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Webinar - Ethics & Boundaries: Legal Concerns for Clinicians & Mental Health Providers
Thursday, November 05, 2026, 10:00 AM - 2:30 PM CDT
Category: WAFCA CE Training

Registration for this event will open August 31st.

Ethics & Boundaries: Legal Concerns for Clinicians & Mental Health Providers
Presented by Jacqueline Landess, MD, JD, FAPA and Tony Thrasher, DO, MBA, CPE 

*Up to 4 CE credits will be issued to those attending this virtual opportunity.
Details: November 5, 2026 (10:00am - 2:30pm) via Zoom (Includes a 30-minute lunch break)

Description: This session will be an interactive presentation led by experienced forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Jacqueline Landess and long-term emergency/crisis psychiatrist, Dr. Tony Thrasher.  The conversation will focus on how ethical, legal, and regulatory concerns shape the clinician’s practice. We will examine common dilemmas that arise in day-to-day practice and how to approach them, including a review of boundary crossings versus violations. We will discuss how to interface with other stakeholders, including legal professionals and state licensing boards. Additionally, we will note how a strong background in ethical practice will assist providers in the most complicated of scenarios involving multiple stakeholders. Ethics guidelines, relevant statutes, and regulatory rules will also be discussed.

Learning Objectives: 

  • Examine the need for ethics, its difference from morals, overlap with legal liability, and guiding principles for clinical decision making.
  • Discuss boundary violations, crossings, and the ethical and legal problems which arise when these occur
  • Discuss practical steps to take if you are subpoenaed or must testify as a fact witness
  • Discuss malpractice liability and how this differs from criminal or other types of civil liability (i.e. professional licensing board referrals)
  • Review common clinical ethical conundrums and discuss how to approach using your profession’s Code of Ethics
  • Review the process, procedure, and typical outcomes of professional licensing board complaints
  • Learn how to approach a board complaint
  • Review the concept of impaired practitioners, fitness for duty assessments, and the pathway to return to practice

Presenter Information: 
Dr. Jacqueline Landess is a board certified general and forensic psychiatrist as well as an attorney. She works at the Mendota Mental Health Institute and maintains a private forensic practice, performing both criminal and civil evaluations. She sees a range of professionals for fitness for duty assessments and closely interacts with attorneys and professional licensing boards during this process. Dr. Landess is current President of the Wisconsin Psychiatric Association, Director of the Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship at Medical College of Wisconsin, and holds other leadership positions within the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. She has published and presented on a variety of forensic topics, including constitutional law, correctional psychiatry, medicolegal concepts, and reproductive psychiatry.

 

Dr. Tony Thrasher is a board-certified psychiatrist employed as the medical director for the Milwaukee County Crisis Services.  He received his psychiatric training from Washington University in St. Louis at Barnes Jewish Hospital, and he is a Past President of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry (AAEP). He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and he currently serves as the Immediate Past President for both the Wisconsin Psychiatric Association (WPA) and the Wisconsin Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons (WAOPS).   

In the past three years, Dr. Thrasher is proud to have served as editor for both the Oxford Press Primer on Emergency Psychiatry as well as the FOCUS journal for the APA focusing on the core curriculum of Emergency Psychiatry.  Those ventures helped culminate in the creation of a brand-new Focused Practice Designation in Emergency Behavioral Health as a combined effort of the psychiatric and emergency medicine fields! As of late, he has been inducted into the American College of Psychiatrists, was named a Top Doctor by Milwaukee Magazine, earned his accreditation as a Certified Physician Executive (CPE), and he received an Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from National NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). 

A Note on WAFCA Webinars: Webinars are live virtual learning opportunities designed to be accessed by individuals. Group participation is not encouraged; post-webinar group discussions are a recommended alternative.

In order to offer CE credits for these virtual learning opportunities via NBCC, WAFCA verifies attendance using Zoom. Each registrant receives a unique link that confirms their attendance and email address for CE certificates. Link sharing is not permitted, and CE credits are not available for unregistered participants.

About our Offerings: WAFCA has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 6778. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. WAFCA is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs. Visit the WAFCA-CE registration page for more information on fees and policies. 

Contact: [email protected]