CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAMS

LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES FOR SOCIAL WORKER AND

PSYCHOLOGIST- PSYCHOTHERAPISTS

2.0 to 6.0 NEW YORK STATE CE CONTACT HOURS ARE AVAILABLE

PRESENTER: Bruce V. Hillowe, JD, PhD, Attorney-Psychologist

Provider Nos. SW 0047 and PSY-0011

THIS PRESENTATION SATISFIES THE STATE REQUIREMENT FOR COURSEWORK IN ETHICS BUT NOT BOUNDARIES.

ABOUT THE PRESENTATION:

          This workshop will review the essential ethical and legal background for the provision of psychotherapy by licensed social workers and psychologists in New York State. Practitioners will be provided with templates for record-keeping, informed consent, HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices, authorizations for the release of patient information, and forms for the denial of access to patient information. Topics will include:

1. Beginning and planning psychotherapeutic treatment, supervision and consultation, and the basics of record-keeping. Contents of records.  Foundations of standards of care, including statutes, professional regulations, caselaw and NASW/APA Code of Ethics.

2. Informed consent, adults, adolescents and children. HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices.

3. Issues with child abuse and neglect identification and reporting in NYS.

4. Assessing and managing at-risk patients; the duty to protect, the NY SAFE Act

5. Access to treatment records by patients, Article 18 of NYPHL, HIPAA.

6. Confidentiality and privilege and disclosing treatment information to 3rd parties. Subpoenas.

7. Terminating treatment and avoiding abandonment.

8. Malpractice and professional discipline, risk management, most common complaints.

Short presentations that focus on just one or two of the above topics are also available upon request.  

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES:

●Learn current and basic ethical and legal backgrounds for psychotherapy practice.

●Plan and prepare to implement record-keeping and documentation requirements for psychotherapy practice.

●Analyze the process of the evaluation, reporting and recording of at-risk patients and circumstances.

●Apply risk management principles without compromising clinical integrity.

●Utilize tools to make clinical decisions in accordance with ethical, legal and risk management guidelines.

TEACHING METHOD: 

           Live or live online lecture accompanied by written syllabus, exhibits and appendices, with question and answer periods.

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MAINTAINING PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

3.0 NEW YORK STATE CE CONTACT HOURS ARE AVAILABLE

PRESENTER: Bruce V. Hillowe, JD, PhD, Attorney-Psychologist

Provider Nos. SW 0047 and PSY-0011

THIS PRESENTATION SATISFIES THE STATE REQUIREMENT FOR COURSEWORK IN ETHICS AND BOUNDARIES.

ABOUT THE PRESENTATION

The New York State Board of Regents has mandated that effective April 1, 2023, psychologists, social workers and mental health practitioners (LMHC’s, LMFT’s, LPsa’s and LCAT’s) take as part of their required continuing education a three credit course on the maintenance of professional boundaries with patients. The reason for the new requirement is concern about the number of professional disciplinary proceedings by the State’s licensing boards against mental health professionals where boundaries have allegedly been violated. This course has been designed to meet the State’s mandatory CE requirement for a course on boundaries that covers New York laws, rules and regulations related to unprofessional conduct.   Topics will include:

1. The ethical, professional, legal and clinical backgrounds for boundaries
2. Boundary crossings and violations
3. Decision-making with multiple relationships
4. Boundaries at the outset of and during psychotherapy
5. Maintaining clinical creativity and flexibility within the therapeutic frame.
6. Vulnerable patients and therapists
7. The potential harm and legal consequences of boundary violations .

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

●Determine how legal, ethical and clinical standards necessitate the setting of boundaries in psychotherapy

●Define multiple relationships

●Assess the difference between boundary violations and boundary crossings

●Determine the factors in how to make ethically and clinically sound decisions regarding boundaries during psychotherapy

●Identify the circumstances that arise during therapy where boundary issues are implicated

●Identify vulnerability of therapists and patients that might lead to boundary violations

●Understand the possible consequences of boundary violations for therapists, with a particular focus on New York laws, rules and regulations related to unprofessional conduct

●Understand the impact on patients of boundary violations

●Review means for preventing boundary violations

TEACHING METHOD: 

           Live or live online lecture accompanied by written syllabus with question and answer periods.

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ABOUT THE PRESENTER (both courses):

          Bruce V. Hillowe, J.D, Ph.D.  is a mental healthcare attorney with a law practice in Garden City, New York. A graduate of Binghamton University, Duke University School of Law, and Adelphi University Derner Institute (Clinical Psychology and Postdoctoral Programs), he formerly practiced as a psychologist-psychoanalyst, including as a coordinator of clinical training and a director of a forensic mental health service. He was a teaching attending psychologist in law and ethics at a major teaching hospital for 15 years. He currently teaches courses in ethics and law as adjunct faculty at the Derner Institute.  He is legal counsel to numerous mental health facilities, institutes, and practitioners and sponsors legal plans for professional associations. He has written articles and book chapters including for law reviews and healthcare publications, most recently regarding scope of practice and disciplinary defense. He is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers in healthcare law and is a "SuperLawyer" featured in the New York Times Magazine.   Bruce has defended hundreds of mental health practitioners in professional disciplinary proceedings in New York State, many of them for alleged boundary violations.

TUITION AND CANCELLATION: Please inquire at bvhillowe@mindspring.com

BRUCE V. HILLOWE, JD, PhD IS RECOGNIZED BY THE NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT  AS AN APPROVED PROVIDER OF CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR LICENSED PSYCHOLOGISTS AND SOCIAL WORKERS.

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HIPAA COMPLIANCE MANUAL

          Our office has published a “HIPAA Compliance Manual for Small Mental Health Practices in New York State, Fourth Edition.” The Manual was revised in 2024 to reflect current practice. 

          The Manual contains all of the instructions and forms needed for current compliance with the HIPAA Rules and related laws and is designed especially for small mental health practices, those of psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, mental health counselors, nurse practitioners-psychiatry, marriage and family therapists, creative arts therapists and psychoanalysts. As with prior editions, we have tried to make it the most accurate, simple, and cost-effective compliance program possible. The Manual also contains Supplements with Psychotherapy Record-Keeping forms and Informed Consent Forms.

           Even practitioners who are not HIPAA compliant will find much of the information and many of the forms useful. HIPAA has established new standards of care for the privacy and security of patient health information, including in electronic format,  that are relevant for all practitioners.

           The Manual accompanies a brief consultation regarding HIPAA compliance.  Please call our office to schedule that consultation and to receive the Manual.