‘Security and Privacy’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life, Page 2

Two weeks after well documented facts were published indicating unethical behaviour by an ISMHO founder, the mental health organization’s board of directors has formally expelled the whistleblower for activities contrary to the best interests of ISMHO — i.e., for telling the truth. The result of the board’s secret deliberations comes just days after board members misled the ISMHO membership, claiming the APA had found that no unethical behaviour had ever occurred.

The International Society for Mental Health Online has expelled from its discussion list the whistleblower who first brought evidence to light suggesting unethical behaviour on the part of one of the group’s board members. The expulsion has apparently occurred in violation of the organization’s own guidelines. In addition, I would like to apologize publicly for incorrectly suggesting the ISMHO had censored the original message pointing to the evidence of this unprofessional behaviour.

Original article removed 28 July 2006: At the request of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), the article originally appearing at this URL has been removed. The BACP request allows that the article may be republished at a later time provided that identifying features of people and professional bodies involved in the matter being reported have been removed. The URL for the appropriately edited article is available below.

If your computer permanently stopped working right now, this very instant, what would happen to your practice? How about your clients? Just how much will it cost — in time, money, or stress — to recover your tax and financial information, client records, and other critical practice data in the event of a minor computer disaster that can happen in just milliseconds? Two new articles in our practice building section help you to formulate a secure and reliable encrypted backup strategy that can save you money and may save your practice.

Mental health professionals have certain obligations — some legal, some ethical — regarding confidentiality and the security of records and other materials related to their practice. The first part of this article offers some brief notes on types of software encryption solutions available to help meet these obligations, while a second part explores some of their advantages and disadvantages and offers specific software suggestions.