It Is Best to Provide Minimal Information When a Referral Source Requests Information About a Client

2019 ◽  
pp. 123-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Barnett ◽  
Jeffrey Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Treatment Providers ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Client Expectations ◽  
Diversity Issues ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Minimal Information

It is a common occurrence for mental health practitioners to receive requests for information about clients from their referral sources. Concerns about safeguarding each client’s confidentiality may result in a misunderstanding about how to respond to these requests. This chapter addresses mental health professionals’ ethical, legal, and clinical obligations to both their clients and referral sources. How to address these obligations so that clients’ best interests are served is explained. This includes discussing the role of the informed consent process with clients, educating referral sources on confidentiality obligations, and explaining how to work collaboratively with other treatment providers, so that client treatment is coordinated. Client expectations, diversity issues, striking a balance between competing needs, and applying a thoughtful decision-making process to determine which information to share and how to best share it are all addressed.

scholarly journals Current issues in Scandinavian acute psychiatric wards

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torleif Ruud ◽  
Nils Lindefors ◽  
Anne Lindhardt
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Psychiatric Units ◽  
Acute Psychiatric Wards ◽  
Field Information ◽  
The Right

AbstractThe aim of the paper is to provide an overview of some of the most important issues faced by acute inpatient facilities in three Scandinavian countries, including reflections and critical remarks for discussion in this field. Information was drawn from scientific articles and official reports published in recent years, as well as the authors' own knowledge of acute facilities in their home countries. Acute inpatient facilities, including General Hospital Psychiatric Units (GHPUs), in all Scandinavian countries have several issues and problems in common, which include the organisation and capacity of acute services, the assessment of dangerousness and suicidality, the use of coercion and efforts to reduce coercion, the need to define and improve the quality of acute services, and the necessity to improve collaboration and continuity between acute services and other services. Although the emphasis some of these issues receive can vary across the three countries, Scandinavian mental health professionals (and policy makers) have begun to systematically share their experiences in developing a growing spirit of collaboration. Despite the role of welfare state and the deployment of substantial resources in Scandinavian countries, mental health practitioners are struggling to implement best practices in acute wards, to develop differentiated forms of acute services, and to reach the right balance and coordination between acute services and other services.

Fitness and Competency Issues in Canadian Criminal Courts: Elucidating the Standards for Mental Health Professionals

1994 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 198-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen E. Whittemore ◽  
James R.P. Ogloff
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Legal Issue ◽  
Mental Health Practitioners ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Legal Proceedings ◽  
Health Practitioners

The issue of competency arises at various stages of criminal proceedings in an effort to protect those individuals who are unable to participate in the legal process. The competency question is a legal issue ultimately decided by a judge. However, mental health professionals are often called upon to provide insight into an individual's level of competence. To date, the standards by which an individual is found competent have remained far from clear. This creates a problem for clinicians who are requested to make competency evaluations. This article addresses the competency issues as they arise at various stages of legal proceedings in order to determine the standards that are applied by the courts. Furthermore, given the importance placed on mental health evaluations of competency, the role of mental health practitioners will be addressed as it pertains to the competency question at each juncture in the criminal justice system.

Outpatient Settings: The Collaborative Role of Psychiatry and Psychology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eve K. Freidl ◽  
Lauren J. Hoffman ◽  
Anne Marie Albano
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Collaborative Care ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Child And Adolescent ◽  
Psychosocial Treatment ◽  
Treatment Providers ◽  
Impairment In Functioning ◽  
Outpatient Settings

Best practices in child and adolescent mental health often point to multimodal treatments for moderate-to-severe distress and impairment in functioning. Mental health professionals, however, are not often experienced in recognizing and addressing various factors that promote or impede effective collaboration by clinicians of diverse training or orientation. This chapter presents the role of child psychiatrists in working within a collaborative care model with clinical child and adolescent psychologists. Discussed are the benefits and barriers to collaborative clinical care, strategies for addressing sometimes complex administrative issues, and models for promoting professional development and supervision within a collaborative care team. Optimizing patient benefits and reducing risk are key positive outcomes in productive collaboration between medical and psychosocial treatment providers.

The future role of the psychiatrist in Europe – a UEMS perspective

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (01) ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
M. Hermans
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Future Role ◽  
Personal Opinion ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Many

SummaryThe author presents his personal opinion inviting to discussion on the possible future role of psychiatrists. His view is based upon the many contacts with psychiatrists all over Europe, academicians and everyday professionals, as well as the familiarity with the literature. The list of papers referred to is based upon (1) the general interest concerning the subject when representing ideas also worded elsewhere, (2) the accessibility to psychiatrists and mental health professionals in Germany, (3) being costless downloadable for non-subscribers and (4) for some geographic aspects (e.g. Belgium, Spain, Sweden) and the latest scientific issues, addressing some authors directly.

Child Custody Decisions: How Legal and Mental Health Professionals View the Concept of ‘Best Interests of the Child’

1987 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 127-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.A.A. Lambiase ◽  
J.W. Cumes
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Child Custody ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Psychological Literature

Close scrutiny of legal precedents and psychological literature has revealed significant differences in the views of legal and mental health professionals regarding the major criteria used in custody decisions. This article carries the investigation further and considers empirically the responses to the criteria of these two groups of professionals in South Africa. Findings show subtle but significant differences between them, particularly with regard to the ‘child’ dimension of the ‘best interests’ concept. The implications for mental health professionals in their evaluation of custody cases, and in their giving of testimony, are underscored.

scholarly journals Racism and Mental Health and the role of mental health professionals

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
M Schouler-Ocak ◽  
D Bhugra ◽  
MC Kastrup ◽  
G Dom ◽  
A Heinz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals

scholarly journals Considering Mindfulness Techniques in School-based Anti-bullying Programmes

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mairead Foody ◽  
Muthanna Samara
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Perspective Taking ◽  
School Bullying ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Whole School ◽  
School Based ◽  
Current Psychological ◽  
The Impact

Schools have a duty of care to all students and to directly prevent and intervene with bullying amongst children and adolescents. The emergence of cyberbullying escalates this responsibility as the strategies that have become appropriate at national levels for bullying do not always parallel over to online environments. The impact on mental health is the most obvious concern for those responsible for reducing bullying, however, input from psychologists and mental health professionals is scant and often limited on this topic. This paper outlines what bullying is and the devastating impact it can have on the mental health of those involved. It will outline the most common anti-bullying initiatives as well as the current psychological and educational techniques, which could also be used to alleviate distress associated with bullying involvement. We will focus specifically on the role of mindfulness techniques and argue for more of such exercises to be included in whole-school bullying programmes. We conclude by arguing the need to investigate components relevant to both mindfulness and anti-bullying programmes (e.g., empathy, perspective-taking) as active ingredients for reducing the impact of bullying on mental health.

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