With the sudden onset of the coronavirus, the use of technology and social media by behavioral health and recovery support 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 problems reflect just some of the new dilemmas clinicians and peer support specialists encounter frequently. Adding to the problem is a lack of definitive guidance from existing professional and ethical codes until recently.

This in-depth, online learning series will address common ethical dilemmas behavioral health and peer support specialists face related to the use of technology, social networking sites, and web-based search engines. Case scenarios, PowerPoint slides, and activities will be used to highlight these dilemmas and encourage discussions among participants related to:
 

1. Ethics, competency, and the use of technology in the time of COVID-19;
2. Digital Novice vs. Digital Pro;
3. HIPAA and 42CRF Part II considerations for texting, email, and videoconferencing;
4. Use of social media and potential ethical pitfalls;
5. Employer/employee issue with technology ; and
6. Applying ethical decision-making models with ethical dilemmas.

This online learning series will provide instruction, learning activities, and self-study as well as interactive discussions/activities, videos, feedback, and articles.