Duty to Warn (Tarasoff)

The Tarasoff decision deals with responsibility of the volunteer to warn victims of potential violence by clients. Simply stated, this means that the psychotherapist-patient privilege is overshadowed by the therapist's responsibility to warn an intended victim.
The general legal requirements for CSS staff and volunteers in regard to Tarasoff warning follows:
• The counselor’s duty does not only arise where the counselor has actual knowledge of danger. It arises whenever the counselor determines, or pursuant to standards of the profession should determine, that the caller presents a serious danger to another.
• If a caller threatens physical violence against someone, the threat must be a serious one and the victim or victims must be “reasonably identifiable”. Some examples of when a victim is "reasonably identifiable" include:
o The victim is specifically named by patient (ex. Bob Smith of 123 Sesame Street)
o The victim is easily identifiable by their relationship to the patient (ex: my mother, brother, employer, colleague, competitor, etc.)
o Other easily recognizable trait (ex.: the Mayor, my congressman, the anchor for the Channel 22 5 p.m. news hour).
• In order to discharge the duty to warn, the volunteer must make reasonable efforts to communicate the threat to the victim or victims and must notify a law enforcement agency.
• The counselor must take all necessary steps to warn the victim of the circumstances such as attempting to contact the potential victim by telephone.
• This may include telling other persons who are in a position to warn the victim.
• It is reasonable to provide the name and address of the caller making the threats and the nature of the violence that the client has threatened.
o It is not permissible to provide the police or the victim access to confidential patient records without a valid court order, however.
Use the same assessment questions for suicide as for homicide:
• Do you have a plan?
• Means?
• When?
• Are they willing to contract?
• Have they tried already?
• What are you hoping to get out of telling me this?
• Do you want to be stopped??

On- call staff person must be notified during the shift if there is potential harm to another person.
The attached page summarizes the protocols regarding the Tarasoff Mandate.