Ethical Issues and Dealing with State Licensing Board Complaints: Practical Steps to Take if a Complaint is Filed Against You

In recent years there has been an increase in ethics complaints filed with various mental health licensing boards around the country. More mental health professionals are now being confronted with responding to such complaints, especially in regard to forensic cases such as child custody evaluations in family court. In fact, the major complaints to ethics committees of licensing boards now involves child custody cases, parenting disputes, child sexual abuse cases, treatment of clients or testimony in forensic cases. This has replaced complaints about sexual contact between a client and therapist. Most graduate programs or even ethics workshops do not necessarily train mental health professionals in appropriate ways to respond to licensing board complaints, their subpoenas, use of your own expert, hiring attorneys, or dealing with accusations that are actually filed and subsequent administrative law hearings. This workshop discusses the steps and procedures involved in licensing board complaints by the boards as well as the options available to mental health professionals as they attempt to deal with their own embarrassment, fears, or feelings of shame. Specific and practical suggestions to follow if such a situation occurs are presented, as well as current issues with licensing boards, their discretionary powers that may become abusive, and the steps to take if you do not agree with their decisions. A case example of such a situation that faced the presenter is discussed to illustrate the above, along with the final outcome that occurred after a complaint was filed, and the 7 years that transpired since the complaint until the final resolution through 3 courts. Lessons learned and tips in what to do if a complaint is filed against you are presented.  

This session was previously recorded at IVAT's 29th Annual San Diego Summit.