Tag Archives: CE Broker

Florida RDN License Renewal & CE Info

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Florida RDN License Renewal Deadline: May 31, 2023

Florida-licensed dietitians and nutritionists are required to earn 30 hours of continuing education (CE) credits during each 2-year licensing cycle in order to renew by May 31st of odd-numbered years. Of the 30 hours:

  • 2 hours on Preventing Medical Errors are required each renewal
  • 3 hours on HIV/AIDS are required for the first renewal only
  • Up to 20 hours may be earned through online (home study) courses
  • No more than 10 hours may be earned in risk management, personal growth, management and educational techniques per biennium
  • All continuing education hours must be reported to CE Broker in order to renew.
Florida RDNs save 25% on ALL online CE courses @pdresources.org for May 31, 2023 license renewal. Up to 20 hours allowed per renewal.

Florida RDNs save 25% on all CE courses @ www.pdresources.org (up to 20 hours allowed per renewal). Discount will automatically apply at checkout (for Florida Nutrition/Dietetics professionals). Coupon code: PDR485

Professional Development Resources is a CPE Accredited Provider with the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001). CPE accreditation does not constitute endorsement by CDR of provider programs or materials. Professional Development Resources is also a provider with the Florida Council of Dietetics and Nutrition (Provider #50-1635) and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported following business day).

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Professional Development Resources maintains responsibility for this program and its content. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB Provider #1046, ACE Program); the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA Provider #AAUM); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA Provider #3159); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR Provider #PR001); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Arizona Board of Occupational Therapy Examiners; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology and Office of School Psychology, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Dietetics and Nutrition, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Georgia State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners – Occupational Therapy; the Mississippi MSDoH Bureau of Professional Licensure – Occupational Therapy; the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists (#PSY-0145), State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors (#MHC-0135) and marriage and family therapists (#MFT-0100), and the State Board for Social Workers an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers (#SW-0664); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and MFT Board (#RCST100501) and Speech and Hearing Professionals Board; the South Carolina Board of Examiners for Licensure of Professional Counselors and Therapists (#193), Examiners in Psychology, Social Worker Examiners, Occupational Therapy, and Examiners in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the Tennessee Board of Occupational Therapy; the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678); the West Virginia Board of Social Work; the Wyoming Board of Psychology; and is CE Broker compliant  (#50-1635 – all courses are reported within a few days of completion).

Enjoy 20% off all online continuing education (CE/CEU) courses @pdresources.org! Click here for details.

Earn CE Wherever YOU Love to Be!

PDR Now Reports to CE Broker for Ohio SLPs

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By Gina Ulery

The Ohio Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology now requests that licensed Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) and Audiologists submit their continuing education (CE) credits to CE Broker for electronic tracking:

CE Broker precisely spells out each licensee’s requirements and tracks your progress as you complete continuing education hours.

When CE Broker reflects you’ve met your continuing education requirements, you will not receive an audit letter from the Ohio Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (Board). Compliance in CE Broker means you’ve already completed the electronic continuing education audit.

You can rely on CE Broker for your continuing education requirements and calculating progress towards those requirements. Subscribing and viewing your Transcript gives you access to the same data used by the Board.

Automatically Reports to CE BrokerProfessional Development Resources is proud to announce that we now report to CE Broker for Ohio-licensed SLPs and audiologists!

We have been reporting to CE Broker for Florida licensees for over 10 years now and so it was an easy choice to include Ohio licensees in the process. We report all courses licensees complete through us once per week (on Thursday) so you won’t have to wait for ASHA to submit, or worry about reporting yourself.

Professional Development Resources is approved by the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA Provider #AAUM) to provide continuing education activities in speech-language pathology and audiology. See course page for number of ASHA CEUs, instructional level and content area. ASHA CE provider approval does not imply endorsement of course content, specific products or clincial procedures. CEUs are awarded by the ASHA CE Registry upon receipt of the CEU Participant Form from the ASHA Approved CE Provider. Please note that the completion date that appears on ASHA transcripts is the last day of the quarter, regardless of when the course was completed. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Florida Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (Provider #50-1635) and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within 1 week of completion).

Click here for Board FAQs on CE Broker.

