Dr. Phillip Hemphill, a chief clinical officer, conducted a seminar concerning boundaries and ethics to a group of mental health professionals. During his continuing education seminar, his intent was to bring challenging situations to our awareness. He did this by providing thought provoking scenarios that can be easily encountered by any mental health professional. With each scenario, listeners we asked to think about how they would respond to the situations. He encouraged participation by allowing each participant to feel that their answers were neither wrong nor right, thus creating a respectful environment for each other’s differences within the practice. Dr. Hemphill informed participates to be careful of special treatment, disclosing …show more content…
Section A.5 begins boundary marketing with the expectations and rules for sexual and romantic relationships. The ACA, like the Virginia counseling website, states that romantic relationships should only occur after five years of counseling in order to avoid legal ramifications (ACA, 2014). The advised sexual relations management is not just limited to client, but also to their family members. Although nonprofessional interactions should be avoided, the ACA continues to define boundaries beyond sexual relationships by clarifying that mental health professionals that attend client initiated events should document attendance, reason, and outcomes (ACA, 2014). Furthermore, the ACA advises metal health professionals that undergo role changes with a client should clearly discuss and document the change (ACA, 2014). Lastly, the ACA reminds us that we have professional obligations to the client and their needs will come first. In order to provide client driven treatment we must be educated, ethical sound, and continually assess the appropriateness of our