Ethics and Boundaries Workshops
I am offering the following workshops for mental health professionals under the auspices of the Ministry for Mental Health.
As far as I can ascertain, these workshops will satisfy the ethics continuing education requirement for the Idaho Division of Occupational Licenses, Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists, since the Board does not offer advanced approval of continuing education courses and does not limit which organizations can provide such training.
From the DOPL rule 24.15.01 100.07
Continuing Education. In each twenty-four (24) month period preceding the renewal of a license, all licensees must complete six (6) hours in ethics, three (3) hours of boundaries, and three (3) hours in suicide assessment or intervention. Additionally, licensees are required to comply with the continuing education and competence sections of the Codes of Ethics pertaining to their licensure.
The Competence section of the AAMFT Code of Ethics is as follows:
3.1 Maintenance of Competency
Marriage and family therapists pursue knowledge of new developments and emerging therapeutic approaches. Marriage and family therapists maintain their competence in the field through education, training, or supervised experience.
The Continuing Education section of the ACA Code of Ethics is as follows:
C.2.f Continuing Education
Counselors recognize the need for continuing education to acquire and maintain a reasonable level of awareness of current scientific and professional information in their fields of activity. Counselors maintain their competence in the skills they use, are open to new procedures, and remain informed regarding best practices for working with diverse populations.
Workshops
Proposed ethical standards for psychotherapists working with questioning youth - A more ethical and effective way to work that will keep psychotherapists, their supervisors, and their agencies out of trouble
I can do this in either a 3 hour or 6 hour format.
Rationale:
Several medical associations have now reversed their advice about medically assisted sex change therapy and sex change surgeries for children. The United States Supreme Court has effectively ruled that broad Conversion Therapy bans that included work with questioning (trans) people are unconstitutional. The State of Idaho just passed a law that requires mental health providers in Idaho to inform parents of their child's decision to socially transition from one sex to another within 72 hours of their knowledge of the child's decision. Finally there have been several recent "de-transitioner" lawsuits won by the plaintiffs, who effectively sued their psychotherapists for failing to adequately assess their conditions and provide common sense treatment for them prior to recommending and referring them for medical transitions.
These developments represent a seismic shift in the psychotherapy profession that creates an immediate need for a new ethical framework and treatment guidelines for working with questioning youth. Psychotherapists need to abide a new set of ethical principles for working with this population because psychotherapists, their supervisors, and their agencies may be at risk if it could be determined they are facilitating medical malpractice or offering mental health treatment that pushed patients toward harmful treatments without first exhausting all prudent and common sense clinical considerations.
I recently created that proposed ethical framework (below) and corresponding treatment considerations.
Proposed Ethical Statements for children under 18 (varies by state)
These evolving ideas are my own, derived from my understanding of the available research for this patient population, and existing broad ethical frameworks for psychotherapists. They are proposals. To date, these proposed ethical guidelines have not been approved by any professional association or continuing education authorizing group, although they align with the frameworks for medical providers put forward by the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds).
The importance of having good boundaries in psychotherapy and what often goes wrong
Definitions
In psychotherapy, boundary risks refer to situations where the professional limits between therapist and client are blurred, potentially compromising the therapeutic alliance, client safety, and the therapist’s ethical standing. These risks can be initiated by either party and often stem from human tendencies toward closeness, empathy, or convenience.
Co-Pilot
Therapeutic boundaries are the structural framework that makes therapy safe enough to actually work. Without them, the relationship between therapist and client loses its defining quality, that it exists entirely in service of the client’s wellbeing.
Research consistently links the strength of the therapeutic alliance to outcomes across virtually every treatment modality, and boundaries are what hold that alliance together. What they are, why they break down, and what the damage looks like is worth understanding closely.
NeuroLaunch
In this 3-hour workshop that should satisfy the Idaho continuing education requirement for boundaries, I will discuss the importance of having solid boundaries in psychotherapy and what often goes wrong, even among the most ethical practitioners. Maintaining good boundaries is difficult, but essential, and reflects the art of excellent psychotherapy. Boundaries are both an ethical and effectiveness issue.
Preventing Suicide - 3 Hours
Created on demand for your organization.
As always, I intend to pave the way to more ethical and effective psychotherapy practice.
Fee negotiable
Please contact me if you would like me to deliver any of these workshops at your organization.
As far as I can ascertain, these workshops will satisfy the ethics continuing education requirement for the Idaho Division of Occupational Licenses, Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists, since the Board does not offer advanced approval of continuing education courses and does not limit which organizations can provide such training.
From the DOPL rule 24.15.01 100.07
Continuing Education. In each twenty-four (24) month period preceding the renewal of a license, all licensees must complete six (6) hours in ethics, three (3) hours of boundaries, and three (3) hours in suicide assessment or intervention. Additionally, licensees are required to comply with the continuing education and competence sections of the Codes of Ethics pertaining to their licensure.
The Competence section of the AAMFT Code of Ethics is as follows:
3.1 Maintenance of Competency
Marriage and family therapists pursue knowledge of new developments and emerging therapeutic approaches. Marriage and family therapists maintain their competence in the field through education, training, or supervised experience.
