64B4-10.003. Psychotherapist-Client Relationship

64B4-10.003 Psychotherapist-Client Relationship. A psychotherapist-client relationship is established between a psychotherapist and a person once a psychotherapist renders, or purports to render, clinical social work, marriage and family therapy or mental health services including, but not limited to, psychotherapy, counseling, assessment or treatment to that person. A formal contractual relationship, the scheduling of professional appointments, or payment of a fee for services are not necessary conditions for the establishment of a psychotherapist-client relationship, although each of these may be evidence that such a relationship exists. (1) Sexual misconduct, as defined in Rule 64B4-10.002, F.A.C., with a client is prohibited. (2) The determination of when a person is a client for purposes of this rule is made on a case by case basis with consideration given to the nature, extent, and context of the professional relationship between the psychotherapist and the person. The fact that a person is not actively receiving treatment or professional services from a psychotherapist is not determinative of this issue. A person is presumed to remain a client until the psychotherapist-client relationship is terminated. (3) The mere passage of time since the client’s last visit with the psychotherapist is not determinative of whether the psychotherapist-client relationship has been terminated. Some of the factors considered by the Board in determining whether the psychotherapist-client relationship has terminated include, but are not limited to, the following: (a) Formal termination procedures; (b) Transfer of the client’s case to another psychotherapist; (c) The length of the professional relationship; (d) The extent to which the client has confided personal or private information to the psychotherapist; (e) The nature of the client’s problem; and, (f) The degree of emotional dependence that the client has on the psychotherapist. (4) The psychotherapist shall not engage in or request sexual contact with a former client at any time if engaging with that client would be exploitative, abusive or detrimental to that client’s welfare or if the sexual contact is a result of the exploitation of trust, knowledge, influence or emotions, derived from the professional relationship. (5) A client’s consent to, initiation of, or participation in sexual behavior or involvement with a psychotherapist does not change the nature of the conduct nor lift the prohibition.