Courtesy Photo Dulley

All mental health workers are bound by confidentiality rules. But when clients threaten to harm themselves or others, state law allows therapists to ask police to step in.

Therapist Jean Duley did just that last month, after Ivins reportedly said he planned to kill co-workers and others.

Duley told a Frederick County District Court judge last month that she called police for a welfare check on Ivins July 10, the day after the reported threats. FBI documents released this week confirm that Duley made the call, but Frederick police said they cannot release details of the emergency evaluation petition or reveal who called them regarding Ivins.

Frederick police officers escorted Ivins from his office at Fort Detrick to Frederick Memorial Hospital for an emergency psychiatric evaluation that day. He was kept at FMH for two days before being transferred to Sheppard Pratt psychiatric hospital in Baltimore.

Lt. Clark Pennington, public information officer for the Frederick Police Department, said anyone can call police to request an emergency evaluation for someone, but that requests made by law enforcement officials, doctors, and licensed clinicians are regarded as the most reliable.

Aileen Taylor, executive director of the state Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists, said only licensed clinical professional counselors can request emergency evaluations. Duley holds only a certified supervised counselor license and must practice under another clinician. FBI documents refer to Duley as a licensed clinical social worker; however, a search of licensees at the state Board of Social Work Examiners website returns no results for Duley.

While Taylor said that clinicians who do request emergency evaluations for clients are to reveal as little confidential information as possible, she said she is unsure how the law applies to mental health workers who seek personal protection or peace orders against clients.

"There are incidents unfortunately where the therapist is the intended victim, and we support their taking appropriate steps to protect themselves," said Sherri Morgan, associate counsel to the National Association of Social Workers' Legal Defense Fund, and part of the organization's Office of Ethics and Professional Review. Duley testified that FBI agents told her to obtain the peace order against Ivins.

In her peace order petition, filed July 24, Duley wrote that Ivins had "a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats, actions, plans, threats and actions towards theripist (sic)" and that another psychiatrist had called Ivins "homicidal, sociopathic with clear intentions." During her hearing, she described threatening calls Ivins had made to her home July 11 and 12 and told the judge that Ivins had been planning to poison people since 2000. She also said she was "scared to death" of Ivins.

Morgan said that while confidentiality regulations are in place to protect both clients and therapists, the latter must use his or her clinical skills to assess the potential for danger and decide how much information to reveal.

"These are difficult decisions to make," Morgan said. "It's important that therapists are highly trained and skilled to É do the best clinical assessment that they can. You can't always predict the future."

Staff writer Gina Gallucci-White contributed to this story.