ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a range of ethics and legal issues of importance for mental health clinicians who practice telemental health. Mental health clinicians regularly use a wide range of technologies in their practices. Dr. T. K. Savvy is a licensed mental health clinician who specializes in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. Each mental health clinician should possess the competence necessary to effectively work with the various technologies being utilized to provide professional services. Mental health clinicians should take all reasonably available precautions to ensure that each client’s confidentiality is protected. Mental health clinicians who provide clinical services across distances may be unfamiliar with resources in the client’s local community. Clinicians also need to make advance arrangements for coverage during periods of absence or inaccessibility. Failure to do so can leave clinicians open to charges of client abandonment and may result in harm to clients.
