When I Start my Practice I will Definitely Buy this

On my daily walk with my dog, I enjoy listening to the ACA's podcast. Anne Marie Wheeler and Burt Bertam the authors of The Counselor and the Law: A Guide to Legal and Ethical Practice, Fifth Edition were the first guests on the ACA's series. I would encourage anyone interested in mental health to check it out. You can find them here. Through the ACA website only members can from their podcasts. However, you can also access this program through iTunes.

If you are a counselor or are thinking about becoming one, I would highly recommend reading this book. Lacking legalese, it is is both intensely readable and practical. Wheeler is a lawyer who manages the risk management helpline for the American Counseling Association, while Bertam has been a practicing counselor for several decades. Together the two conduct seminars across America helping counselors appreciate the law and manage risk.

This is the fifth edition. The first edition was originally published in 1975 and the previous edition was produced in 1996, so we clearly needed a new update. One of the most important aspects that the new authors added was a section about HIPAA and how it affects the counselor. Before I read their book, I wasn't aware of some of the ramifications that HIPAA had on the counseling profession including how information is released to third party payers and what goes into a client's notes.

The Counselor and the Law is not just a list of do's and don'ts (don't's?) it also provides the counselor with a framework to understand why some of the laws are in place. This then promotes aspirational ethics and leads one to a better understanding of how a good practice is supported by ethics.

This book covers such topics as
* Confidentiality, privilege, and HIPPA,
* Duty to report, warn, and protect
* Suicide threats and how to deal with them
* Professional boundaries
* Record keeping,
* Who is the client?

One of my favorite parts of the book is Appendix C titled Top Ten Risk Management Strategies. The ACA has outlined concrete steps to help counselors avoid becoming legally liable.

In addition, it has been mentioned on a couple of different platforms that if one reads this book and has insurance through the ACA, after passing a test about how the law informs the counseling profession that one can be 10% off their insurance for the next three years.