Family Therapists and Religious Communities: Negotiating Dual Relationships*

Family therapists involved with religious communities as leaders, employees, or community members face unique challenges in evaluating the potential benefits and risks of dual relationships. Building on existing literature, we propose a three‐level model of factors for therapists to use to evaluate risk: (a) professional ethics codes and legal guidelines, (b) theory of therapy, and (c) contextual variables and relationships among the therapist, the client, and the religious community.