GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION Every professional relationship mental health professionals have with their patients/clients must eventually end. But, just how they end and just how we handle these endings have important ethical, legal, and clinical implications. This course addresses each and teaches the mental health clinician how to anticipate the various types of termination that may occur during our professional work and how best to address each. Participants in this course will learn the ethical dilemmas we may face regarding termination and abandonment, how to address them, and perhaps most importantly, how to prevent many of them. Additionally, participants will learn to address relevant termination and abandonment issues through a comprehensive informed consent procedure, through the documentation of our professional work, and through use of relevant ethical and legal standards. Different types of termination will be addressed to include planned, unanticipated, unavoidable, and mandatory. Participants will also learn how to plan for clinically indicated types of termination that are not permanent such as when one provides treatment intermittently over the course of one's lifespan. Additionally, participants will learn how to integrated the termination phase of treatment into the ongoing psychotherapy or counseling process so that the patient's/client's treatment needs are most effectively met. The course consists of 12 articles. The first article, the introductory article to this course, provides an overview of the issues each mental health clinician must address regarding termination and abandonment. The types of termination one may anticipate are reviewed and guidance is provided for addressing them in an appropriate manner. The second article, Termination Challenges and Effective Clinical Practice, provides additional detail on the issues of termination and abandonment. Issues such as viewing termination as a phase of psychotherapy and how to more comprehensively address the various termination scenarios possible are addressed. The next article, Termination: Ethical and Legal Issues, provides a detailed discussion of the ethical and legal issues relevant to termination and abandonment, including an introduction to relevant case law that impacts on the standard of care for mental health professionals. Next, Termination of Psychotherapy, provides guidance on the clinical aspects of termination. Underlying motives, clinician and patient/client reactions, and the role of one's theoretical orientation are discussed. The next article, When Practice Ceases - Temporarily or Permanently, provides guidance from a state licensure Board on the issues relevant to termination and abandonment. Client records, maintaining confidentiality, prevention of abandonment, and the impact of closing of one's practice are addressed. In Risk Management and Ethical Issues Regarding Termination and Abandonment, a detailed discussion of ethical, legal, clinical, and risk management issues is provided. This includes specific guidance for those working within managed care. Additionally, sample letters are provided for your use to appropriately contact patients/clients when treatment ends to help fulfill ethical and legal obligations and to prevent charges of abandonment. In Folding Up Your Shingle: Termination of Practice, the author provides guidance on legal issues relevant to the termination process. Participants will learn of representative legal guidance from several states to understand the implications of how they handle the termination process and to provide guidance for establishing good termination practices. In ABC's of Termination: Clinical, Ethical, and Legal Issues, the authors provide a brief mnemonic for remembering the essentials of effective and ethical termination practices that should be of benefit to all participants. The next article, When a Practice Closes Abruptly: Ethical Issues for Clinicians, assist participants to anticipate and effectively plan for unexpected circumstances that may result in abandonment and mishandling of the termination process if not addressed appropriately. Specific guidance is provided to prevent such an occurrence. In the next article, Until We Meet Again, the author provides a thoughtful and insightful view of specific rituals for enhancing the termination process. Specific strategies are suggested for clinicians to implement that will assist in promoting a more meaningful ending of the treatment relationship. Codes of Ethics on Termination in Counseling and Psychotherapy reviews the relevant sections of the Codes of Ethics of the mental health professions and discusses their implications for effective and ethical practice with regard to termination and abandonment. Finally, California Law and Regulation on Termination in Psychotherapy reviews the relevant sections in the California law and Boards' regulations on termination and abandonment.