With the rapid onset of the public health emergency, COVID-19, the use of technology and social media by behavioral health practitioners, for personal and professional purposes, has increased dramatically. As such, ethical and practice issues, like self-disclosure in postings, unintentional boundary crossings and violations, privacy and security issues, and social media concerns, reflect just some of the new dilemmas that providers face today. Therefore, developing ethical competency and proficiency regarding use of technology and social media given this rapid virtualization are more important than ever before in today’s virtual world.
This 90-minute webinar will provide an overview of common ethical dilemmas that behavioral health providers face related to technology, such as social network sites, videoconferencing, web-based search engines, blogs, online practitioners’ reviews, etc. Case scenarios will be used to highlight these dilemmas and encourage discussions among participants related to: 1) the use of social networking sites by clinical supervisors, providers, and clients; 2) posting comments or pictures online that may violate privacy and security or disparage the profession; 3) emailing, texting and utilizing video conferencing with clients; 4) conducting Internet searches on clients; 5) social media policy dos and don’ts from practitioner and organizational perspectives; and 6) recent rulings and new state laws that may impact an organization's social media policy for employees.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this training, participants will be able to:
