Summary:
An ethics workshop that will make you smile rather than cringe. Do you sometimes give too much advice or give it too early? Do you validate what you don’t know, get into power struggles by taking the healthy voice, or project your values? If you’re like most therapists, you do! All therapists are human and we all make mistakes. This workshop focuses on those mistakes that are very common in the practice of psychotherapy. The word common is used intentionally because we all make them and they generally are not fatal mistakes. They are the kind of mistakes that may slow down the therapeutic process but generally won’t halt it unless they are made too frequently or repetitively. Talking about these common mistakes enables us to keep them in the forefront of our minds so that we make them less often. Reducing common mistakes enables us to increase compliance with ethical codes regarding the boundaries of competence, maintaining competence and avoiding harm. The specific relevant ethical codes for ACA, NASW and AAMFT will be presented. Finally, recognizing the universality of these mistakes enables us to use humor and even poke fun at ourselves a bit.