Obtaining legal counsel for child and family mental health practice

There are seven reasons mental health practitioners providing services to children and families face an escalation of legal liability and risk of ethical, regulatory (licensing), and legal (malpractice) complaints: (1) parents using children to assuage their own anxiety; (2) the increase in governmental control of mental health practice; (3) the penchant for litigation; (4) the demise of community mental health services programs (resulting in highly disturbed persons seeking services from private practitioners); (5) distrust of health care providers (which results in a common negativity towards health care practitioners in general and mental health therapeutic compliance in specific); (6) demands from and restrictions imposed by third-party payment sources that increase the risk of client dissatisfaction; and (7) the competitive marketplace. This article explains the practitioner's hesitancy to rely on legal counsel for risk management purposes, noting that there are two barriers to making the decision to obtain legal services: the wish to maintain control of the situation; and the financial expense. Guidance is given for recognizing the need for legal counsel.