Law and Ethics of Service, Support and Therapy Animals

**3 Law and Ethics CEs Recorded: Early 2023

Federal and State regulations regarding service animals can seem complicated, confusing, and contradictory. In this 3 hour workshop, we will highlight the key legal distinctions between service animals, support animals, therapy animals, and pets. We will then discuss the legal and ethical implications of each category with a specific focus on how these laws apply to behavioral health clinicians. Participants will improve their ability to implement strategies to minimize professional liability while maximizing clinical effectiveness and support to clients with animal support. This course is intended to meet ethics CE requirements.

**Objectives: ** This workshop is designed to equip you to:

1. Describe Federal and State legal standards regarding service animals
2. Create legally and clinical sound policies regarding drafting support animal letters for clients
3. Identify the Federal legal protections for service animals, support animals, and comfort animals
4. Summarize areas of liability relating to the use of animals in therapy
5. Create and evaluate strategies to minimize liability while maximizing clinical effectiveness and client support

EPDC CE Hours: 3

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.