Licensure Renewal Required Courses LIVE Virtual Event (Ethics & Boundary Issues, Preventing Medical Errors, Florida Laws & Rules Update)

Title: "Ethics & Boundary Issues"  8:30 - 11:30 am

Presenter: Burt Bertram, Ed.D., LMFT, LMHC

The professional work of a Mental Health Counselor as well as the other FS 491 licensees presents unique ethical and legal challenges. Providing psychotherapy to individuals, counseling couples and families, and facilitating group counseling inevitably generates issues around defining and maintaining boundaries. Boundary challenges have taken on yet another complication during the pandemic when much of out-patient therapy has shifted from in-person to virtual. When practitioners fail to identify, define and enforce boundaries, complications leading to complaints to the licensing board and/or lawsuits, are almost inevitable. 

This presentation will remind practicing mental health practitioners of the purpose and value of professional association codes of ethics including the AMHCA Code of Ethics (2015), the ACA Code of Ethics (2014) and applicable state statutes and rules. Additionally, participants will be introduced to a Legal/Ethical Decision-Making Model and will apply the model to a complicated case study.

Learning Objectives:

As a result of this 3-hour program, participants will;

Learn and/or be reminded of the importance of professional ethics

• Personal vs professional ethics

• How to understand and apply professional ethics

• Importance of adopting/utilizing an ethical decision-making model

Learn to distinguish between and among confidentiality, privilege, and privacy 

• Differentiating confidentiality, privilege and privacy

• Review applicable ethics codes and statutes 

• Review decision-making regarding responding to a subpoena

Review the challenges and complexities associated with identifying and maintaining professional boundaries for both in-person and virtual therapy

• Impact on clients and treatment relationship

• Legal and ethical requirements

• Lawsuits and Board complaints: Data and Discussion

• Legal/Ethical decision-making model

Apply course learning to complex real world case with emphasis on boundary issues associated with virtual therapy

• Read case study

• Small group discussion

• Report out / Large group review

BIO:

Burt Bertram, EdD, LMFT, LMHC is a counselor, consultant, author and professor.

Dr. Bertram has been in practice in the Orlando area since 1972. His professional efforts focus on assisting individuals, couples, families and workgroups to productively identify, understand and address the issues that are influencing or shaping their lives. Until recently he was graduate adjunct professor of counseling in the Mental Health Counseling program at Rollins College where for 25 years, he taught clinical counseling skills, family and couples counseling and ethics in counseling. Burt has served as President of the Florida Mental Health Counselors Association, the Florida Counseling Association, and the Central Florida Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. A nationally recognized expert on legal and ethical issues in counseling, Burt is co-author, with attorney Nancy Wheeler, JD of The Counselor and the Law (8th Edition), published by the American Counseling Association. Dr. Bertram and Nancy Wheeler have collaborated on numerous publications, tapes, webinars, podcasts and have made over 150 presentations together on topics related to legal and ethical issues in counseling.

Title: “Prevention of Medical Errors” 

11:30 am - 1:30 pm

Presenter: Stefanie Meyer-Goodwin, MA, LMHC, LMFT, NCC, CCMHC, ACS     

 This course examines the impact of medical errors on clients in mental healthcare settings. Best practices and ethical guidelines for psychologists, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and mental health counselors that can help reduce and prevent medical errors are discussed. The course examines root cause analysis and its application to responding to medical errors in mental health settings related to competence, informed consent, HIPAA, cultural competence, confidentiality, abuse reporting, duty to protect, responding to suicide risk, and assessment errors. Strategies for error prevention and reduction are presented. Case vignettes and participant discussion is used to highlight key learning points.

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will be able to describe medical error terminology and definitions.

