Boundaries and the Modern Clinician
- Differences between boundary crossings and boundary violations
- 3 reasons crossings or violations can be problematic in clinical practice
- 5 therapist characteristics that create risk
- Common new issues in the digital age affecting the therapeutic relationship
- Telehealth’s dramatic effect on managing boundary issues in clinical practice
- 6 ways to ensure ethical practice via telemental health
- The latest professional ethical codes (AAMFT, APA, ACA, NASW)
- Apply the 6 basic principles of ethical practice to boundary issues
- Ethically address boundary issues in or out of session
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
- Case vignettes around ethical decision making
How clients may use online tools to cross our boundaries and what to do
- Top reasons clients search online for their therapist’s information
- 3 practical tips for navigating conversations about digital boundaries in session
- The connection between digital boundary issues and informed consent
- Recommendations for relevant language in informed consent forms
Why boundary issues are inherent in therapist self disclosure via social media
- 3 common reasons for boundaries concerns
- Assess own usage of social media
- Methods to manage online presence and change current behavior around use of social media
Ethical Standards Around Countertransference
- Tips to better recognize and minimize harmful countertransference
- Discern top indicators of countertransference
- 3 crucial countertransference pitfalls
- Understand common risks and benefits of countertransference
- Strengthening one’s own capacity for managing countertransference
- Importance of ongoing goals for self-care
- Create plan for strengthen self-care to promote better boundaries and best practice
Create a countertransference management plan
- Important therapist characteristics to implement countertransference management plan
- Discern particular characteristics for self
- Develop and apply appropriate learning program for self-awareness
The role of implicit bias in countertransference situations
- The neuroscience basis for implicit bias
- Develop a plan for implicit bias management
- Apply new knowledge of implicit bias to current clinical practice
Do’s and Don’t’s Around Self-Disclosure
- The four main types of therapist self-disclosure (TSD)
- How and why therapist self-disclosure can deepen the therapeutic relationship
- Assess positive and negative sequelae of TSD
- Determine own tendencies of TSD orientation
- Develop a usable plan for deciding on self-disclosure in or out of session
- The pandemic’s effect on self-disclosure in clinical work


