GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION The mental health professions and the services mental health professionals provide are rapidly being altered by the use of various technologies to provide clinical services to individuals in distant locations. While telehealth makes it possible for some individuals to receive services that would otherwise not be possible, the use of telehealth brings with it a number of important clinical, ethical and legal challenges. This course discusses these challenges and offers participants practical guidance for addressing them. Additionally, relevant ethics standards, statutes and legal issues, and strategies for effective clinical practice via telehealth are addressed. Participants in this course will learn about the technologies available for our use in providing clinical services, the circumstances when we may choose to use them and the pros and cons for doing so, important ethics and legal issues to consider before engaging in telehealth, and recommendations for using it in a clinically effective, ethical and legal manner. Telehealth activities may include: Using the telephone for crisis intervention or other contacts between in-person sessions. Conducting telephone sessions with patients who are not able to attend in-person sessions for a period of time. Providing clinical services entirely by telephone to an individual in a different geographical area. Using e-mail for in between in-person session contacts with clients. Using e-mail to provide online counseling services with no in-person contact. Providing assessment or treatment services to an individual in a different location utilizing interactive televideo communications technology. This course provides a sample Telehealth Disclosure form and consists of 18 articles. It starts with three introductory articles and is followed with a section that offers a review of issues relevant to the provision of telehealth services.  While its many benefits are clear, a number of challenges exist for consumers, professionals providing these services, and organizations providing oversight and regulation.  The readings address important ethical, legal, technical, and practical application issues that will confront each telehealth provider.  A number of possible solutions are suggested and resources are provided to assist the telehealth provider and those interested in entering this area of practice.  The next set of articles address in detail essential ethics issues relevant to the practice of telehealth to include confidentiality and privacy issues, duty to warn and protect, appropriately responding to emergency situations from a distance, and others.  The next section provides more specific guidance on the ethical, risk management and legal practice of telehealth, including the concern with practicing across states' lines, privacy and security and provides review of the codes of ethics on telehealth practices.  Finally, this last section provides a number of useful resources for telehealth providers as well as a sample disclosure form that practitioners may use or modify for use in their practice.