What You Should Know About Walk and Talk Therapy and Other Non-Traditional Counseling Settings – Part 2

What You Should Know About Walk and Talk Therapy and Other Non-Traditional Counseling Settings – Part 2

Curt and Katie chat about non-traditional therapy settings like outdoor walk and talk therapy as well as home-based counseling. In the second of a two-part, continuing education podcourse series, we look at law and ethics, accessibility, informed consent, navigating confidentiality, dual relationships, and what therapist might want to consider before getting started.

In this continuing education podcast episode, we look at the laws and ethics related to non-traditional therapy settings

For our fourth CE-worthy podcourse, we’re looking at the laws and ethics of bringing therapy into non-traditional settings, including walk and talk therapy and home visits. We cover a lot of topics in this episode:

Debunking the hesitations of using non-traditional therapy settings

• Minimizing liability and concerns related to these environments
• Is it unethical to not consider these environments?
• Access and payment, including insurance/managed health care concerns and fee setting
• Unpredictability in the environment
• Scheduling and permission for services
• Business practices and systems that support this type of dynamic practice

Accessibility of walk & talk and home-based therapies

• Financial, physical or other types of accessibility (and navigating those)
• Ways to make sure you clients can access the service and are prepared for the environment
• Extending boundaries and the consequences of these situations
• Documentation of any concerns that arise
• Clinician comfort and preference, do no harm, and do good

Informed Consent for non-traditional therapies

• Client choice and appropriateness, including informed opt-in (and opt out)
• Health conditions, screening or attestation related to risk and liability
• Clinician safety and how to talk with your client about these concerns
• Cancellation policies and back up plans
• Ability to terminate (both passively and actively)
• Collaboration and communication

Confidentiality when you’re meeting outside of the therapy office

• Managing the risks of the limits of confidentiality in these other settings
• Collateral consent forms for additional members of the treatment
• Release forms for others in the home
• Co-creating the plan to manage these situations
• Ideas for how to explain the relationship, if needed
• Active and passive loss of confidentiality (and how to talk about these risks)
• Boundaries versus confidentiality (for example where in someone’s home to meet)
• Documentation and consultation

Dual Relationships that can happen during walk and talk or home-based therapies

• Professional therapy never includes sex
• Casual nature of the relationship in these settings and the threat of friendship vibes
• Not all dual relationships are problematic
• Host/guest dynamics as something to pay attention to, but not necessarily harmful
• Navigating the potential medical needs of home-bound clients (helping and/or advocating for more help)

What therapists should assess before getting started

• Liability and malpractice
• Logistics and planning
• Assessing client vs clinician benefit
• Assessing competency for these types of services
• Training, consultation, supervision, documentation