 

Dual or Multiple Relationships in Psychotherapy

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Course excerpt from Ethics & Boundaries in Psychotherapy

Dual RelationshipDual relationships (Zur, 2014) refer to situations where two or more connections exist between a therapist and a client. Examples of dual relationships are when a client is also a student, friend, employee or business associate of the therapist. Zur defines many types of dual relationships, including social, professional, business, communal, institutional, forensic, supervisory, sexual, and digital, online, or internet dual relationships. While all dual relationships involve boundary crossing, exploitive dual relationships are boundary violations.

Multiple relationships are situations in which a therapist is engaged in “one or more additional relationships with a client in addition to the treatment relationship. Multiple relationships may be sexual or nonsexual. Nonsexual multiple relationships may include social, familial, business or financial relationships, and possibly others. Multiple relationships are distinguished from incidental contacts. Incidental contacts are situations in which the psychologist and client have an interaction in another setting that is unplanned and very brief. Examples may include noticing that the psychologist and client are attending the same concert or community event, being members of the same organization, or briefly crossing paths in the community” (Barnett, 2014).

For many psychologists practicing in rural and small communities, dual relationships are everyday occurrences. The person who bags groceries in the supermarket, pumps gas, works in a dentist’s office or chaperones children on school field trips may often also be the therapist’s client.

Unavoidable dual relationships are also the norm within numerous small populations in larger metropolitan areas, such as gay/lesbian, handicapped, various minorities, religious congregations and other such distinct small societies. In fact, duality, mutual dependence and prior knowledge of each other are prerequisites for the development of trust and respect in these communities.

Zur (2005) goes further in expressing the idea that “rigid avoidance of all boundary crossings and dual relationships raise two major concerns: First, I am concerned that rigid implementation of such boundaries decreases therapeutic effectiveness. Second, as exploitation as a rule happens in isolation, I am concerned that the isolation imposed by rigid boundaries increases the likelihood of exploitation of, and harm to, clients. Rigid boundaries in fact increase the therapist’s power and, therefore, increase the chance of a client being exploited.”

Epstein & Simon (1992) developed an “Exploitation Index” for clinicians to use to evaluate their own boundary maintenance. Some areas which require self-awareness and watchfulness by one’s supervisors or consultants are:

• Obvious therapist distress or upset
• Therapeutic drift — shifting style and approach to a given client
• Lack of goals and reflection on progress in therapy
• Therapy which exceeds normal length for a client of that type in the particular therapist’s practice
• Exceeding areas of competence, reluctance or unwillingness to refer for other types of therapy, assessment, etc.
• Unwise techniques such as hugs or excessive touch
• Becoming enmeshed in client’s life — treating close friends or family members
• Unique vulnerabilities like attraction to or over-identification with client

Multiple relationships are addressed in most professional codes of ethics. For example, the AAMFT Code of Ethics addresses the issue in Article 1.3:

Marriage and family therapists are aware of their influential positions with respect to clients, and they avoid exploiting the trust and dependency of such persons. Therapists, therefore, make every effort to avoid conditions and multiple relationships with clients that could impair professional judgment or increase the risk of exploitation. Such relationships include, but are not limited to, business or close personal relationships with a client or the client’s immediate family. When the risk of impairment or exploitation exists due to conditions or multiple roles, therapists take appropriate precautions.

The NASW Code of Ethics describes multiple relationships (“dual or multiple relationships occur when social workers relate to clients in more than one relationship, whether professional, social, or business. Dual or multiple relationships can occur simultaneously or consecutively”) and addresses them in Article 1.06 (c):

Social workers should not engage in dual or multiple relationships with clients or former clients in which there is a risk of exploitation or potential harm to the client. In instances when dual or multiple relationships are unavoidable, social workers should take steps to protect clients and are responsible for setting clear, appropriate, and culturally sensitive boundaries.

Several other dimensions are added by the APA Code of Ethics Article 3.05 Multiple Relationships, which expands the concept to include relationships with individuals who are associated or related to clients:

(a) A multiple relationship occurs when a psychologist is in a professional role with a person and (1) at the same time is in another role with the same person, (2) at the same time is in a relationship with a person closely associated with or related to the person with whom the psychologist has the professional relationship, or (3) promises to enter into another relationship in the future with the person or a person closely associated with or related to the person.

