Supervision, Law, and Ethics Training with Steve Frankel, J.D., Ph.D. 

Dr. Frankel will outline key legal and ethical information pertaining to topics focusing on supervision, maintaining clinical records, privacy regulations and confidentiality, and is designed for early career through senior professionals.  The program will also present a review of recently enacted or modified laws in the State of California, which have implications for all jurisdictions in the United States.  The program will turn to issues including record retention from a legal liability viewpoint rather than the simple statements of how long records must be kept, and websites that provide helpful information about liability and risk management for any/all mental health clinicians, and then turns to an analysis of record-keeping requirements.  The presentation will then review situations in which clinicians are involved in the legal system and especially in courts of law, including witness categories.  What will follows is a review of practice formations, and ways to create and manage mental health practices, including how to cope with reputational problems.  The program will conclude with information about developments for involuntary commitment, internet practice and a review of the best online training for child abuse reporting.

Steve Frankel, Ph.D., J.D. is an ABPP Certified Clinical and Forensic Psychologist and an Attorney at Law, who practices both professions in Sonoma County.  A past Director of Clinical Training and current Clinical Prof. of Psychology at USC, he began recognizing childhood trauma in his adult patient case-load in 1980 and has specialized in working with that population ever since.  He joined the Int’l. Society for the Study of Trauma & Dissociation in the 1990s and was the consultant to the Trauma Program at Del Amo Hospital from 1993 until 2001.  He was President of the ISSTD in 2002 and has been active in developing and teaching courses in law/ethics and trauma treatment as well as publishing chapters and articles in books and professional journals.  As an attorney, he represents health care professionals involved in licensing board actions and consults with mental health colleagues facing a variety of legal challenges.  He has spearheaded an effort to protect health care professionals who suffer from degenerative neuro-cognitive disorders from ending their careers with licensing board actions. He received the California Psychological Association’s Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Profession in 2015.