La. Admin. Code tit. 46 § LX-4709

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section LX-4709 - Professional Competence and Integrity

A. Licensees maintain high standards of professional competence and integrity.

B. Licensees pursue knowledge of new developments and maintain competence in marriage and family therapy through education, training, or supervised experience.

C. Licensees maintain adequate knowledge of and adhere to applicable laws, ethics, and professional standards.

D. Licensees seek appropriate professional assistance for their personal problems or conflicts that may impair work performance or clinical judgment.

E. Licensees do not provide services that create a conflict of interest that may impair work performance or clinical judgment.

F. Licensees, as presenters, teachers, supervisors, consultants and researchers, are dedicated to high standards of scholarship, present accurate information, and disclose potential conflicts of interest.

G. Licensees maintain accurate and adequate clinical and financial records.

H. While developing new skills in specialty areas, licensees take steps to ensure the competence of their work and to protect clients from possible harm. Licensees practice in specialty areas new to them only after appropriate education, training, or supervised experience.

I. Licensees do not engage in sexual or other forms of harassment of clients, students, trainees, supervisees, employees, colleagues, or research subjects.

J. Licensees do not engage in the exploitation of clients, students, trainees, supervisees, employees, colleagues, or research subjects.

K. Licensees do not give to or receive from clients:

1. gifts of substantial value; or

2. gifts that impair the integrity or efficacy of the therapeutic relationship.

L. Licensees do not diagnose, treat, or advise on problems outside the recognized boundaries of their competencies.

M. Licensees make efforts to prevent the distortion or misuse of their clinical and research findings.

N. Licensees, because of their ability to influence and alter the lives of others, exercise special care when making public their professional recommendations and opinions through testimony or other public statements.

O. To avoid a conflict of interests, licensees who treat minors or adults involved in custody or visitation actions may not also perform forensic evaluations for custody, residence, or visitation of the minor. The licensee who treats the minor may provide the court or mental health professional performing the evaluation with information about the minor from the licensees perspective as a treating licensed or provisionally licensed marriage and family therapist, so long as the licensee does not violate confidentiality.

P. Licensees are in violation of this code and subject to revocation or suspension of licensure or provisional licensure or other appropriate action by the board through the advisory committee if they:

1. are convicted of any felony;

2. are convicted of a misdemeanor related to their qualifications or functions;

3. engage in conduct which could lead to conviction of a felony, or a misdemeanor related to their qualifications or functions;

4. are expelled from or disciplined by professional organizations;

5. have their licenses or certificates suspended or revoked or are otherwise disciplined by other regulatory bodies;

6. continue to practice marriage and family therapy while no longer competent to do so because they are impaired by physical or mental causes or the abuse of alcohol or other substances; or

7. fail to cooperate with the board through the advisory committee at any point from the inception of an ethical complaint through the completion of all proceedings regarding that complaint.

La. Admin. Code tit. 46, § LX-4709

Promulgated by the Department of Health and Hospitals, Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners, LR 29:169 (February 2003), Amended by LR 41757 (4/1/2015).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 37:1101-1123.