MLR20531: Law and Ethics, Part 1

This course provides a professional orientation to ethics and to laws in marriage and family therapy, and in counseling. This course will review national ethical codes from the MFT and PCC professions along with legal requirements. Licensing laws, regulations delineating the scope of practice, counselor-client privilege, confidentiality, danger, and treatment of minors both with and without parental consent, child abuse, and domestic violence assessment and reporting laws, will be addressed. The relationship between the practitioner’s sense of self and human values, ethical and spiritual mandates, relationship with and responsibilities to other providers and legal entities will be explored. Further, advocacy processes needed to address institutional and social barriers that impede access, equality, and success for clients will be examined. Differences in legal and ethical standards in different work settings (private practice, public practice, collaboration, team-based, institutional, etc.) will be discussed. Assessment of abuse and the mandatory reporting laws for the child, spousal, and elder abuse will be covered. Prerequisites None