Ethics and Ethical Decision Making for Utah Psychologists:
Register by phone (801)274 2700
Dr. Stephen H. Behnke received his J.D. from Yale Law School and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan. In 1996, Dr. Behnke was made chief psychologist of the Day Hospital Unit at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, a position he held until 1998, when he was named a faculty fellow in Harvard University’s program in Ethics and the Professions. After completing this fellowship Dr. Behnke directed a program in research integrity in the Division of Medical Ethics at Harvard Medical School. In November of 2000, Dr. Behnke assumed the position of Director of Ethics at the American Psychological Association. He holds an appointment in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Behnke co-leads an ethics discussion group at the meetings of the American Psychoanalytic Association and has consulted to various psychoanalytic institutes regarding issues of ethics and law.
Dr. Behnke’s research interests focus on issues at the convergence of law, ethics, and psychology. He has written on multiple personality disorder and the insanity defense, on issues involving competence and informed consent to treatment and research, on forced treatment of the severely mentally ill, and on state laws relevant to the work of mental health practitioners.
This ethics workshop will address ethical decision-making, the relationship between ethics and law with specific attention to Utah state law, ways for practicing psychologists to minimize exposure to legal and ethical liability, and emerging areas of practice such as telemedicine. The workshop will include a discussion of the APA Ethics Code, with a focus on the structure of the Code, the values that underlie the Code, and ethical standards that are especially relevant to clinical practice. There will be included a discussion of recent amendments to the Code, adopted by Council in February of 2010. Reference will be made to other mental health professional codes of ethics as a way of more deeply understanding and analyzing the APA Ethics Code. The program will examine how psychologists can use the APA Ethics Code to facilitate ethical decision-making. Case vignettes will be used to illustrate ethical decision-making applied in actual clinical practice. The focus of the workshop will emphasize ethical decision making over risk management, although both of these important goals will be considered and discussed.
Time: 9:00 - 4:30
Location: Salt Lake City Main Library Auditorium
Lunch: Not Provided
Target Audience: Mental Health Providers
Member Cost: $150.00
Non-Member Cost: $200.00
Student Member Cost: $60.00
Student Non-Member Cost: $90.00
Register by phone (801) 274-2700
Learning Goals and Objectives
- Identify a process for resolving legal and ethical dilemmas;
- Find concrete ways to minimize exposure to legal and ethical liability;
- Use the Ethics Code as a tool to facilitate ethical decision-making, with a focus on emerging areas of practice;
- Identify how Utah law and the APA Ethics Code interact;
- Compare and contrast other mental health care professional codes of ethics with the APA Ethics Code;
- Understand how specific standards in the new Ethics Code relate to the clinical practice of psychology.