COVID-19 Legal and Ethical Updates

An interview with Dr. Ben Caldwell about the rapidly changing directives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Curt and Katie interview Ben about telehealth, HIPAA, and all of the efforts of continuity of care during quarantine, shelter-in-place orders. We look at legal, ethical, and clinical responsibilities during these uncertain times.        

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.

Interview with Benjamin Caldwell, PsyD, LMFT

Benjamin Caldwell, PsyD is a California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (#42723) and the Education and Director for SimplePractice Learning. He currently serves as adjunct faculty for California Statue University Northridge in Los Angeles. He has taught at the graduate level for more than 15 years, primarily in Law and Ethics, and has written and trained extensively on ethical applications in mental health care. In addition to serving a three-year term on the AAMFT Ethics Committee, Dr. Caldwell served as the Chair of the Legislative and Advocacy Committee for AAMFT-California for 10 years. He served as Editor for the Users Guide to the 2015 AAMFT Code of Ethics and is the author for several books, including Saving Psychotherapy and Basics of California Law for LMFTS, LPCCs, and LCSWs.

In this episode we talk about:

• How to identify what to do and how to respond to all the changing instructions from officials about practicing therapy during these times
• The debate around telehealth versus in person treatment
• The legal and ethical responsibilities therapists hold regarding continuity of care
• Client opt-in and preference, fears about client abandonment
• The myth that you are required to keep seeing clients no matter what
• The moral aspect of choices made during treatment, especially during uncertain times like these
• Clinical considerations for clients who are not appropriate for telehealth
• The importance of identifying and managing all types of risks during these times
• The fallacy that you can now practice across state lines without any restrictions
• The possibilities for seeing clients who have returned home to other states, the reasonable argument for continuity of care
• Advice for implementing telehealth quickly, including choosing a HIPAA compliant platform
• The benefits of complying with telehealth training requirements
• Misinformation that can confuse folks within the Facebook Therapist Groups
• The challenges that licensing boards are facing related to testing and licensing delays and related laws or regulations
• Professional wills – basic requirements and legal/ethical responsibilities
• Connecting with clients, human to human related to illness and emergency
• The growing importance of communication in this new era of health awareness
• The requirements for “essential workers”