Washington's Impossible Task for Mental Health Clincians: Predicting Violence
No doubt you've heard about the Supreme Court's Volk decision (2016) which has emphasized a little-known existing law for outpatient mental health clinicians - that outpatient psychotherapists should be able to predict a patient's capacity for violence. Impossible as this is, it is what we will be facing if a former or current patient engages in a violent act.
The way that clinicians, legislators, and lawyers view this 'outlier' law (UW Law School, 2017) are three separate realities. As analytic clinicians, it is crucial that we understand what a difficult situation we are in. Come hear six experts on this topic explain the legal risks we face. Learn the ways we can protect ourselves, our patients, and third parties.
The Alliance, COR, and NPSI want you to be prepared to manage violence in and out of the consulting room. This six-hour workshop will tell you what you need to know to understand the lack of legal support we have at the moment, what we are doing to change it, and obtain continuing education credits for state required ethics training.
What is the Volk decision?
Many of us have heard of the landmark 2016 Washington State Supreme Court’s Volk decision. The court’s decision substantially expanded the responsibility of physicians and mental health care providers to warn all foreseeable victims of violence if a patient under their care makes a specific threat during outpatient treatment. In effect, the decision expands our duty to predict a potential for violence even if the patient has not expressed violent thoughts, and to warn third parties in the public not specifically named by the patient.
Please join us on November 9th where our panel of experts will report on and discuss the current status of the Volk ruling and how you can be best prepared in your own practice. Click here for more information on our speakers.
What will I learn?
Attending this conference will enable you to:
- Describe the details of the Volk decision and some of the legal implications for clinicians.
- Assess your own awareness of preparedness for dealing with violence and risk assessments.
- Reflect on how the complexity of legal, clinical, and ethical viewpoints coexist around the subject of violence and risk assessment.
Event Schedule
Morning: 9am-12:15pm (3hrs) with a 15 min break
Lunch: 12:15pm-1:15pm (1hr)
Afternoon: 1:15pm-4:30pm (3hrs) with a 15 min break
Lunch, coffee and tea are included with registration
