Position Statement and Call to Action: Ethics and Law as Essential to e-Mental Health

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Piers Gooding and Richman Wee (monograph)

eMHIC (2022)

(Abstract)

This Position Statement was drafted by the Special Interest Group on Law and Ethics for eMHIC for presentation at the eMHIC Congress in November 2021, after which feedback from members and independent advisors was sought and integrated into the document. The purpose of this Position Statement is (1) to recognise the important role eMHIC can play in articulating the ethical and legal issues raised by e-mental health practices, and (2) to support action to ensure such practices are guided by ethical principles, professional codes of conduct, and established norms of law. The call for attention to ethical and legal issues raised by e-mental health technologies is growing worldwide, with broad agreement that more work is needed to improve regulation and governance. Of central concern is promoting practices that benefit individuals, communities, and populations, and preventing and minimising harms, particularly against those for whom e-mental health services are designed.

Piers Gooding, Research Lead (2021–23). Piers is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne Law School. He is a socio-legal scholar whose research focuses on the law and politics of disability and mental health. Piers has acted as a board member and advisor in a range of local, national and international bodies working on the rights of disabled people, and has advised policy-makers at national and international levels. He posts here on Twitter and you can read more about his work here.