Dr. Federico C. Grosso is Presenting 3 Lectures for Mental Health Clinicians on the Standard of Care for Managing Crisis Issues. These Course are Based on an Actual Legal Cases Faced by Mental Health Clinicians in the Recent Past.
Dr. Grosso will lecture on the standard of care in managing mental health crisis issues in Woodland Hills, CA; Paso Robles, CA, and San Francisco Airport, CA. This lecture is of interest to all mental health clinicians who may face a potential client suicide, child abuse reporting, elder abuse reporting, bulimic or anorexic client, or other similar crisis issue when providing psychotherapy.
Santa Barbara, CA (PRWEB) December 5, 2004 -- Federico C. Grosso, DDS, PhD,
MFT, BCFE announces a pivotal presentation for mental health clinicians titled:
The Standard of Care in Managing Mental Health Crisis Issues. This course
addresses the application of legal and ethical mandates expected of reasonable
and prudent mental health clinicians when facing unpredictable and potentially
damaging crisis issues, such as the threat of suicide, child abuse accusations,
elder abuse issues, anorexia/bulimia, and many others.
Dr. Grosso bases
this presentation on a variety of mental health legal cases in which he served
as a successful expert witness. He points out that these legal cases reinforce
the premise that crisis issues are unpredictable in nature; require an
appropriate structure to manage them when they occur; the mental health
clinician must have the appropriate training, knowledge, and education to manage
these issues; be able to recognize presenting clinical risk factors, apply the
appropriate legal and ethical standards, take reasonable steps to protect the
life of the client, assess, diagnose, and treat throughout the duration of
therapy according to the Standard of Care; and document his or her assessments,
diagnoses, and treatment appropriately in the mental health records.
Crisis issues tend to develop unstoppable momentum once they begin and
by then, it’s too late to try to go back and change clinical errors or omission
and commission. These errors range from not knowing how to assess for risk
factors to breaching confidentiality without having an understanding of the
legal therapeutic duty regarding mandated or permitted reporting to protect a
client from harming him/herself or others. This course presents a detailed
structure that would support a reasonable and prudent clinician’s legal and
ethical therapeutic duty to assess, diagnose, and treat according to the
standard of care throughout the duration of treatment.
The structure
proposed in this course introduces the clinical dangers faced by mental health
clinicians when they face crisis issues including, child abuse, elder/dependent
abuse, Tarasoff situations, anorexia, bulimia, suicide, spousal abuse, etc. Any
of these situations can cause severe physical or emotional harm to the client,
his or her family, others outside of the treatment unit, and even the clinician
and those associated with him or her. The structure next addresses the necessary
and appropriate assessment protocols that would support a clinician’s legal duty
to assess appropriately. In conjunction, these serve to provide the clinician to
obtain an appropriate 5-Axis diagnosis, which is the standard of care of the
profession and supported by many prominent expert witnesses in this arena. The
appropriate use of treatment plans, used as a treatment and assessment tool, and
other documentation protocols are used extensively throughout the course to
support the clinician’s decisions. The course also relies on a variety of
clinical vignettes exemplifying the standard of care, errors of omission and
commission, and these help clinicians navigate the vagaries of crisis issues.
Dr. Grosso’s forensic and clinical experience makes this an extremely useful and
valuable course for new and seasoned clinicians. As he frequently reminds
clinicians: “Once the crisis has taken place, it’s too late to change clinical
decisions.” He also warns clinicians about altering written records: “The
technology is such that alterations are easily discernable by forensic experts.
Should the clinician be found to have altered a mental health record, he or she
can be found guilty of unprofessional conduct and most likely will place his or
her license in jeopardy.”
This course will be presented at the following
locations: a) The Woodland Hills Hilton Hotel, Friday, March 11th, 2005; b) The
Paso Robles Inn, Saturday, March 19th,, 2005, in Paso Robles, CA; and c) the
annual conference of the California Chapter of National Association of Social
Workers at he San Francisco Airport Hyatt Regency Hotel, April 22-23, 2005.
Clinicians can register for these courses by accessing http://www.FGrosso.com, and
clicking on LECTURES. He also provides these courses in online and self-study
format. These are available at the same website and clicking on Interactive
Online CEU Courses. The self-study course can be found by clicking on Self-Study
CEU Courses. Dr. Grosso continues to receive recognition as the leader in these
types of courses. Those courses enhancing the safety of clinicians when facing
unpredictable and unmanageable clinical issues, such as crisis issues.
Background on FGrosso.com. FGrosso.com provides mental health clinicians
with practical and easy-to-use clinical resources including practice enhancement
workbooks, online and self-study continuing education, software, consultation as
an expert witness, lectures, and academic publications. Dr. Grosso also provides
expert witness services in malpractice actions involving marriage and family
therapists, clinical social workers, alcohol and drug abuse counselors,
certified addictions treatment specialists, and dentists accused of child abuse
when providing treatment in the dental office. He also lectures for and consults
with mental health organizations. He is an official lecturer on law and ethics
and other subjects for the California Chapter of the National Association of
Social Workers.
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/12/prweb185714.htm