A psychologist refrains from entering into a multiple relationship if the multiple relationship could reasonably be expected to impair the psychologist’s objectivity, competence, or effectiveness in performing his or her functions as a psychologist, or otherwise risks exploitation or harm to the person with whom the professional relationship exists.

Multiple relationships that would not reasonably be expected to cause impairment or risk exploitation or harm are not unethical.

In summary, it seems clear that multiple relationships are of interest in the ethics codes of most major professional organizations. Are they innately hazardous for client and therapist? Not necessarily. Are they cause for ethical alertness and introspection? Yes.

Ethics & Boundaries in Psychotherapy is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course intended to give psychotherapists the tools they need to resolve the common and not-so-common ethical and boundary issues and dilemmas that they may expect to encounter in their everyday professional practice in the 21st century. Among the topics discussed are definitions of boundaries; resolving conflicts between ethics and the law; boundary crossings vs. boundary violations; multiple relationships; sexual misconduct; privacy and confidentiality in the age of HIPAA and the Patriot Act; ethics issues with dangerous clients; boundary issues in clinical supervision; ethics and cultural competency; ethical boundaries in use of social media; ethical practice in teletherapy; fees and financial relationships; and a 17-step model for ethical decision making. * This course satisfies the ethics & boundaries requirement for license renewal of Florida counselors, social workers & MFTs. Course #30-77 | 2015 | 40 pages | 21 posttest questions

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists; the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB #1046, ACE Program); the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (#PCE1625); the Florida Boards of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling (#BAP346) and Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); and the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678).

Domestic Violence: Child Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence

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Course exerpt from Domestic Violence: Child Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence

The essential paradox of family violence is that – while it affects so many individuals so adversely in all sectors of society – it is only minimally discussed because of the stigma and is only poorly understood and confronted by the legal, professional, and social systems that are responsible for protecting and treating victims. Individual cases of abuse frequently go undetected for many years, largely due to the shroud of shame and silence that still persists today, in spite of all efforts to bring domestic violence to light and to justice. It crosses all social and cultural boundaries, including demographic, socioeconomic, and religious strata. The status of family abuse victims has even been compared to that of individuals who had HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s when the disease was “barely recognized, hardly discussed, highly stigmatized, and often ignored or denied” (Fife and Schrager, 2012). While we have made impressive strides in the battle against HIV/AIDS in the last three decades, we have made relatively little progress in the area of family violence.

Child abuse, for example, in spite of progress in protecting the rights of children, remains a dire social issue. Rubin (2012) cites government data indicating that in just one year in the U.S., substantiated cases of child abuse totaled over 700,000 children – about 1.3% of the population of children. To make matters worse, the long-term sequelae include a wide range of serious consequences, such as physical injuries, impaired brain development, behavioral disturbances, substance use disorders, and a variety of psychological disorders. In addition, there are a number of mechanisms by which children who are abused may grow up to become abusers themselves.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is, unfortunately, also a pervasive part of life in U.S. society. In surveys, over 35% of women and nearly 28% of men say they have been raped and/or physically assaulted and/or stalked by a current or former spouse, cohabiting partner, or date at some point in their lifetime (Black et al, 2011). Survivors of these forms of violence may experience physical injury, mental health consequences like depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and suicide attempts. Other health consequences like gastrointestinal disorders, substance abuse, sexually trans¬mitted diseases, and gynecological or pregnancy complications are also common. These findings suggest that intimate partner violence is a serious concern in mental health, criminal justice and public health.

Domestic Violence: Child Abuse and Intimate Partner ViolenceDomestic Violence: Child Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence is a 2-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course that will teach clinicians to detect abuse when they see it, screen for the particulars, and respond with definitive assistance in safety planning, community referrals, and individualized treatment plans. Course #20-61 | 2012 | 31 pages | 18 posttest questions

This course is presented in two sections. Part I will deal with the scope, definitional concepts, dynamics, recognition, assessment, and treatment of victims of child abuse. A section on bullying is included, with consideration of a contemporary variant of bullying known as “cyber-bullying.” There is also a section addressing the question of whether abused children grow up to become abusers themselves. A strengths-based model of assessment and intervention is detailed.

