The profession of psychologist is governed by the Professional Code and the Code of Ethics of Psychologists, which provide a framework for practices to guarantee quality professional services. In concrete terms, the role of the psychologist, as defined by the Professional Code, is to assess psychological and mental functioning, and to propose, recommend or apply interventions and treatments. The objective? To promote psychological health and help individuals restore their mental balance by taking into account their interaction with their environment. Psychologists also have the right to practice psychotherapy, a specialized approach that goes far beyond simple support or advice.
Psychotherapy is a psychological treatment designed to:
- Responding to a mental disorder, behavioural disturbances or any other difficulty causing psychological distress;
- To help the client make profound changes in their cognitive, emotional or behavioural functioning, interpersonal relationships, personality or health status.
The practice of psychotherapy therefore necessarily comes with legal obligations that can sometimes be difficult to navigate. Lambert Avocats can support you if you are facing disciplinary proceedings by offering you specialized and tailor-made legal assistance. Contact our disciplinary law team today to ensure a strong and thorough defence.
Duties and obligations of a psychologist
General duties
As a psychologist, you are subject to the obligations set out in the Professional Code, but also to those of the Code of Ethics. As such, you have an obligation to perform your duties with competence, integrity, objectivity and moderation, as well as to act in a manner that is beyond reproach towards your clients. In addition, when practising the profession, psychologists must act with respect for the dignity and freedom of the person. This includes, for example:
- use recognized scientific and professional methods of intervention that are in accordance with the rules of the art and specific to the mandate;
- respect solicitor-client privilege;
- Refrain from sexual contact with a client, or from forming friends with the client.
Duties to customers
Before agreeing to provide professional services, you must take into account your limitations, skills and means, as well as the client’s request and expectations, including his or her free and informed consent. To do this, you need to communicate to your customers:
- the purpose, nature, suitability and main terms and conditions of the services, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as their alternative and mutual responsibilities such as the amount of fees;
- the choice to refuse the services or to stop receiving them at any time;
- the rules on confidentiality and their limits.
You must also ensure that your clients understand this information and that their consent remains free and informed for the duration of the professional relationship. Once the professional relationship has begun, you should seek to establish or maintain a relationship of trust and mutual respect with your client. This is done in particular by being available and diligent with regard to the employee. In addition, in order to establish a diagnosis or give opinions and advice to your customers, you must have sufficient professional and scientific information to do so. Thus, you must develop, perfect and maintain the knowledge and skills of the field in which you practice.
Duties of confidentiality
In particular because of your privileged professional relationship with your clients, you are obliged to respect professional secrecy. This involves several obligations, including:
- Refrain from collecting information and exploring aspects of your clients‘ privacy that are unrelated to the services you have agreed to;
- Not to disclose any information about your customers, unless an authorization has been granted or when required by law;
- Notify your clients of the disclosure of their information and the consequences of such disclosure;
- To reveal that your clients are or have used or intend to use their services;
- Do not mention any information that could identify your customers;
- Obtain written permission from your clients to make an audio or video recording of the session;
- When therapy is carried out in a group, to safeguard the right to professional secrecy of each member of the group, but to inform them of the possibility of revealing any aspect of their private life to the rest of the group.
However, certain exceptions apply to professional secrecy, such as when the psychologist has reasonable cause to believe that an imminent danger of death or serious injury threatens a person. In this situation, you must contact the person in danger or the people who can help them. The reasons for the disclosure must then be documented in the record, as well as the circumstances of the disclosure, the information disclosed and the identity of the persons to whom the disclosure was made.
Duties of impartiality
In addition, you must avoid any conflict of interest situation. This includes, but is not limited to, not taking personal calls during sessions, not using your clients to obtain benefits for personal gain, such as medical diagnoses or prescriptions, or for political or commercial purposes, and not pressingly, repeatedly and/or unjustifiably encouraging a client to use your professional services.
In addition, you should refrain from sharing details about your personal life with your clients, making inappropriate comments of a sexual nature, and having a romantic or friendship relationship, as well as having sex with a client. As soon as you become aware that you are in a situation of conflict of interest or that you are likely to find yourself in a situation of interest, you must inform your client and agree with him or her on the appropriate measures. If the situation is irreconcilable, you must end the professional relationship.
Allegations of conflicts of interest can be a difficult ordeal for any psychologist. Aware of the consequences that such allegations can have on your career and reputation, our team is ready to offer you a solid defense in order to protect your rights and continue your professional activities with peace of mind. If you are faced with allegations of conflicts of interest, do not let the situation deteriorate. Contact our disciplinary lawyers now.
End of services
You may terminate a provision of the Services only when there are good and reasonable grounds to do so, including, but not limited to:
- The loss of the relationship of trust with the customer;
- The inability of the customer to take advantage of your services;
- The risk that the maintenance of services may become more damaging than beneficial for the client;
- A situation of conflict of interest or doubt as to professional independence;
- Incitement by the customer to illegal, unjust or fraudulent acts;
- The client’s failure to comply with the agreed terms and conditions and the inability to agree with the client on a reasonable agreement to reinstate them;
- The psychologist’s decision to reduce or terminate their practice;
The customer must have been notified of the interruption of services within a reasonable time and measures must be taken to ensure that the interruption is as minimal as possible. In this situation, you must contribute, as much as possible, to ensuring that your client can continue to obtain the professional services he or she needs.
The duty of access to information
You must respond diligently and no later than 30 days after receipt to any request from your clients to review their file and obtain a copy of their documents, as well as to have information corrected or deleted or to regain possession of a document. On the other hand, you can temporarily refuse the sharing of documents when it would cause serious harm to the client. In this case, the client must be informed of the reasons for the refusal and their remedies, and these must be recorded in the file.
Homework regarding the use of psychological material
The profession of psychologist may involve the use of psychological tests and associated manuals and materials. Their use, administration, correction, interpretation and publication must be carried out in accordance with scientific and professional principles. Thus, you should be careful in your interpretation of the results of these tests and recognize their inherent limitations. In your reports on these, you should limit yourself to your interpretation of the psychological material and your conclusions, without venturing beyond what the data allow us to conclude.
Duties to the public
In your public statements dealing with psychology, you must avoid unsubstantiated discrediting psychological methods that conform to generally accepted professional and scientific principles. In addition, you should avoid exaggeration and sensational claims, and instead ensure that you indicate the restrictions, limitations and contraindications that apply to the processes and techniques about which you publicly disclose information.
Duties to the profession
Every psychologist must seek to promote the development and credibility of the profession. To do so, you must refrain from committing acts that are derogatory to the dignity of the profession provided for in the Professional Code. These include:
- Abusing the professional relationship established with a client to have sexual relations, engage in abusive acts of a sexual nature and make abusive comments of a sexual nature;
- Committing an act involving collusion, bribery, embezzlement, breach of trust or influence peddling;
- Attempt to commit such an act or advise another person to do so;
- Conspiracy to commit such an act.
Finally, you must not breach your trust or use unfair methods, such as forging documents. As a psychologist, you provide essential support to your clients. At Lambert Avocats, we understand your professional realities and are here to defend your rights and support you in your legal challenges. Because just as you are there for your customers, we are here for you. In the event of an investigation by the Order of Psychologists or a disciplinary complaint, contact us without delay.