Mental health professionals may be faced with ethical dilemmas that require the use of one’s best judgment to determine a course of action. Situations involving the duty to warn and duty to protect obligations present challenges that mental health professionals are legally obligated to navigate. Struggles exist with understanding lessons gleaned from the Tarasoff decision, oversimplifying current state law, and/or the interplay of varying situations and interpretations of the best course of action in a given situation. This workshop will help mental health professionals conceptualize distinctions between their duty to warn and their duty to protect and how to incorporate sound ethical decision-making when resolving these dilemmas.
Learning Objectives:
Understand the differences between the duty to warn and the duty to protect.
Learn about ethical and legal issues surrounding the duty to warn and the duty to protect.
Explore the differences between these ethical responsibilities by examining case studies.
Apply an ethical decision-making process to an ethical dilemma.
