LPCC Emergency Response Procedures 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client presents to a session intoxicated and expresses intent to drive home. What is the LPCC's primary obligation?
- Respect the client's autonomy and allow them to leave
- Take reasonable steps to prevent the client from driving, including contacting law enforcement if necessary (Correct answer)
- Only document the incident and address it in the next session
- Immediately terminate the therapeutic relationship
Correct answer: Take reasonable steps to prevent the client from driving, including contacting law enforcement if necessary
The clinician has a duty to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable harm to the client and to third parties, which may include contacting law enforcement if the client insists on driving.
Question 2: What is the PRIMARY purpose of a written safety plan developed collaboratively with a suicidal client?
- To provide legal protection for the clinician in case of a malpractice suit
- To provide the client with a structured, personalized guide for managing suicidal crises (Correct answer)
- To document that the client has waived their right to hospitalization
- To replace the need for a higher level of care
Correct answer: To provide the client with a structured, personalized guide for managing suicidal crises
A collaborative safety plan is a client-centered crisis tool that identifies warning signs, coping strategies, support contacts, and steps for escalating help during a suicidal crisis.
Question 3: During a telehealth session, a client suddenly becomes unresponsive and appears to have lost consciousness. What is the MOST appropriate immediate action?
- End the session and send a follow-up email
- Call 911 and provide the client's address for emergency dispatch (Correct answer)
- Wait five minutes to see if the client regains consciousness
- Contact the client's insurance company to authorize emergency services
Correct answer: Call 911 and provide the client's address for emergency dispatch
An unresponsive client during telehealth constitutes a medical emergency; the clinician must immediately call 911 and provide the client's physical address to dispatch emergency services.
Question 4: Which of the following is an example of a 'passive suicidal ideation' presentation that still requires clinical assessment?
- A client with a specific plan and access to a lethal method
- A client who states, 'I wouldn't mind if I just didn't wake up tomorrow' (Correct answer)
- A client who has made a recent suicide attempt
- A client who is in the process of giving away personal belongings
Correct answer: A client who states, 'I wouldn't mind if I just didn't wake up tomorrow'
Passive suicidal ideation, such as wishing to be dead without an active plan, still indicates significant distress and requires a thorough risk assessment.
Question 5: A client reports their partner has threatened to harm them. The LPCC's first step should be to:
- Contact the partner to clarify the nature of the threat
- Assess the client's immediate safety and develop a safety plan (Correct answer)
- File a police report on behalf of the client
- Refer the client to a domestic violence shelter without further discussion
Correct answer: Assess the client's immediate safety and develop a safety plan
Assessing the client's immediate safety and co-creating a safety plan are the foundational first steps when a client discloses intimate partner violence threats.
Question 6: The Tarasoff ruling established that clinicians have a duty to protect identifiable third parties from threats made by their clients. Which element is MOST essential for this duty to be triggered?
- The client has a documented history of violence
- The threat is serious, credible, and directed at an identifiable victim (Correct answer)
- The client has expressed general anger toward the world
- The potential victim is a family member of the client
Correct answer: The threat is serious, credible, and directed at an identifiable victim
Tarasoff and subsequent case law require that the threat be specific, serious, credible, and directed at an identifiable person for the duty to warn/protect to be activated.
Question 7: When completing a no-suicide contract, research suggests this intervention is MOST problematic because:
- Clients rarely remember signing the document
- It may create a false sense of security and lacks empirical support for preventing suicide (Correct answer)
- It is prohibited under most state licensing boards
- It is only valid if witnessed by a third party
Correct answer: It may create a false sense of security and lacks empirical support for preventing suicide
No-suicide contracts are not empirically supported as effective suicide prevention tools and may create complacency in the clinician's ongoing risk monitoring.
LPCC Emergency Response Procedures 3
A client presents to a session intoxicated and expresses intent to drive home.
What is the LPCC's primary obligation?