Part II will cover similar aspects of intimate partner violence, including women, children, and men. Sections are included on cross cultural considerations and same gender abuse dynamics. Emphasis is on identifying victims of IPV and providing screening and intervention procedures that are intended to empower victims to take control of their own lives. There are sections on the dynamics that influence when/whether abuse victims decide to leave their abusers and how clinicians can prepare for immediate interventions as soon as a client discloses that he/she is being abused.

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists; by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) to offer home study continuing education for NCCs (#5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB #1046, ACE Program); the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (#PCE1625); the Florida Boards of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling (#BAP346) and Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); and the TexasBoard of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678).

This course satisfies the domestic violence requirement for biennial relicensure of Florida mental health professionals.

Breaches of Privacy and Confidentiality in Psychotherapy

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Course excerpt from Preventing Medical Errors in Behavioral Health

Among the most elemental foundations of psychotherapy is the expectation that what is communicated with one’s therapist will remain private. Confidentiality violations are a major source of practice error and highly likely to cause harm to patients. There are actually three separate concepts here: privacy, confidentiality, and privileged communication.

Privacy is suggested by the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights (December 15, 1791) of the Constitution of the United States. Basically, it gives people the “right to secure their houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures…” (The United States Constitution). This is the most basic of the three terms (Cato Institute, 1776/2002). It is this historic and essential right that is at some risk of erosion under the problematic tenets of recent legislation like the “Patriot Act.”

Confidentiality agreementConfidentiality is an ethical term which denotes a contract between the client and the therapist in which the therapist promises to keep all utterances confidential, except those disclosures required by law. It is a principle given the most attention in almost all ethics codes and standard of care documents. According to Bernard and Goodyear (2008), this is so because confidentiality represents the essence of psychotherapy – a place where secrets and hidden fears can be disclosed. In more recent, increasingly litigious times, confidentiality has become less of a sacred trust and more of a “step-sibling to safety and judicial judgment.” Nonetheless, its role in the practice of psychotherapy has become no less central, only more complicated. Now the boundaries between the traditional therapeutic contract and considerations of legal liability must be mediated.

Privileged communication is a statutory term that refers to protecting clients from having their confidences publicly revealed during legal proceedings without their permission (Gladding et al., 2001, p. 20). Where such laws apply – and there are a large number of states where they are not legally supported – therapists are prevented from testifying in court about clients without their consent.

There are, of course, exceptions. The Florida Statutes Chapter 491 delineates the exceptions as follows:

491.0147 Confidentiality and privileged communications.–Any communication between any person licensed or certified under this chapter and her or his patient or client shall be confidential. This secrecy may be waived under the following conditions:

(1) When the person licensed or certified under this chapter is a party defendant to a civil, criminal, or disciplinary action arising from a complaint filed by the patient or client, in which case the waiver shall be limited to that action.

(2) When the patient or client agrees to the waiver, in writing, or, when more than one person in a family is receiving therapy, when each family member agrees to the waiver, in writing.

(3) When, in the clinical judgment of the person licensed or certified under this chapter, there is a clear and immediate probability of physical harm to the patient or client, to other individuals, or to society and the person licensed or certified under this chapter communicates the information only to the potential victim, appropriate family member, or law enforcement or other appropriate authorities. There shall be no liability on the part of, and no cause of action of any nature shall arise against, a person licensed or certified under this chapter for the disclosure of otherwise confidential communications under this subsection.

Three items are of note here. 1) Severe harm can come to clients whose therapists do not protect their privacy, ranging all the way from embarrassment to suicidal acts. 2) Harm is done to the profession when therapists demonstrate any disregard for the principles of confidentiality. 3) Confidentiality and its limits must be discussed in the first session of therapy in a competent informed consent process. Informed consent will be the topic of a detailed section later in this course.

Also relevant to a discussion of privacy and confidentiality are the areas of social media use, various forms of teletherapy, and the electronic storage and transmission of private health information. These topics will be discussed later in this course as well.

