Complicated Relationships: Case Studies in Boundaries

Description

As a mental health professional, you know that ethical boundary questions are not always simple or easily avoided. Personal, professional, community, digital, and clinical roles can overlap in ways that create real ethical complexity, especially when clients, colleagues, family members, community groups, or online spaces intersect with the therapeutic relationship.

This training helps behavioral health professionals move beyond broad reminders to “maintain boundaries” and into the practical work of recognizing, evaluating, and responding to complicated boundary situations. Through case examples drawn from real-world consultation and training contexts, clinicians will examine how dual and multiple relationships can emerge, why they are not always prohibited, and how they can create risks related to confidentiality, objectivity, exploitation, coercion, autonomy, fairness, and client harm.

This course is led by Kathryn Krase, Ph.D., JD, MSW, a lawyer and social worker with extensive experience providing training and consultation on professional ethics. Dr. Krase’s background in law, social work, professional ethics, and policy and practice standards gives her a practical perspective on helping clinicians evaluate boundary concerns, understand legal and ethical responsibilities, and make thoughtful decisions when professional roles become complicated.

Dr. Krase guides you through a practical examination of dual and multiple relationships, grounding the discussion in core ethical principles like beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice. Rather than treating every boundary concern as a simple yes-or-no question, you will learn a structured approach for ethical decision-making: identify the problem, evaluate who is impacted, weigh your options, and properly document your final choice. Through realistic case examples, you will also explore how to navigate complex overlapping connections—such as working with couples or siblings, accepting gifts, or managing unexpected encounters within rural, veteran, or recovery communities.

Special attention is given to the unique boundary challenges created by technology and social media. You will examine how texting, electronic communication policies, online privacy, and even platforms like LinkedIn or Venmo can inadvertently blur professional roles. To help you manage these modern risks, the course equips you with actionable strategies—emphasizing how proactive informed consent, ongoing consultation, clear communication, and thoughtful documentation can protect both you and your clients when ethical gray areas arise.

Key Takeaways

• Ethical decision-making in complex situations: Use core ethical principles to evaluate boundary concerns rather than relying only on rigid rules or assumptions.
• Dual and multiple relationships: Understand how overlapping roles can create risks related to confidentiality, objectivity, exploitation, coercion, and blurred expectations.
• Practical case analysis: Examine realistic boundary scenarios involving couples, siblings, referrals, gifts, shared communities, recovery spaces, veterans, rural practice, and technology.
• Informed consent and documentation: Learn why boundary expectations should be discussed early, revisited when needed, and documented thoughtfully when concerns arise.
• Technology and social media boundaries: Consider how texting, electronic communication, social media, LinkedIn, Venmo, and other digital tools can complicate privacy and professional roles.

Why This Course?

• Clinically realistic guidance: Boundary issues rarely unfold as clean textbook examples. This course focuses on complicated situations clinicians may actually encounter in practice.
• Practical ethical structure: Dr. Krase offers a clear process for identifying the concern, evaluating who may be affected, considering multiple options, and documenting the decision.
• Relevant across disciplines: The content is designed for behavioral health professionals across roles and settings, including counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, psychologists, addiction professionals, and other mental health professionals.
• Meets a professional training need: This course is designed to meet the New York State requirement for mental health professionals to complete 3 hours of training on maintaining appropriate professional boundaries. The content is not New York-specific and may also be useful for clinicians seeking ethics training in other jurisdictions, as applicable to their professional requirements.

Learning Objectives

• Describe the ethical and legal responsibility of mental health professionals to maintain appropriate professional boundaries with their clients.
• Define dual/multiple relationships.
• Apply a framework to avoid dual/multiple relationships whenever possible.
• Apply a framework to minimize potential harm to clients and the professional whenever dual/multiple relationships are not avoidable.

Boundary concerns can be stressful because they often involve real people, real relationships, and imperfect options. This training gives clinicians a structured, practical way to slow down, evaluate the ethical issues involved, protect client welfare, and respond with greater clarity when personal, professional, community, or digital worlds overlap.

Format and Access

This is a Non-interactive, self-study course. Instruction consists of 3 hours of on-demand video and a post-test.

Course Details

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. This continuing education course is designed for licensed behavioral health professionals.

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: 

Course access and completion instructions.

Instructor and Disclosures

Instructor

About Kathryn Krase, Ph.D., JD, MSW

Kathryn Krase, Ph.D., J.D., M.S.W., Principal Consultant with Krase Consulting and founder of Making the Tough Call is an expert on the professional reporting of suspected child maltreatment. She has authored multiple books and articles on the subject. She has years of experience consulting with government and community-based organizations to develop policy & practice standards.

“Making the Tough Call” is a project of Krase Consulting. Kathryn S. Krase is the sole proprietor of both initiatives. Both Making the Tough Call and Krase Consulting are registered entities in New York State.

Disclosure Statement: 

The instructor(s) for this course receive compensation for their services. There are no reported conflicts of interest to disclose.

CE Hours

Credit Hours:

This course consists of 3 ethics continuing education hours of credit.

Counselors:

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No, 6693.  Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified.  Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Mental Health Counselors. #MHC-0048.

Marriage and Family Therapists:

Many MFT licensing boards accept our courses or one of the approvals which we have from professional associations.  You can check with your board to determine if your licensing board would accept this course.

Social Workers:

Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, #1609, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 05/02/2024 – 05/02/2027. Social workers completing this course receive 3 ethics continuing education credits.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Social Workers #SW-0435.

Addiction Professionals:

This course has been approved by Telehealth Certification Institute LLC, as a NAADAC Approved Education Provider, for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #193104, Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is responsible for all aspects of the programming.

Psychologists:

Telehealth Certification Institute LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Telehealth Certification Institute LLC maintains responsibility for this program and its content.

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Psychologists #PSY-0128.

Art Therapists:

Telehealth Certification Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for Licensed Creative Arts Therapists #CAT-0093.

Other Professionals:

This course qualifies for 180 minutes of instructional content as required by many national, state and local licensing boards and professional organizations.  Retain your certificate of completion and contact your board or organization for specific filing requirements.

 This course is a non-interactive, online self-study.

Participants may request a printed version of their certificate of completion to be delivered by mail. A shipping/handling fee of $6.95 will be charged per request. Shipping internationally may require an additional charge.

Accommodations and Policies

Close Captioning is available for live webinars and recorded video presentations.

You can click on the following links to view our policies:

• Accommodations for Individuals with Disabilities.
• Cancellation Policy
• Grievance Policy
• Support Options
• Disclosure Statement