The Continuing Education section of the ACA Code of Ethics is as follows:
C.2.f Continuing Education
Counselors recognize the need for continuing education to acquire and maintain a reasonable level of awareness of current scientific and professional information in their fields of activity. Counselors maintain their competence in the skills they use, are open to new procedures, and remain informed regarding best practices for working with diverse populations.
Workshops
Proposed ethical standards for psychotherapists working with questioning youth - A more ethical and effective way to work that will keep psychotherapists, their supervisors, and their agencies out of trouble
I can do this in either a 3 hour or 6 hour format.
Rationale:
Several medical associations have now reversed their advice about medically assisted sex change therapy and sex change surgeries for children. The United States Supreme Court has effectively ruled that broad Conversion Therapy bans that included work with questioning (trans) people are unconstitutional. The State of Idaho just passed a law that requires mental health providers in Idaho to inform parents of their child's decision to socially transition from one sex to another within 72 hours of their knowledge of the child's decision. Finally there have been several recent "de-transitioner" lawsuits won by the plaintiffs, who effectively sued their psychotherapists for failing to adequately assess their conditions and provide common sense treatment for them prior to recommending and referring them for medical transitions.
These developments represent a seismic shift in the psychotherapy profession that creates an immediate need for a new ethical framework and treatment guidelines for working with questioning youth. Psychotherapists need to abide a new set of ethical principles for working with this population because psychotherapists, their supervisors, and their agencies may be at risk if it could be determined they are facilitating medical malpractice or offering mental health treatment that pushed patients toward harmful treatments without first exhausting all prudent and common sense clinical considerations.
I recently created that proposed ethical framework (below) and corresponding treatment considerations.
Proposed Ethical Statements for children under 18 (varies by state)
- Ethical psychotherapists working with questioning youth conduct an accurate, differential assessment of patients' problems of living that is uncontaminated by politics, reimbursements, or societal preferences, and leads to effective treatment.
- Ethical psychotherapists working with questioning youth offer thorough informed consent in their marketing materials and during pre-therapy that includes not only the psychotherapy process and fees, but also transparency about any beliefs or values the therapist might hold that could impact a diagnosis or prescription.
- Ethical psychotherapists working with questioning youth always offer the least restrictive, least invasive intervention (or no intervention) that, based on their clinical experience, and the available research, has the capacity to be effective.
- Ethical psychotherapists never participate in concealing new gender experimentation from the parents of a dependent child because such experimentation necessarily creates psychological distress that requires family support. Since gender experimentation is a sign of a serious psychological impairment, it should be documented in the medical record, which parents can access under Idaho law. Ethical psychotherapists work with their child patients to collaborate with their parents if they wish to engage in gender experimentation. In most cases, an ethical psychotherapist would inform the parents that their child is engaging in gender experimentation even if the child (and other people in their support system) wants to conceal the experimentation from the parents. A psychotherapist who fails to involve parents when serious and potentially dangerous acting out is occurring is not acting prudently to protect a minor, which could constitute an ethical violation.
- Ethical psychotherapists working with questioning youth provide unconditional positive regard to all patients, but they do not routinely confirm their patients’ self-perceptions (or the perceptions of other professionals or people in their personal lives) in the absence of objective reality.
- Ethical psychotherapists help questioning youth recognize that changing their bodies is not always possible or beneficial and is often harmful. Therefore, the least restrictive intervention for these children is Watchful Waiting, a process that allows ethical and effective psychotherapists to help their patients reconcile who they are so that they can accept themselves as they are.
These evolving ideas are my own, derived from my understanding of the available research for this patient population, and existing broad ethical frameworks for psychotherapists. They are proposals. To date, these proposed ethical guidelines have not been approved by any professional association or continuing education authorizing group, although they align with the frameworks for medical providers put forward by the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds).
The importance of having good boundaries in psychotherapy and what often goes wrong
Definitions
In psychotherapy, boundary risks refer to situations where the professional limits between therapist and client are blurred, potentially compromising the therapeutic alliance, client safety, and the therapist’s ethical standing. These risks can be initiated by either party and often stem from human tendencies toward closeness, empathy, or convenience.
Co-Pilot
Therapeutic boundaries are the structural framework that makes therapy safe enough to actually work. Without them, the relationship between therapist and client loses its defining quality, that it exists entirely in service of the client’s wellbeing.
Research consistently links the strength of the therapeutic alliance to outcomes across virtually every treatment modality, and boundaries are what hold that alliance together. What they are, why they break down, and what the damage looks like is worth understanding closely.
NeuroLaunch
In this 3-hour workshop that should satisfy the Idaho continuing education requirement for boundaries, I will discuss the importance of having solid boundaries in psychotherapy and what often goes wrong, even among the most ethical practitioners. Maintaining good boundaries is difficult, but essential, and reflects the art of excellent psychotherapy. Boundaries are both an ethical and effectiveness issue.
Preventing Suicide - 3 Hours
Created on demand for your organization.
As always, I intend to pave the way to more ethical and effective psychotherapy practice.
Fee negotiable
Please contact me if you would like me to deliver any of these workshops at your organization.
