WMHCA: Here Comes an Election... Law and Ethics of Personal Beliefs in the Clinical Relationship (2024)

Presented By

2 Law and Ethics Credits Recorded: Fall, 2024

Many clinicians have a firm understanding of the value of clinical work that actively considers the cultural context. However, the specific legal and ethical standards underlying such culturally sound clinical work are often less well understood.

In this 2 hour workshop we will examine ways we can balance our own personal values and beliefs with our ethical and legal obligation to avoid imposing our values and viewpoints on clients. Specific focus will be on apply ethical standards of care to the process of working to obtain a better understanding of the impact our own values and beliefs can have on our ability to be effective with a wide range of clients. This workshop is intended to meet ethics CE requirements.

Session Objectives:** ● Identify ethical and legal guidelines regarding working withing the cultural context; ● Evaluate issues relating to client cultural context in mandatory reporting; ● Identify the ethical standards with regard to imposing personal beliefs on clients; ● Apply legal and ethical standards to work that supports a range of client populations and client viewpoints.

Outline: Sources of Law and Ethics Standards (0.25 hours) The Cultural Context (0.75 hours) Issues in Mandatory Reporting (0.25 hours) Imposing Personal Beliefs (0.75 hours) Working with a Range of Client Populations (0.5 hours) Political and Personal Values and Beliefs (0.5 hours)

EPDC CE Hours: 2

Presenter: Eric Strom

Eric Strom is an attorney and Licensed Mental Health Counselor. As an attorney, Eric provides legal counsel, consultation and guidance to mental health professionals. The focus of Eric’s clinical practice is providing mental health counseling services to combat veterans. Eric is currently serving as the ethics advisor for the Washington Mental Health Counselors Association.