Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence in Behavioral Health
Enroll in the Online Self-Study and complete the training on your own schedule.
3 Ethics CE hours available for behavioral health clinicians completing the Online Self-Study.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly prevalent in the behavioral health professions. AI is being used to conduct client risk assessments, assist people in crisis, provide resources to clients and other users, strengthen prevention efforts, identify systemic biases in the delivery of behavioral health services, provide behavioral health education, and predict practitioner burnout and service outcomes, among other uses.
This course will examine cutting-edge ethical and risk management issues related to behavioral health practitioners’ use of AI, apply relevant ethical standards, and outline key elements of a strategy for practitioners’ ethical use of AI. Join Dr. Frederic Reamer as he examines ethical issues and risks related to informed consent and client autonomy, privacy and confidentiality, transparency, potential client misdiagnosis, client abandonment, client surveillance, plagiarism, dishonesty, fraud, and misrepresentation, algorithmic bias and unfairness, and use of evidence-based AI tools.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify the ways in which artificial intelligence is being used in the behavioral health professions
- Identify ethical issues and challenges associated with the use of artificial intelligence in the behavioral health professions
- Develop ethics-informed policies and protocols to protect clients and practitioners
Availability: From the time of registration, you have six months to access the coursework.
Who Should Attend: This course is intended for clinicians who provide behavioral health services.
Teaching Methods: This is a non-interactive, self-study course. Teaching methods for this course include recorded lectures, videos, a post-test, and a course evaluation.
How to attend: Directions for completing a course can be found by clicking here.
This program was recorded on January 31, 2025
Instructor
Frederic G. Reamer, Ph.D.
Frederic Reamer is professor emeritus in the graduate program, School of Social Work, Rhode Island College, where he has been on the faculty since 1983. His teaching and research focus on professional ethics, criminal justice, mental health, health care, and public policy. Dr. Reamer received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and has served as a social worker in correctional and mental health settings. He chaired the national task force that wrote the Code of Ethics adopted by the National Association of Social Workers in 1996 and served on the code revision task force. Dr. Reamer also chaired the national task force sponsored by the National Association of Social Workers, Association of Social Work Boards, Council on Social Work Education, and Clinical Social Work Association that developed technology standards for the profession. Dr. Reamer has lectured nationally and internationally on social work and professional ethics, including in India, China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and in various European nations. His books include Risk Management in the Behavioral Health Professions; Social Work Values and Ethics; Risk Management in Social Work; The Social Work Ethics Casebook; Ethical Standards in Social Work; Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships in the Human Services; Ethics and Risk Management in Online and Distance Behavioral Health; Moral Distress and Injury in Human Services; and The Social Work Ethics Audit, among others. Dr. Reamer has served as an expert witness in many court and licensing board cases throughout the United States.