North Dakota Administrative Code
Title 111 - Marriage and Family Therapy Licensure Board
Article 111-02 - Licensure and Fees
Chapter 111-02-01 - General Provisions
Section 111-02-01-05 - Code of ethics
Universal Citation: ND Admin Code ยง 111-02-01-05
Current through Supplement No. 394, October, 2024
1. The code of ethics applies to all licensees and applicants who practice marriage and family therapy and applies to their conduct during the period of education and training required for licensure.
2. The code of ethics constitutes the standards by which the professional conduct of a marriage and family therapist is measured.
3. A violation of the code of ethics is unprofessional or unethical conduct and is a sufficient reason for disciplinary action or denial of licensure or revocation of license.
4. A marriage and family therapist must act in accordance with the highest standards of professional integrity and competence. A marriage and family therapist must be honest in dealing with clients, students, trainees, colleagues, and the public.
a. A therapist must not perform, nor pretend
to be able to perform, professional services beyond the therapist's field or
fields of competence.
b. A
therapist must not permit a trainee or intern under the therapist's supervision
to perform, nor pretend to be competent to perform, professional services
beyond the trainee's or intern's level of training.
c. A therapist must recognize the potentially
influential position the therapist may have with respect to students, interns,
employees, and supervisees, and must avoid exploiting the trust and dependency
of these persons. A therapist must make every effort to avoid dual
relationships that could impair the therapist's professional judgment or
increase the risk of exploitation. Sexual contact between the therapist and
students, employees, independent contractors, colleagues, or supervisees is
prohibited for two years after the date that the relationship is terminated,
whether or not the party is informed that the relationship is terminated.
Sexual contact after two years with a former student, intern, employee, or
supervisee is prohibited:
(1) If the former
student, intern, employee, or supervisee was emotionally dependent upon the
therapist; or
(2) If the sexual
contact occurred by means of therapeutic deception.
d. A therapist must not engage in sexual
contact or other harassment, therapeutic deception, or exploitation of
students, trainees, interns, employees, independent contractors, colleagues,
research subjects, or actual or potential witnesses or complainants in ethical
proceedings.
e. A therapist must
not use or exploit the professional relationship with a student, trainee,
intern, employee, independent contractor, colleague, research subject, or
actual or potential witness or complainant in ethical proceedings in any manner
for the therapist's emotional, financial, sexual, religious, political, or
personal advantage or benefit.
f. A
therapist must recognize that there are other professional, technical, and
administrative resources available to clients. The therapist must make
referrals to those resources when it is in the best interest of clients to be
provided with alternative or complementary services. The therapist must make a
reasonably prompt referral when requested to do so by the client, without
consideration of limitation of third-party payers.
g. A therapist must not offer, nor accept,
payment for referrals.
h. A
therapist must not knowingly offer services to a client who is in treatment
with another professional without consultation among the parties involved. If a
client refuses to allow consultation, the therapist should delay the
administration of service until the client gives written consent to
consultation. The exception to the consultation requirement would be if the
client reports ethical violations by the other professional.
i. A therapist must understand the areas of
competence of related professions and act with due regard for the need, special
competencies, and obligations of their colleagues in other allied professions,
and must not disparage the qualifications of any colleague.
j. A therapist must seek appropriate
professional assistance for the therapist's own personal problems or conflicts
that are likely to impair the therapist's work performance and clinical
judgment.
k. A therapist must not
practice under the influence of alcohol or any controlled substance not
lawfully prescribed.
l. A therapist
must not allow an individual or agency that is paying for the professional
services of a client to exert undue influence over the therapist's evaluation
or treatment of the client.
m. A
therapist must file a complaint with the board when the therapist has reason to
believe that another therapist is or has been engaged in conduct which violates
this section, North Dakota criminal statutes, or which is grounds for
disciplinary proceedings in North Dakota Century Code section
43-53-10.
n. A therapist must not
engage in any conduct likely to deceive or defraud the public or the
board.
o. A therapist must not
advertise in a way that is false, fraudulent, or misleading to the
public.
p. A therapist shall use
only academic degrees from regionally accredited institutions that are related
to the practice of marriage and family therapy in any situation or circumstance
related to the practice of marriage and family therapy. Those therapists
holding current North Dakota mental health professional licenses issued by
other North Dakota licensing boards may also use degrees and titles directly
related to these licenses as permitted by the other boards when the other
licensure is cited with the marriage and family licensure.
q. A therapist must correct, wherever
possible, false, misleading, or inaccurate information and representations made
by others concerning the therapist's qualifications, services, or
products.
r. A therapist must make
certain that the qualifications of a person in a therapist's employ as a
student, independent contractor, or an intern are represented in a manner that
is not false, misleading, or deceptive.
s. A therapist must not engage in any
unprofessional conduct. Unprofessional conduct is any conduct violating this
section or violating those standards of professional behavior that have become
established by consensus of the expert opinion of marriage and family
therapists as reasonably necessary for the protection of the public
interest.