Confidentiality and HIPAA

Amidst all of the complexities of HIPAA legislation, one consideration will be briefly noted here: “routine” notes vs. “psychotherapy” notes. In short, routine notes are expected to be surrendered to outside parties and psychotherapy notes are expected to remain in the private records of the psychotherapist. Zuckerman (2009, p. 74) offers practical suggestions for sequestering sensitive therapy information that will provide more privacy protection in most cases from routine notes, which contains the nuts and bolts of a regular health care record.

Routine notes: If you mainly record the formalities of the therapy such as your interventions and the client’s responses you may feel comfortable in disclosing this to an insurer and so you have no need for records beyond the routine progress note.

Psychotherapy notes: If there is material which you believe you must record and yet you don’t want it shared with:

• The client because it is your working hypotheses and was of value only at one time. Remember, clients have no access to psychotherapy notes unless you give it
• Insurance companies or others who are not required to protect its confidentially as carefully as your profession requires you to
• Anyone else, because it is too sensitive and potentially damaging to the client or to others
• Other treaters, because they are not and will not be doing the kind of work you are with the client
• But you may want to share the information with professional students for training, or find value and meaning in these notes as you review them….

…the information should be kept in separate psychotherapy notes.

Preventing Medical Errors in Behavioral HealthPreventing Medical Errors in Behavioral Health is a 2-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course intended to increase clinicians’ awareness of the many types of errors that can occur within mental health practice, how such errors damage clients, and numerous ways they can be prevented. Its emphasis is on areas within mental health practice that carry the potential for “medical” errors. Examples include improper diagnosis; breaches of privacy and confidentiality; mandatory reporting requirements; managing dangerous clients; boundary violations and sexual misconduct; the informed consent process; and clinical and cultural competency. There are major new sections on psychotherapy in the digital age, including the use of social networking systems, the practice of teletherapy, and the challenges of maintaining and transmitting electronic records. *This course satisfies the medical errors requirement for license renewal of Florida mental health professionals. Course #21-03 | 2015 | 28 pages | 14 posttest questions

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists; the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB #1046, ACE Program); the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (#PCE1625); the Florida Boards of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling (#BAP346) and Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); and the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678).

New Rule Changes for Florida Board of Occupational Therapy

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Florida Board of Occupational Therapy PracticeOccupational Therapy Board Rule 64B11-5.001, F.A.C., Requirements for License Renewal of an Active License; Continuing Education, was updated in July 2014 with significant changes. Please note that these changes will not be implemented until the 2015 – 2017 licensure biennium and will go into effect March 1, 2015, to avoid any potential adverse impacts on licensees and providers who took/offered courses under the version of the rule in effect when this current biennium began on March 1, 2013.

Specifically, the rule change references the courses that are considered live.

At least fourteen (14) of the required hours per biennium must be in person or from interactive, real-time courses. An interactive, real-time course may be a web-based, satellite transmitted, telephone or video conference, or online instruction program that allows or requires the licensee to interact in real time, including live chat, with the instructor during the presentation of the program.

Home Study – A licensee may receive continuing education credit for no more than twelve (12) hours of home study education per biennium. Home study education is a self-paced, non-interactive independent study that requires a certificate of completion. Taking a computerized exam at the end of the study, or being able to email the instructor with a question, does not qualify home study as a live or interactive course.

If a course does not allow or require live interaction with the presenter then it is not considered a live course. Courses that allow a licensee to contact the presenter via email are homestudy courses, not live courses.

If you have any questions, please contact the Board directly via email at mqa.occupationaltherapy@flhealth.gov or by calling 850-245-4373.

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Professional Development Resources is an American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) approved provider of home study continuing education (#3159). The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Florida Board of OT Practice (#34) and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within 1 week of completion). Florida-licensed OTs/OTAs may earn up to 12 hours per renewal through courses offered @ www.pdresources.org.

Florida Counselors, Social Workers & MFTs – License Renewal & CE Information

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By Gina Ulery

Florida-licensed Mental Health Counselors, Clinical Social Workers and Marriage & Family Therapists (MFTs) have an upcoming license renewal deadline of March 31, 2015.

