Legal issues in Social Work, Counseling, and Mental Health presents clearly and comprehensively what mental health and other direct practice professionals need to know to respond to the legal issues that surround practice. This volume covers a wide range of topics including providing testimony, responding to subpoenas, dealing with an attorney, influencing the legal system, and understanding the legal side of the business of psychotherapy. The author also discusses various direct practice and human service issues, incorporating some of the everyday legal questions these professionals encounter and using case material.

Peter Jenkins is a Lecturer in Counselling at the University of Manchester and a member of the Professional Conduct Committee of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. He is author of three books on the law and counselling, including Counselling, Psychotherapy and the Law (London, SAGE, 1997). Providing much-needed advice and reference, this book examines the rapidly growing range of situations in which therapists find themselves in contact with the law. The book covers the current legal context of therapeutic work, and specific implications for therapists in relation to: working with survivors of sexual abuse; false memory; and the implications of the Human Rights Act. The book also examines the implications of professional regulation.

As a psychotherapist, what do you need to know about the law? How does the legal system support (or fail to support) your work or the delivery of mental health services generally? What can you do to make use of the law and the legal system to improve your practice and to protect yourself? Filling a significant gap in the social work and other psychotherapeutic literature, Legal Issues in Social Work, Counseling, and Mental Health presents clearly and comprehensively what mental health and other direct practice professionals need to know to respond to the legal issues that surround practice. This volume covers a wide range of topics, including providing testimony, responding to subpoenas, dealing with an attorney, influencing the legal system, and understanding the legal side of the business of psychotherapy. The author also discusses various direct practice and human service issues, incorporating some of the everyday legal issues these professionals encounter and using case material. The book educates counselors and clinicians on the function of the law in their professional lives. Through cases and case vignettes, the author illustrates the legal processes relevant to cliniciansÆ professional lives, and suggests "alternative behaviors for clinicians that would satisfy legal requirements, yet remain within sound practice." Helping to demystify the legal system, Legal Issues in Social Work, Counseling, and Mental Health will allow professionals and students in social work, human services, family studies, counseling, clinical psychology, pastoral counseling and psychotherapy a better understanding of the law.

Why write another book on ethics? As practitioners we are involved both in the design and delivery of services to people with mental health problems. In common with all other professionals, our work has led to the experience of ethical dilemmas: typically, these have involved major confrontations, either with our col leagues or our consciences. This book, however, is not limited to a discussion of such major themes. Rather, we have tried to use a broader canvas: ethics, in our view, is really about the judgement of right and wrong in ordinary, everyday life. Ethics are highly personal: we fashion our own personal code from our experi ence of others, and from the 'tests' which bring meaning to our lives. Such experiences shape our individual values. We bring these codes and values to our work. We are not always aware of their influence in our dealings with people. Although we may not always be aware of it, all our actions pose an ethical question. Given that our work involves us in helping others to live ordinary, satisfying lives, this challenge heightens the intensity of our ethical dilemmas. This is most evident where our personal code conflicts with the implicit code of the health setting.

This completely rewritten and updated new edition of a practical text continues to provide a firm introduction to law and legal processes and their relation to social work practice. Using Clinton's welfare reform act of 1996, Albert provides a conceptual framework to illustrate how socio-legal problems emerge in the welfare state, and presents the skills base necessary for effective social work response. A new section on socio-legal issues highlights many fields where social worker-lawyer partnerships can occur, such as civil rights and advocacy, the death penalty, liability for neglect in nursing homes, informed consent and medical treatment, and much more. Filled with techniques for reading and understanding judicial opinion, legislative statues, and bills, this new edition will appeal to all professors of law and social work courses, as well as courses on the welfare state.

This introduction to professional ethics for social workers recognizes that social work is largely state-sponsored. Traditional values and rules are explained, followed by a concept of social work and its relationship to the state.

Ethical and Legal Issues in Counseling Children and Adolescents provides counselors and other professionals with clinical cases and accurate, up-to-date information on both ethical standards and case law. Chapters take a comprehensive, developmental approach to legal and ethical decision making when counseling children and adolescents, one that presents each chapter topic from the perspective of an adult and then explores accommodations important to children and adolescents. The book is a vital resource for faculty who recognize the limited scope with which other texts cover the topic and for practitioners looking to better understand the legal and ethical concerns around working with young people.