5. A marriage and family therapist's primary professional responsibility is to the client. A marriage and family therapist must make every reasonable effort to advance the welfare and best interests of families and individuals. A marriage and family therapist must respect the rights of those persons seeking assistance and make reasonable efforts to ensure that the therapist's services are used appropriately. A marriage therapist is bound by these ethics primarily. These ethics supersede any policies of an employer or contractor that may be contrary.
a. Once a client has been accepted
into therapy, a therapist must not discriminate on the basis of age, sex, race,
national origin, religion, physical disability, political affiliation, or
social or economic status. In addition, a therapist must not discriminate on
the basis of affectional preference, or choice of lifestyle. When unable to
offer services for any reason, a therapist shall make an appropriate
referral.
b. A therapist must
recognize the potentially influential position the therapist may have with
respect to clients, and must avoid exploiting the trust and dependency of
clients. A therapist must make every effort to avoid dual relationships with
clients that could impair the therapist's professional judgment or increase the
risk of exploitation.
c. A
therapist must be careful to truthfully represent to clients facts regarding
services rendered.
d. A therapist
must recognize the importance of clear understandings on financial matters with
clients. Arrangements for fees and payments must be made at the beginning of
the therapeutic relationship.
e. A
therapist must not engage in sexual contact or other physical intimacies with a
client. Sexual contact with a former client is prohibited.
f. A therapist must not engage in sexual or
other harassment of a client, nor in any verbal or physical behavior that is
sexually seductive or sexually demeaning to the client. For purposes of this
item, sexual harassment has the meaning given it in subsection 15 of section
111-02-01-01.
g. A therapist must not use or exploit the
professional relationship with a client in any manner for the therapist's
emotional, financial, sexual, religious, political, or personal advantage or
benefit.
h. A therapist must not
use any confidence of a client to the client's disadvantage.
i. A therapist must terminate a client
relationship when it is reasonably clear that the treatment no longer serves
the client's needs or interests.
j.
A therapist must not provide services to a client when the therapist's
objectivity or effectiveness is impaired. Whenever a therapist's objectivity or
effectiveness becomes impaired during a professional relationship with a
client, the therapist must notify the client orally and in writing that the
therapist can no longer see the client professionally and must assist the
client in obtaining services from another professional.
k. A therapist must respect the right of a
client to make decisions and must help the client understand the consequences
of the decisions. A therapist must advise a client that a decision on marital
status is the responsibility of the client.
l. A therapist must inform a client of a
divergence of interests, values, attitudes, or biases between a client and the
therapist that is sufficient to impair their professional relationship. Either
the client or the therapist may terminate the relationship.
m. In the course of professional practice, a
therapist must not violate any law concerning the reporting of abuse of
children under North Dakota Century Code chapter 50-25 and vulnerable adults
under North Dakota Century Code chapter 50-25.2.
n. A therapist must display prominently on
the premises of the therapist's professional practice or make available as a
handout the bill of rights of clients, including a statement that consumers of
marriage and family therapy services offered by marriage and family therapists
licensed by the state of North Dakota have the right to:
(1) Expect that a therapist has met the
minimal qualifications of training and experience required by state
law;
(2) Examine public records
maintained by the marriage and family therapy licensure board which contain the
credentials of a therapist;
(3)
Obtain a copy of the code of ethics from the marriage and family therapy
licensure board;
(4) Report
complaints to the marriage and family therapy licensure board;
(5) Be informed of the cost of professional
services before receiving the services;
(6) Privacy as defined by rule and
law;
(7) Be free from being the
object of discrimination on the basis of race, religion, gender, or other
unlawful category while receiving services;
(8) Have access to their records;
and
(9) Be free from exploitation
for the benefit or advantage of a therapist.
o. A therapist must, upon request from the
client, provide information regarding the procedure for filing a complaint with
the board.
p. It is a violation of
the code of ethics for a marriage and family therapist licensed by the board to
engage in any practice or treatment that attempts to change or repair the
sexual orientation or gender identity of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,
or questioning individual, commonly referred to as conversion or reparative
therapy.