Online Continuing Education30 hours of continuing education (CE) are required to renew, including:

2 hours Preventing Medical Errors in Behavioral Health is required each renewal
3 hours Ethics & Boundaries in Psychotherapy is required each renewal
2 hours Domestic Violence is required every third renewal
3 hours Florida Laws and Rules is required every third renewal

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA); the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB #1046, ACE Program); and the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling (#BAP346) to offer continuing education courses to counselors, social workers and MFTs and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within 1 week of completion).

Florida-licensed counselors, social workers and MFTs can earn all 30 hours required for renewal through online courses available @ www.pdresources.org.

 

Florida OT License Renewal Due 2/28/15

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By Gina Ulery

Florida-licensed Occupational Therapists (OTs) and Occupational Therapy Assistants (OTAs) have an upcoming license renewal deadline of February 28, 2015.

26 hours of continuing education (CE) are required to renew, including:

2 hours Preventing Medical Errors (required each renewal)
2 hours Florida Occupational Therapy Laws & Rules (required each renewal)
1 hour HIV/AIDS (required for the first renewal only)

Automatically Reports to CE BrokerProfessional Development Resources is an American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) approved provider of continuing education (#3159). The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Florida Board of OT Practice (#34) and is CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within 1 week of completion).

We report to CE Broker for you (so you don’t have to report any courses you complete with PDR). We report every Thursday, but are also reporting on Mondays through your renewal so you won’t be held up because of us.

Our courses are considered “home study” by the Florida OT Board. You are allowed to earn up to 12 hours per renewal through our courses.

Common and Not-So-Common Ethical Considerations

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Course excerpt from Ethics & Boundaries in Psychotherapy

In the everyday practice of psychotherapy, professional therapists may regularly expect to encounter a number of ethical dilemmas, some of them commonplace and routine, others more exotic and challenging. Among the challenges that have come about more recently are the ethics and boundary issue that accompany the use of social media. Psychotherapists probably make numerous ethical decisions every day, frequently without any awareness they are doing so. With years of experience, such decisions may become reflexive responses, requiring little – if any – deliberation.

Examples of these “garden variety” ethical issues may be questions like these:

  • You want to present your client with the opportunity to give informed consent for the treatment you are about to deliver. How do you assure that you include all of the relevant issues, and that the client understands and is competent to give such consent?
  • A grateful client brings you a gift. Do you accept it and thank her, do you explain that you do not accept gifts from clients, or do you choose some other ethical course of action?
  • You encounter a client in a social situation. In consideration of his right to privacy and confidentiality, do you approach him in a friendly manner or do you wait for him to take (or not take) the initiative?
  • You receive an invitation on your professional LinkedIn page from a current client who has googled you and wishes to communicate via this medium. Does a digital connection constitute an inappropriate multiple relationship?
  • You find that the husband in a couple you have been treating in marital therapy is the new minister in your church. Do you find another church, discontinue therapy with the couple, or consider some other course of action?
  • You have a client who is moving out of the state, and she asks you to continue treating her via Skype sessions until she can connect with a new therapist. What are the ethical ramifications of engaging in teletherapy?
  • A client tells you in a therapy session that another therapist in town has become socially involved with your client’s friend, whom that therapist was recently treating. Do you report this activity to the state licensing board, confront the other therapist, or choose some other course of action?

Of course, even the most mundane situations can quickly become highly complex ethical dilemmas that demand considerable thought and possibly even consultation with a peer or supervisor. For example, the issue of gift-giving can represent an emotionally charged transference transaction, requiring the therapist to respond with great sensitivity. In negotiating such a complex interchange, the therapist may have to walk a thin line between maintaining appropriate professional boundaries and acknowledging important transference issues.

Ethics & Boundaries in PsychotherapyIssues that come up infrequently, are highly complex or unusual, those the therapist has rarely or never encountered before, and those that pose ethical dilemmas may require some thought, research, consultation, or all three of these. The “Patriot Act” scenario introduced above may fall into this category. It is an example of a novel situation that throws complex contradictions into a boundary issue that may have been more straightforward before the introduction of this piece of legislation. Not only is it novel, but it is also likely to arouse conflicting values in the therapist. How does one simultaneously 1) observe the letter and spirit of the law, 2) protect the client’s right to privacy and confidentiality, 3) fulfill the ethical obligation of informing the client when demands have been made for private records, 4) conform to the ethical standards set forth by his or her profession’s code of ethics, and 5) satisfy personal values and boundaries?

