A cautious therapist may jump to the idea that all dual relationships should be avoided. In reality, some are unavoidable, common, or even mandated. In rural areas, you may be the only clinician for miles around and one of your clients may be the only veterinarian nearby. Supervisory relationships are also unavoidable because the supervisor has multiple avenues of accountability and must serve in different capacities at different times. The small town where I did my graduate practicum was a primary example of an unavoidable dual relationship as the only repeatable therapeutic service within the community happened to be my previous counselor. Some common dual relationships occur in the communities previously mentioned. Even in a large city there may only be one chiropractor that accepts a mental health professional’s insurance and their client may be the receptionist. Mandated dual relationships typically occur in governmental or legal areas of practice. Unexpected dual relationships take place when a clinician is not initially aware that the client they have entered into a therapeutic relationship with is also in their circle of friends, begins attending the same church, or begins to “follow” the clinician online.
To Enter Or Not To Enter A Dual Relationship
Comment 1 Standard
In counseling sessions I probably self-disclose a bit more than other counselors. Nonetheless, I do my best to watch for dual relationships. I go to over a meeting a day (AA, NA, SOS, ACA, Alanon, CoDA, and others), so occasionally I will see a client in a meeting. I nearly always offer to leave, but sometimes clients I know quite well say, “don’t worry about it,” and i don’t. No bad consequences yet, but I appreciate the problem. Thank you for the analysis above.