4 Hours CE $69

2 Hours CE $38

3 Hours CE $57

2 Hours CE $38

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Professional Development Resources is an ASHA-approved provider of continuing education (#AAUM). Course completions are reported quarterly as long as you check yes to ASHA reporting in your account. Please note that the completion date that appears on ASHA transcripts is the last day of the quarter, regardless of when the course was completed. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Florida and Ohio Boards of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and is CE Broker compliant (courses are reported within 7 days of completion).

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