2. Participants will be able to identify factors that impact the occurrence of medical errors in mental health practice.

3. Participants will learn about the most common errors in mental health practice.

4. Participants will be able to define root cause analysis.

5. Participants will be able to apply error reduction and prevention measures.

SPEAKER BIO:

Stefanie D. Meyer-Goodwin, MA, LMHC, LMFT, NCC, CCMHC, ACS has worked in the counseling profession for 9 years. She earned a Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling and Certificate in Family and Relationship Counseling from Rollins College and is a national Approved Clinical Supervisor and Florida state qualified supervisor for interns in mental health counseling and marriage and family therapy. She currently serves as the Clinical Director for The Meaningful Life Center, overseeing their evidence based complex trauma program. In addition to her clinical experience, Stefanie is a doctoral candidate in Counselor Education and Supervision at Capella University and supporting professor in the Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Rollins College. Stefanie is passionate about multicultural and social justice issues in the counseling field and focuses her research and presentations on improving multicultural awareness and professional competency. Stefanie serves her professional community as the current president-elect for Mental Health Counselors of Central Florida. 

Title: “Florida Laws and Rules Update for Mental Health Professionals”

2:00 - 5:00 pm

Presenter: Anne Wedge-McMillen

The purpose of this course is to provide basic knowledge of and practical understanding of the laws and rules governing the practice of mental health in Florida and to increase professional competency, improve legal understanding, and enhance client care.

This training presentation will provide foundational information regarding the laws and rules that govern mental health counseling professionals in the state of Florida. 

This training will include specific information regarding Telehealth. Laws and procedures impacting mental health professionals whose clients are involved in the civil and criminal justice systems will also be presented.

Participants will gain general knowledge of the laws, rules, and standards of practice that govern mental health professionals in the state of Florida (includes an understanding of rule development and important links and resources). Participants will gain specific understanding of confidentiality, record keeping, privileged communications, and mandatory disclosure (includes recent law changes and a telehealth focus). Participants will identify and discuss legal and ethical violations. Participants will review disciplinary proceedings and consequences to strategize professional, ethical, and legal best practices. Participants will explore the import and intersectionality of mental health evidence in criminal and civil trial proceedings. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the general statutory chapters that pertain to mental healthcare professionals and the rules that govern competent and legally sufficient practice.

2. Understand proposed rule changes and recent law amendments and the practical application of these laws and rules in the daily practice of the mental health profession. 

3. Describe the legal requirements of, and exceptions to confidentiality, especially as it pertains to appropriate record keeping and mandatory reporting.  

4. Describe the general laws and rules pertaining to telehealth and identify special considerations for mental health professionals. 

5. Discuss the concepts of mental health testimony and evidence in criminal and civil trial proceedings.

6. Review disciplinary actions that may be taken against mental health professionals who violate state laws and strategize best professional, ethical, and legal practices to promote counselor well-being and enhance client care.

SPEAKER BIO:

Anne Wedge-McMillen, Esq., is a full-time graduate student at Rollins College in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program and a practicing attorney in Winter Park, Florida. She completed her undergraduate education at the University of South Florida, before completing her Juris Doctorate at the Florida State University, College of Law, in Tallahassee, Florida. She worked as an Assistant State Attorney in Miami-Dade County from 1999-2003. From 2003-2013 she worked as an Assistant Statewide Prosecutor for the Florida Attorney General’s Office prosecuting racketeering, organized crime, drug trafficking, conspiracy, “Pill Mills, and state and federal wiretap investigations and crimes. Ms. Wedge-McMillen was cross sworn as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Middle District of Florida and was an advisor to the Statewide Grand Jury on gangs.  From 2013-2015, Ms. Wedge-McMillen practiced criminal defense law at the Umansky Law Firm in Orlando, Florida. In 2015, Ms. Wedge-McMillen opened a legal consulting practice and became legal advisor to the Central Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area state and federal task force. Since returning to graduate school, Ms. Wedge-McMillen practices law part-time as a Pro Bono Guardian Ad Litem attorney representing the best interests of children in dependency actions. Ms. Wedge-McMillen is a member of the Florida Bar, the American Bar Association, the Criminal Justice sections of the Florida and American Bar Associations, and the Orange County Bar Association. She is also a member of the Mental Health Counselors of Central Florida, the Central Florida Association of Marriage and Family Therapy, and the American Counseling Association.

Course Registration Fees:*

*If you elect multiple events, you will have to register each one separately.