Dr. Becky Beaton-York is the author of Practice Smart Forms, and they have all been vetted by more than one attorney. She is passionate about psychological ethics and helping therapists grow their practices grounded in ethics and integrity while also creating a personally and professionally fulfilling career. Dr. Beaton-York began creating these forms when she founded The Anxiety & Stress Management Institute, a very large outpatient facility in Atlanta, Georgia, which she clinically directed for 15 years. She realized quickly that managing therapists required creating documentation that was ethically and legally sound while also being as efficient as possible to ensure compliance. Her staff grew to love these forms, as well as thousands of other clinicians who rave about them in Georgia and around the country. Several hospitals and university counseling centers have also adopted them.

Dr. Beaton-York is a Licensed Psychologist and a Licensed Professional Counselor. She has been on the Georgia Psychological Association's (GPA) Ethics Committee since 2010 and Ethics Chair for eight of those years. Additionally, she was the Ethics Chair for the Licensed Professional Counselor's Association of Georgia (LPCA-GA) for two years and has taught numerous ethics workshops since 1999.

Related to her interest in ethics and documentation, Dr. Beaton-York has served as an ethics expert in malpractice lawsuits. Part of her role in these cases is to examine the clinician's documentation to determine if the therapist was practicing below the standard of care and/or committing any ethical violations. This experience has made Dr. Beaton-York extremely aware and diligent about designing these forms to help the therapist write them in such a way that they will hold up in court. Of course, there are no guarantees in court; however, this is a great place to start! We hope you find them to be helpful.