On Monday, I reminded you that when considering ways to keep in touch with your clients, it’s critical that you consider the legal and ethical implications. Assuming you’ve taken those into consideration, believe that it is in your
client’s best interest for you to keep in touch, and have his or her permission to do so, here are six ways that you may be able to ethically, professionally, and effectively accomplish that . . . .
- Send holiday and birthday greetings.
- Send monthly newsletters.
- Send quarterly practice “updates” noting any new training you have achieved, colleagues that have joined your practice, or changes in the hours that you are seeing clients.
- Send supplementary information that you may run across relevant to a particular client’s interests.
- Send information about new support groups in your community.
- Send thank-you notes for referrals.
In other words, look for ethical, legal, and professional opportunities to stay connected to your clients throughout the year.
If a therapist is leaving the field, is it ever okay then to have a platonic relationship with a client? If so, after what period of time.
Hi, Judith!
I think that depends on what you mean by “Is it ever okay . . . ?”
If you mean, is it legal, that’s going to be contingent upon the state / jurisdiction you live / practice in.
If you mean, is it ethical, that’s going to be contingent upon the Codes of Ethics that your professional association(s) stipulate – and by the way those may change over time.
If you mean, is it acceptable within your own communities Standards of Practice, you may want to consult within your own community with seasoned therapists in your own discipline.
What I can tell you is that when friends have confided in me that they had been “friends” with their former therapists, they have 100% of the time felt that those relationships were “lopsided” and acknowledged significant power differentials.
When I have spoken to therapists who have entered into “friendships” with former clients, they too have often spoken about those power differences and the “additional responsibilities and burdens” they feel related to those differences.
If you are entertaining the possibility of continuing a relationship (of any ilk) with a client post-termination, I would caution you against doing so as the risks to your former client and also to you may be significant.
Instead, I would encourage you to seek therapy with a seasoned therapist who is comfortable working with countertransference to explore further what is going on with you before your proceed; and, if you in any way feel like you need to keep “private” or as a secret from anyone (including your professionals or licensing board) your temptation / desire to befriend this former client, consider this always to be a BIG RED FLAG.
Thank you so much for your courage and taking time to drop in here to ask this question.
MANY of us . . . Maybe even most of us have been faced with this choice point.
It’s so important that we have places and colleagues that we can process this with when it comes up.
Hey! I am curious — I am a licensed independent social worker working with a community mental health agency. Another therapist who quit and moved last summer seems to be regularly checking in with former clients just to see how they’re doing and if they’re getting adequate support (clients who were referred to me after her departure have mentioned this to me). I heard from a coworker that one of her clients reported that she had been doing off the book therapy with her via telehealth.
Is this blatantly unethical or am I having an overly cautious reaction to this? First of all, she would be contacting them with her personal number or possibly a new work phone. But more importantly, I feel like frequent check ins like this fall into fostering dependence. I’m interested in your feedback!
WOW! This is definitely something that you should bring to the attention of the agency.
I suppose that it’s possible but highly unlikely that she is doing this with the agency’s knowledge and approval – but I’ve never seen it done.
In fact, many agencies / practices / hospitals / organizations have non-compete clauses written into their employment contracts.
I believe there may also be ethical concerns to consider, too.
Admittedly, I am not a social worker and won’t speak to that therapist’s Code of Ethics.
But, professional counselors are not usually permitted to see a client who is working with another therapist without good clinical reason AND full knowledge and coordination of care between the two.
It all sounds questionable at best.
I don’t have all the details of this situation; and certainly there could be extenuating circumstances.
But, based on your concerns stated here, I encourage you to write out the facts as you know them and take this to someone higher up the chain of command at your agency.
They get paid the bigger bucks to sort through and deal with these headaches.
And, if everything is going as it should and your former colleague is doing nothing wrong, then you and the agency can just put this to rest.
It’s such a great question, Angela!
Thank you for bringing it here; I assure you that there are others in our online community here that are facing similar circumstances but were too afraid to even share them here.
I hope you’ll be back eventually with an update on how this was resolved!