About this live event
From maintaining appropriate boundaries to practicing within one’s area of competence, ethical conduct is foundational to mental health practice. Yet despite universal mandates to "consult, consult, consult," when ethical ambiguity arises, practitioners frequently find themselves in precarious isolation. Standard ethics courses often fail to dig into the systemic and psychological reasons why we don't pick up the phone. These barriers range from professional pressures—such as deep ambivalence about setting boundaries or a fear of being perceived by peers as uncompassionate—to personal blocks from our own histories.
Whether we are consciously avoiding a known ambiguity or remain unaware of potential ethical pitfalls, the common denominator is often shame. Left unacknowledged and unmanaged, shame paralyzes a clinician’s reflective capacity, triggering a range of defenses that actively block exposure, and thus the pursuit of consultation.
This course will help practitioners shift from a rigid rule-following approach that is vulnerable to failure when competing standards are at play to a dynamic, shame and relationally informed approach which allows for access to nuanced and creative solutions. Participants will learn to identify shame markers that arise in response to a range of ethical complexities inherent in clinical practice. Moving beyond standard compliance lectures, this workshop provides actionable strategies to process professional vulnerability, restore reflective capacity, and build the discernment necessary to collaborate rather than go it alone when an ethical lens is needed.
