Workshop Archives

Listed in alphabetical order below are some of the Interactive Workshops that have been presented in the past by The Center For Ethical Practice. If you would like us to conduct a workshop for your agency, organization, or practice group, you may want to review these topics, as well as those on the “Upcoming Workshops” page, to see which one best fits your training needs.

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• . . . “. . . but everybody does it !” Following the Crowd vs. Creating Your Own Ethical Policies - Whose advice are you hearing as you develop your policies for clinical practice? Who are your ethical models for deciding how to handle such important things as billing for third party reimbursement, clinical boundaries, or informed consent? What policies protect your clients in the "dual/multiple relationships" of couple/family cases? What…
• 6 Temptations -
• Acculturation & Competence -
• Applying Virginia’s Legal Standards in Your Own Practice - This workshop is for Virginia psychologists. It is based on an Ethical/Legal Practice Manual, written by Dr. Fisher and published by the Virginia Academy of Clinical Psychologists (VACP), which integrates the APA Ethics Code, Virginia Board of Psychology Practice Standards, Virginia Statutes, and Federal HIPAA Regulations. (This website also contains…
• Are We Really “Informants” ? -
• Are Your Policies (And/Or Your Supervisees’ Policies)Clear Enough? - This workshop considers some of the ethical implications of the presence or absence of clear policies about fees, billing, availability, absences, emergencies, confidentiality, disclosure, boundaries, etc. (1) How clear should they be? (2) How should they be described to clients? (3) How well are they understood by others that you…
• Avoiding Slippery Slopes -
• Beginnings & Endings: Ethical Issues and Potential Pitfalls - What are our ethical and legal responsibilities as we begin a clinical relationship? What are our ethical and legal obligations when ending a relationship? How can the beginning help to create a better ending? How might a "professional will" protect clients in the event of unexpected endings?
• Beyond the Basics: Conversations About Ethical & Ethical/Legal Issues - This workshop involves little formal presentation of information. We will use your experiences and hypothetical case situations, and we will arm you with handouts of your ethical & legal standards, in order to practice using an Ethical Problem-Solving Model to resolve ethical and ethical/legal dilemmas.
• Boundaries & Dual Relationships What Are the Rules? -
• Boundary “Crossing” or Boundary “Violation”? - Ethics writers are asking us to make a distinction between a benign non-sexual "crossing" of boundaries and a harmful unethical "violation" of boundaries in client relationships. What are the ethical and clinical implications of that distinction? Where should we draw the line? Who gets to decide?
• Chance Encounters of the Awkward Kind - What are the ethical implications of how we handle encounters with clients or their families outside the clinical setting? How do we decide where to draw the line in such encounters? Are there any ways to minimize their occurrence, or to prevent unnecessary clinical complications? How can we prevent them…
• Choosing an Ethical Decision-Making Model and Teaching it to Others - This workshop will introduce several ethical decision-making models and will use hypothetical case vignettes to illustrate how they might be used in various settings. Participants can practice using them in preparation for adopting one for use in their own practice or when supervising, training or consulting with others.
• Clarifying Our Ethical Responsibilities in Multi-Client and Agency-Referred Cases - We are often advised to ask "Who Is The Client?" when determining our role or clarifying our confidentiality rules in cases involving multiple clients or agency referrals. But that question implies a singular answer, which can create more problems than it solves! "Who is the client?" may be a required…
• Confidentiality Ethics: What Do We Need to Know? Whom Do We Need to Tell? - This workshop includes a brief review of what "Confidentiality Ethics" requires us to know; but it is mostly about what we should be trying to DO with what we know. Beyond protecting the confidences of patients/clients, what other ethical, legal, clinical, and practical steps will help us carry out our…
• Couples in Therapy: Ethical, Legal, and Practical Issues -
• Court Cases: Are You Clear About Your Role? - Ethical & Legal Implications of Role Confusion in Court-Related Cases
• Creating a Competent Community -
• Deliberate Dual Relationships: Ethical Responsibility to Anticipate Harm - Ethics Codes specify that not all dual relationships are unethical. When must we say "no?" When do we have no choice? When are we free to say "yes?" Before we voluntarily create a dual relationship, or if we enter one "involuntarily" because required by law or by agency policies, what…
• Do Virginia Therapists have a “Duty to Warn” or a “Duty to Protect” ? - What are our ethical and legal responsibilities if a client threatens harm to others? What is the difference between a legal "duty to warn" and a legal "duty to protect"? Which of these applies in Virginia? In addition to cases of threats of harm, what are the other circumstances when…