Every day mental health professionals are faced with making practice decisions involving cultural, ethical, moral, regional, personal, and legal considerations. Using the Law: Practical Decision Making in Mental Health shows readers how to resolve practice problems efficiently through a structured application of legal principles. Writing for the various disciplines that face such complex decisions, Israel pulls from the codes of ethics of the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, and the National Board of Certified Counselors. Using the Law presents a unique unified perspective that stresses the integration of the fundamental legal, ethical, cultural, and pragmatic factors influencing practice.Written in a clear and direct style, this book is ideal for both instructors of law and ethics classes in social work, psychology, counseling, and other mental health academic programs as well as private practitioners, agency personnel, and administrators in mental health professions.