Maintaining Appropriate Professional Boundaries: Exploring Ethical Obligations of Mental Health Professionals
Live Event

Maintaining Appropriate Professional Boundaries: Exploring Ethical Obligations of Mental Health Professionals

Fri, Sep 4th, 2026
11:00am – 2:15pm US Eastern Time
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About the Event

Can mental health professionals work with clients who they know from outside of the job? Can you barter with clients for your services? Mental health professionals are charged with the legal and ethical responsibility to maintain professional boundaries, but the obligation isn’t always so easy to discern. This course brings real-world context to ethical concerns often experienced by professionals in practice in maintaining appropriate professional boundaries, including telehealth and social media domains. This course will provide a framework to contemplate ethical dilemmas and make informed decisions that insulate professionals from legal liability while protecting clients from harm.

THIS COURSE IS DESIGNED TO MEET THE NYS REQUIREMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS TO RECEIVE 3 HOURS OF TRAINING ON MAINTAINING APPROPRIATE PROFESSIONAL BOUNDARIES (effective April 2023)

THIS COURSE IS NOT NEW YORK STATE SPECIFIC, AND CAN SATISFY ETHICS AND BOUNDARIES TRAINING REQUIREMENTS FOR ANY STATE.

Live Event
This live online event will be held as a Zoom Webinar. Attendees will have the option to interact through features such as the Chat and Q&A, but cameras and microphones will not be enabled.

Live Event Instructor

Kathryn Krase

Kathryn Krase

Kathryn Krase, Ph.D., J.D., M.S.W., is a social worker, lawyer, researcher, educator, and expert on professional ethics. She has significant experience as a family law practitioner, social work supervisor, along with more than 20 years of experience in faculty and administrative roles in undergraduate, masters, and doctoral level social work programs in and around New York City.

Dr. Krase is the Principal Consultant for Krase Consulting, in Brooklyn, New York, where she focuses on educating mental and physical health professionals on their general legal and ethical obligations.

She is an expert on the professional reporting of suspected child maltreatment. She has authored multiple books and articles on the subject. She has years of experience consulting with government and community based organizations to develop policy & practice standards.

Target Audience

This live interactive webinar is intended for behavioral health professionals, including Psychologists, Social Workers, Counselors, MFT's and Addiction Professionals.

Learning Objectives

After taking this activity, you should be able to:

  1. 1 Describe the ethical and legal responsibility of mental health professionals to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with their clients.
  2. 2 Define dual relationships.
  3. 3 Apply a framework to avoid dual relationships whenever possible.
  4. 4 Apply a framework to minimize potential harm to clients and the professional whenever dual relationships are not avoidable.
  5. 5 Explain how to demonstrate that a client has not been exploited or coerced, intentionally or unintentionally.

Kelly, E. M., Greeny, K., Rosenberg, N., & Schwartz, I. (2021). When rules are not enough: Developing principles to guide ethical conduct. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 14, 491-498.

Van Stekelenburg, L. H., De Ruyter, D., & Sanderse, W. (2021). ‘Equipping students with an ethical compass.’What does it mean, and what does it imply?. Ethics and Education, 16(1), 91-107.

National Association of Social Workers. (2020). NASW code of ethics. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

American Psychological Association. (2017). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct (2002, amended effective June 1, 2010, and January 1, 2017). https://www.apa.org/ethics/code/

American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2014-code-of-ethics-finaladdress.pdf

Barsky, A. E. (2017). Social work practice and technology: Ethical issues and policy responses. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 35(1), 8-19.

Boddy, J., & Dominelli, L. (2017). Social media and social work: The challenges of a new ethical space. Australian Social Work, 70(2), 172-184.

Lustgarten, S. D., & Elhai, J. D. (2018). Technology use in mental health practice and research: Legal and ethical risks. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 25(2), e12234.

Bryan, V., Sanders, S., & Kaplan, L. (2021). The helping professional’s guide to ethics: Theory into Practice. Lyceum Books.

Reamer, F. G. (2020). Boundary issues and dual relationships in the human services. In Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships in the Human Services. Columbia University Press.

Reamer, F. (2018). Ethical standards in social work: A review of the NASW Code of Ethics (3rd ed.). NASW Press.

Pozgar, G. D. (2019). Legal and ethical issues for health professionals. Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Pozgar, G. D. (2023). Legal and ethical issues for health professionals. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Reamer, F. (2023). Social work boundary issues in the digital age: Reflections of an ethics expert. Advances in Social Work, 23(2), 375-391. https://doi.org/10.18060/26358

White, E., & Hanley, T. (2024). Current ethical dilemmas experienced by therapists who use social media: A systematic review. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 24(2), 396-418. https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12678Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Szumer, R. T. O., & Arnold, M. (2023). The ethics of overlapping relationships in rural and remote healthcare. A narrative review. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 20(2), 181-190. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-023-10243-w

Disclosure to Learners

CE Learning Systems adheres to the ACCME's Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Medical Education. Any individuals in a position to control the content of a CE activity – including faculty, planners, reviewers, or others ― are required to disclose all relevant financial relationships with ineligible entities (formerly known as commercial interests).

The following relevant financial relationships have been disclosed by this activity's planners, faculty, and the reviewer:

Planners and Reviewers

The planners of this activity have reported that they have no relevant financial relationships.

Faculty

There are no known relevant financial relationships to disclose.

Commercial support

There is no commercial support for this distance-learning course.

Event Agenda

Agenda times are listed in US Eastern Time. That is 3 hours later than US Pacific Time. The event starts at 8:00am US Pacific Time.

11:00 AM – 11:05 AM

Introductions


11:05 AM – 11:35 AM

Revisiting Ethics in Professional Practice


11:35 AM – 12:20 PM

Understanding Professional Boundaries


12:20 PM – 12:30 PM

Drawing the Lines: Case Introductions


12:30 PM – 12:45 PM

BREAK


12:45 PM – 1:45 PM

Drawing the Lines: Case Examples

  • Conflict of interest
  • Dual relationships
    • Family relationships
    • Sexual relationships
    • Other relationships
  • Complicated financial interactions
    • Bartering for services
    • Other financial interactions


1:45 PM – 2:05 PM

Protecting Yourself from Ethical and Legal Liability


2:05 PM – 2:15 PM

Conclusion and Q&A

Policies

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If you need to cancel your registration for a webinar, please contact our support team for assistance prior to the event. Please note our refund policy, above.

If the activity must be cancelled by the provider, all attendees will receive an email notifying them of the cancellation. The email will also provide details about transferring the registration to another educational activity or receiving a refund of the registration fee. As always, you can contact our support team if you have questions or concerns.

Frequently Asked Questions

Once you register, you'll receive an email with the link and instructions to join the live event. The event will be hosted via Zoom. You may test your Zoom connection prior to the event at the Zoom Test page We recommend logging in 10-15 minutes early to be sure your connection is ready.

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If you need to withdraw 30 or more days before the event, you can do this your self from your current courses tab.

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