Psychology Practice
Dr. Kelly Moreno received his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Utah in 1988. Since 1981, he has worked at the Dominion Psychiatric Treatment Center of Virginia, Salt Lake City VA Medical Center, University of Utah Counseling Center, University of California—Santa Barbara Counseling and Career Services, Camarillo State Hospital, and Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
Currently, Dr. Moreno is Professor of Psychology at Cal Poly State University—San Luis Obispo, Training Coordinator for Cal Poly’s MS in Psychology and the Director of the Cal Poly Community Counseling Clinic. He also conducts Mentally Disordered Offender Evaluations for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He speaks regularly at regional and national psychology conferences and has over two-dozen publications on psychopathology and its treatment.
Novelist
A Duty To Betray
Mental health professionals are required by law to keep patient disclosures confidential, yet the law also requires them to “warn and protect” anyone their patient is likely to harm. A Duty to Betray plunges Dr. Ricardo Ruiz, a young psychologist just beginning his career, squarely into the middle of these two seemingly irreconcilable legal obligations.
Set inside the famed Camarillo State Hospital on California’s Central Coast, A Duty to Betray draws the reader into this legal, ethical, and ultimately moral dilemma when Mr. Tran, one of Dr. Ruiz’ patients, reveals a potentially lethal secret during therapy. Cat and mouse confrontations between the two thrust the “tell — don’t tell” conflict into sharp definition since Dr. Ruiz knows that, either way, his decision will have deadly consequences.