Other issues that may pose more complex boundary challenges are situations in which there either is no clear ethical solution or in which there are multiple paths available to the therapist, all of which contain some ethical complications. Here is one example:

You have been seeing a married couple for relationship therapy for several months. They decide to divorce, and both request to continue to see you individually. You have a good therapeutic relationship with both of them, and both are in significant distress. Can you see them both without encountering boundary issues that might compromise the individual best interests of each; do you choose one or the other; or do you decline to treat either one of them?

In this scenario, if the available courses of action include seeing both, neither, or only one of the partners, all of these seem to involve some possible hazards and ethical questions. If you provide individual sessions to both partners, can you offer the kind of unequivocal support each deserves when there are adversarial issues to be resolved? Can you offer genuine impartiality when you are aware of the details of both partners’ agendas? On the other hand, if you choose to continue treating one or the other, or decline to treat either, aren’t there potential issues of abandonment?

Ethics & Boundaries in Psychotherapy is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course intended to give psychotherapists the tools they need to resolve the common and not-so-common ethical and boundary issues and dilemmas that they may expect to encounter in their everyday professional practice in the 21st century. Among the topics discussed are definitions of boundaries; resolving conflicts between ethics and the law; boundary crossings vs. boundary violations; multiple relationships; sexual misconduct; privacy and confidentiality in the age of HIPAA and the Patriot Act; ethics issues with dangerous clients; boundary issues in clinical supervision; ethics and cultural competency; ethical boundaries in use of social media; ethical practice in teletherapy; fees and financial relationships; and a 17-step model for ethical decision making. * This course satisfies the ethics & boundaries requirement for license renewal of Florida counselors, social workers & MFTs. Course #30-77 | 2015 | 40 pages | 21 posttest questions

Professional Development Resources is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists; the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC ACEP #5590); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB #1046, ACE Program); the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (#PCE1625); the Florida Boards of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling (#BAP346) and Psychology & School Psychology (#50-1635); the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board (#RCST100501); the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs (#193); and the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists (#114) and State Board of Social Worker Examiners (#5678).

 

Communication with Elders – New ASHA CEU Course

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By Laura More, MSW, LCSW; Edie Deane-Watson, MS, CCC-A, CCM

Communication with Elders is a new 2-hour online continuing education (CE/CEU) course approved for ASHA CEUs that provides an overview of aging changes that affect communication, dysfunctional communication habits to avoid, and strategies for appropriate communication with elders.

Communication with EldersWith the increasing number of older people in the United States, it is vital for healthcare professionals to communicate effectively and respectfully with elders. Effective, appropriate communication with elders is important for many reasons. For speech-language pathologists and audiologists, communication is the foundation of service delivery. Communication is required for assessment of the person prior to treatment. Symptoms are, after all, subjective and must be reported by the person to the clinician. Effective communication also contributes to health literacy; the person’s understanding of her condition, treatment options, and the treatment plan to be followed. A person cannot comply with a treatment program unless the program is communicated clearly enough for the person to understand it. The more effective the communication, the more effective treatment will be – and the more cost effective. Communication also helps the clinician understand the whole person: the emotional, social, and financial realities that affect response to treatment and ability to comply. This course provides an overview of aging changes that affect communication, dysfunctional communication habits to avoid, and strategies for appropriate communication with elders. Course #20-95 | 2015 | 26 pages | 15 posttest questions

This online course provides instant access to the course materials (PDF download) and CE test. Successful completion of the online CE test (80% required to pass, 3 chances to take) and course evaluation are required to earn a certificate of completion. You can print the test (download test from My Courses tab of your account after purchasing) and mark your answers on while reading the course document. Then submit online when ready to receive credit.

Click here to enroll.

Professional Development Resources is approved by the Continuing Education Board of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA #AAUM) to provide continuing education activities in speech-language pathology and audiology. We will report to ASHA for you if you select yes to ASHA reporting in your account profile. Please note that the completion date that appears on ASHA transcripts is the last day of the quarter, regardless of when the course was completed. Professional Development Resources is also approved by the Florida Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and is CE Broker compliant (courses are reported within one week of completion)