Advance Ethical Planning for the Therapist’s Unexpected Departure: The Professional Will - Deborah Henson, LCSW, JD, LL.M Scientific Program In-person or Zoom
2023-03-04 09:00 - 12:00 UTC | Loyola University, Monroe Hall Room 152, 6363 Loyola Ave, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
Fee to attend: $45 for NOBPC members; $75 non-members; and $25 student rate. All attendees will receive a 3 hour CME certificate. This is a hybrid event. Please choose to join us at Loyola University (details below) or via Zoom. Pre-registration is required and will end Friday, March 3 at 7pm Central time.
Do you have a plan in place if you were to get injured or die? Who would contact your clients? How would you manage the records and billing? How do you make a plan that maintains good ethical practice? Have you been avoiding making these plans or haven’t even considered the possibility of a disrupted practice? Come to this Professional Will Workshop, earn Ethics CME, and walk away with a solid plan for your professional will to be put in place.
In the event of death or disability or other unexpected circumstances that would prevent a clinician from continuing to provide services, many tasks typically need to be completed, which should be set forth in the clinician’s Professional Will. Deb Henson, attorney and LCSW, will address the ethical obligations of therapists to engage in advance planning for such an unexpected event. Deb will lecture on specific ethical, clinical, & legal challenges, including a thorough analysis of methods to protect client confidentiality. Unconscious resistance to this task is understandable and we will discuss various facets of this issue. Participants will be invited to share their ideas, experience, and thoughts about this evolving ethical aspect of practice so often overlooked. The workshop will cover the entire process of planning and creating the Professional Will, implementing advance team preparation, and incorporating notice to clients by amending Intake paperwork. Participants will have time to create their own first draft. Although questions will be welcomed throughout the seminar, some time will also be left at the end for final questions or discussion.
Learning objectives:
• Discuss the ethical obligations requiring the clinician to create a Professional Will
• Describe the ethical responsibilities relevant to writing a Professional Will
• Identify the elements to be included in a Professional Will
• Analyze the specific ethical, clinical, and legal challenges regarding a clinician’s unexpected exit from practice
• Demonstrate the need to notify existing and new clients of the Professional Will and the need to tread carefully regarding notifying former clients due to privacy concerns

VIRTUAL (ZOOM) REGISTRATION ENDS Friday, March 3 at 7pm Central time. We can accept walk-in registrations at Loyola. Please bring a check for the registration fee.
Deborah (Deb) Henson is a LCSW (Tulane School of Social Work, MSW) and lawyer in Louisiana and Colorado, specializing in mental health licensing defense and risk prevention consultation. Deb’s hybrid background (clinician and lawyer) gives her a unique perspective from which she offers practical, ethical solutions to high-risk clinical and legal situations that therapists encounter frequently. Deb offers webinars on self-protective, ethical clinical practice several times a year through her training business – Beyond Ethics, LLC. Deb also writes a Mental Health Newsletter addressing current concerns of clinicians from her consultation and defense practice, reviewing board meetings (SW, LPC), and alerting therapists to pertinent changes in the law or upcoming trainings. p>
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of American Psychoanalytic Association and NOBPC. The American Psychoanalytic Association is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The American Psychoanalytic Association designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 3AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE INFORMATION FOR ALL LEARNERS: None of the planners and presenters for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s)* to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
*Financial relationships are relevant if the educational content an individual can control is related to the business lines or products of the ineligible company. -Updated July 2021-
PSYCHOLOGISTS AND SOCIAL WORKERS MAY RECEIVE CREDIT FOR THIS ACTIVITY WITH A CME CERTIFICATE IF THEIR ACCREDITED ASSOCIATIONS OR BOARDS RECOGNIZE CME CREDITS.
