The Ethics of Private Practice helps mental health professionals understand the essential ethical issues related to many of the challenges of being in independent mental health practice.
The Ethics of Private Practice helps mental health professionals understand the essential ethical issues related to the many challenges of being in independent practice. Seasoned clinicians Barnett, Zimmerman, and Walfish offer readers astute insight into building a practice that is designed to minimize unintended ethics violations and reduce associated risks. Each chapter focuses on a major aspect of the business of practice and incorporates relevant standards from the ethics codes of four mental health professions. Topics addressed include planning and successfully managing a practice, documentation and record keeping, dealing with third parties and protecting confidentiality, managing practice finances, staff training and office policies, advertising and marketing a practice, continuing professional development activities, and the closing of a private practice. Full of practical tips that can be readily implemented, this handy guide will be the go-to resource for all mental health clinicians in private practice.
Barnett et al. clearly explain how to put ethical principles into private practice. The authors do a great job of organizing practical tips integrated with a scholarly review of relevant literature... Barnett, Zimmerman, and Walfish's book is such a good idea that one must ask why it wasn't written earlier. It would have saved many of us from having to learn best practices the hard way... Their wisdom is relevant to practitioners at all stages of career development, ranging from emerging professionals who are beginning their careers to seasoned practitioners who are beginning their retirement - and all those in between.
