We’re excited to share a conversation with Dr. Kathryn Krase, an accomplished social worker, lawyer, educator, and expert on professional ethics. With over two decades of experience teaching and leading in social work programs across New York City, Dr. Krase brings a powerful blend of academic insight and real-world legal expertise. She is also the Principal Consultant at Krase Consulting, where she trains health and mental health professionals on navigating their ethical and legal responsibilities. In addition to her impressive background as a family law practitioner and social work supervisor, Dr. Krase is offering an upcoming course that meets New York State requirements—an essential opportunity for professionals seeking to stay compliant and informed.
Read on as Dr. Krase shares her perspective on the intersection of law, ethics, and clinical practice.
Q: What does ‘personal information’ mean? Is it as simple as discussing anything other than work?
A: I believe that the code standards mean to suggest to avoid personalizing your communications with the client. The codes suggest that you avoid personal communications so that you don't talk about yourself. However, there are plenty of practitioners who find or believe, based on their practice, based on their training, that providing some information about their personal experiences helps connect them to certain clients, and so it's part of their practice. The code doesn't say you must not share personal information about yourself. It just talks about how you should avoid this personal communication.
Q: Are clinicians ever at risk when giving free service informally to family and friends?
A: We are definitely at risk when we give free services. Just because you're not charging for a service does not mean that you are not ethically responsible for that service. Lots of people don't recognize that. Anytime you are offering your professional services, whether you're paying for it, or somebody's paying for it, or you're contracting with somebody, if you believe somebody is holding you accountable for a professional opinion, you need to be ethical in the way that you provide it.
Q: Can you cause emotional harm to someone other than your client?
A: When we're talking about dual relationships, we're talking about how the relationships between our clients and other people might create a triangulation with us because we might have a relationship with that other person as well. And so there's more than just when we talk about dual relationships, or multiple relationships, it's more than just us and the client in the space, even though they're not with us in the professional relationship. And so when we have a client who is also related to somebody that we work with, or we know from the gym, the potential is there for that third person to be impacted by the relation, the professional relationship. So there we need to be careful because we need to protect those people as well.
Q: If we feel that there is transference or countertransference going on that can lead to an unethical situation, isn't our obligation to go to our supervisor and discontinue services if the issue continues past the point of professional?
A: Definitely, it's always helpful to process that most people who are having issues with transference and countertransference don't even recognize that it's happening. That's where you really get into problems. If you're able to identify and work with your supervisor or colleagues to help minimize the impact of those responses, then by all means, continue with the client. If you're finding that you are unable to do so, then yes, termination would be appropriate.
Q: Can a therapist give a gift to the client at the termination of services?
A: In certain areas of practice, like in substance use disorder treatments or programs in which somebody finishes a program, that oftentimes somebody will provide a gift. I think it's important in those spaces to still acknowledge that there's a risk, but that if you characterize it as a professional expectation, and it's a standard that happens in all of those situations, then it's easier to justify in a gift-giving policy. Because it's not a personal gift. It’s a program experience.
Check out Dr. Krase's live event with MakeAnImpact.com later this month!