As used in this section, "conversion therapy" means any practice or treatment that seeks to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity, including efforts to change behavior or gender expression or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attraction or feelings toward an individual of the same gender. Conversion or reparative therapy does not include counseling that provides assistance to a person undergoing gender transition, or counseling that provides acceptance, support, and understanding of a person or facilitates a person's coping, social support, and identity exploration and development, including sexual-orientation-neutral interventions to prevent or address unlawful conduct or unsafe sexual practices, as long as such counseling does not seek to change an individual's sexual orientation or identity.
6. A marriage and family therapist must hold in confidence all information obtained in the course of professional services. A marriage and family therapist must safeguard client confidences as required by law.
a. A therapist, and employees and
professional associates of the therapist, must not disclose any private
information that the therapist, employee, or associate may have acquired in
rendering services except as provided by law. All other private information
must be disclosed only with the informed consent of the client.
b. A therapist must be responsible for
informing clients of the limits of confidentiality.
c. For purposes of safeguarding
confidentiality, when seeing a couple or a family, a therapist must define who
the "client" is as soon as it is possible to determine the client. For example,
a therapist must define whether the couple or family, as a unit, is the client
or whether the individuals who make up the couple or family are the
clients.
d. When seeing a couple or
a family, a therapist must inform the client, at the beginning of the
relationship, what the therapist's procedures are for handling confidences from
individual members of the family and for protecting individuals' privacy while
safeguarding the integrity of the therapy process.
e. Whenever marriage and family therapy
services are requested or paid for by one client for another, the therapist
must inform both clients of the therapist's responsibility to treat any
information gained in the course of rendering the services as private
information.
f. A therapist must
limit access to client records and must inform every individual associated with
the agency or facility of the therapist, such as a staff member, student, or
volunteer, that access to client records must be limited to only the therapist
with whom the client has a professional relationship, an individual associated
with the agency or facility whose duties require access, and an individual
authorized to have access by the informed written consent of the
client.
g. A therapist must
continue to maintain as private information the records of a client for ten
years after the professional relationship between the therapist and the client
has ceased. The therapist must store and dispose of records in ways that
maintain confidentiality.
h. A
therapist must disclose to the board and its agents client records that the
board and its agents consider to be germane to a disciplinary
proceeding.
i. A therapist must
obtain written, informed consent from each client before electronically
recording sessions with that client or before permitting third-party
supervisory observation of their sessions. The consent form should specify the
purpose and proposed audience for the recording.
j. A therapist must disguise adequately the
identity of a client when using material derived from a counseling relationship
for purposes of training, research, professional meetings, or
publications.
k. A client who is
the recipient of marriage and family therapy services has the right to access
the records related to the service maintained by the licensee on that client,
provided the records are not classified as confidential by North Dakota
law.
l. A marriage and family
therapist must maintain an accurate record for each client. Each record must
minimally contain:
(1) A client personal data
record which shall include the presenting problem;
(2) A treatment plan with a diagnosis and
justification for it and treatment goals;
(3) An accurate chronological listing of all
client contacts and a summary of each;
(4) Records of any consultation or
supervision received in relation to the client;
(5) A termination statement indicating the
date and reason for termination, the client's condition at the time, and any
recommendations made to the client;
(6) Copies of all client authorization for
release of information and any other legal forms pertaining to the client;
and
(7) A chronological listing of
all fees or charges for services related to the client and to whom the fees
were charged. This record may be kept separate from the client's clinical
file.
7. A marriage and family therapist must conduct research activities with full respect for the rights and dignity of participants and with full concern for their welfare according to the requirements of the "Ethical Principles of Psychologists, General Principle 9: Research With Human Participants", American psychological association, as amended June 2, 1989. These requirements are incorporated by reference. The requirements were published in "American Psychologist", March 1990, volume 45, number 3, pages 390-395. Participation in research is voluntary.
General Authority: NDCC 43-53-05
Law Implemented: NDCC 43-53-05, 43-53-10, 43-53-11
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. North Dakota may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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