Abstract
Some clinical social workers encounter personal struggles and seek counseling services from other clinical social workers. These complex clinical relationships sometimes produce challenging ethical issues, particularly when treating social workers are concerned that their clients, who are also professional colleagues, may be impaired or have engaged in ethical misconduct. This article identifies challenging ethical issues and dilemmas that can arise when clinical social workers treat clinical social workers; reviews pertinent ethical standards; and discusses practical risk management protocols designed to protect clients, treatment providers, and employers. The author focuses especially on ethical issues related to consent-to-treatment agreements; release of information; confidentiality and its exceptions; management of social worker impairment; practitioner self-care; documentation; and boundary issues.
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Reamer, F.G. When the Client is a Struggling Clinical Social Worker: Ethical Challenges. Clin Soc Work J 51, 153–162 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-022-00859-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-022-00859-7