Threat Assessment in Clinical Settings: Duty to Warn and Protect
Duty to warn and protect obligations require clinicians to make high-stakes judgments about risk under conditions of significant uncertainty — and the legal and ethical framework governing those judgments varies across jurisdictions in ways that directly affect clinical decision-making. This 3-hour continuing education course prepares mental health professionals to conduct structured threat assessment in clinical settings: understanding the legal foundations of duty to warn and protect from Tarasoff through current state law, empirically validated approaches to violence risk assessment, structured professional judgment frameworks (HCR-20, B-SAFE), threat assessment in outpatient settings, documentation standards for duty-to-protect situations, and the clinical and ethical complexities of working with clients who express violent ideation. Clinically rigorous and directly applicable to practice.
3
CE Hours
4
Modules
17
Quiz Questions
1
Est. Minutes
What you'll learn
- Trace the legal evolution of the duty to protect from Tarasoff v. Regents through contemporary statutory variation.
- Differentiate duty to warn from duty to protect and identify how each is operationalized across jurisdictions.
- Apply structured professional judgment instruments (HCR-20, SAVRY, WAVR-21) to clinical threat assessment.
- Distinguish static, dynamic, and acute risk factors and separate ideation from intent and plan.
- Document a threat assessment, consultation, and warning to meet liability and clinical standards.
- Maintain therapeutic alliance and clinical integrity following a justified breach of confidentiality.
Who it's for
Licensed mental health professionals (LPCs, LCSWs, LMFTs, NCCs)
Approval & credit
CounselorReady is an NBCC-Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP #7760). This course awards 3 NBCC-approved CE hours; a certificate is issued on completion. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. CounselorReady is solely responsible for all aspects of the program.