Boundaries & Ethics: Best Practices for Clinicians Working with Children, Youth, and Families

Recorded webinar.

When children and adolescents experience mental health challenges, the impact often extends throughout the entire household, making the role of a qualified counselor vital in helping families regain stability. Family therapy can evoke intense emotions for everyone involved, including the client, their family, and the clinician. This workshop will explore the importance of creating strong therapeutic connections and the ethical considerations necessary for maintaining healthy boundaries within the family unit.

As attention-seeking behaviors in children escalate, they may go unnoticed until a crisis arises, leading to challenging issues such as self-harm, substance use, or social difficulties. This workshop will address the ethical complexities of pediatric mental health care, focusing on the importance of informed consent, confidentiality, and navigating the delicate balance between the child's rights and parental involvement. Clinicians will gain clarity on how to handle these ethical dilemmas and maintaining professional boundaries while fostering positive changes within the family.

Participants in this workshop will learn actionable strategies for managing moderate-to-high-risk cases, including how to navigate their own emotional responses to clients and their families. The workshop will cover essential topics such as confidentiality, client disclosures, sharing information with parent/guardians, informed consent, cultural sensitivity and family dynamics. Additionally, solution-focused strategies for developing and maintaining healthy boundaries will be provided. This includes avoiding triangulation, enmeshment, and countertransference, while also addressing transference issues to maintain a healthy clinical bond. Finally, it will explore the role of supervision and workplace disclosures, particularly in situations where multiple family members are receiving care within the same office, ensuring a balanced approach to confidentiality and professional support.

Learning Objectives:

1. Examine ethical dilemmas common in clinical work focused on clients younger than 19-years of age.
2. Identify moderate and high-risk behaviors common in pediatric clinical work, developing meaningful action strategies to be resourceful to the client.
3. Evaluate examples of youth client demands of confidentiality when directly conflicting with parental/guardian demands to know.
4. Analyze strategies for managing interpersonal effectiveness and healthy boundaries with client and family, specifically focusing on effective ethical best practice.
5. Formulate strategies for maintaining ethical best practice in a workplace where multiple members of the same family may be receiving services.

Research: Coming Soon!

Target Audience: social workers, mental health practitioners, creative arts therapists, marriage and facility therapists, psychologists, addiction professionals, case managers, and other interested individuals.

We are happy to respond to any concerns or questions you may have. Please contact us at by email at sw-ce@buffalo.edu or by phone at 716-829-5841.

ADA Accommodations: If you require any support for your ADA needs in the United States, please contact us by email at least 3 weeks prior to the event by email at sw-ce@buffalo.edu or by phone at 716-829-5841.