Boundaries, Self-Care, and Professional Ethics

Credit

Program Information

All members of the PESI, Inc. planning committee have provided disclosures of financial relationships with ineligible organizations and any relevant non-financial relationships prior to planning content for this activity. None of the committee members had relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies or other potentially biasing relationships to disclose to learners.  For speaker disclosures, please see the faculty biography.

A small portion of the material for this CE activity was developed with limited assistance from generative AI. All AI-generated information was reviewed for accuracy by the instructor, an independent content reviewer, or PESI staff.

Speaker

Adrianne Sturtevant, LICSW Related seminars and products

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Adrianne Sturtevant, LICSW, is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with over 15 years of experience across a diverse range of therapeutic settings. She earned her Master of Social Work from San Diego University, where she focused her thesis on predictive factors for college graduation among low-income youth. Currently, Adrianne operates an online private practice, delivering evidence-based therapy to adolescents and adults in multiple states. In addition, she consults with organizations seeking to enhance their telehealth services by developing infrastructure to support clinician recruitment and multi-state operations.

Adrianne’s extensive experience prior to her telehealth practice includes work in emergency foster care, wilderness therapy, and community-based settings, where she has developed and implemented clinical processes for remote teams, trained and supervised staff, and provided evidence-based healthcare. She attributes her career success to maintaining healthy boundaries that allow her to balance professional and personal commitments, including participating in endurance events such as Ironman-distance triathlons. With a robust clinical background and a passion for promoting mental health, Adrianne remains a valuable resource for her clients and a leader in the mental health community.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Adrianne Sturtevant maintains a private practice and has an employment with MDLive. Adrianne Sturtevant receives compensation as a presenter. She receives a speaking honorarium and recording royalties from PESI, Inc. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Adrianne Sturtevant has no relevant non-financial relationships.

Alternate Dates

Additional Info

Program Information

For live CE credit, you must watch the live webcast in its entirety at its scheduled time and complete the CE quiz and evaluation within one week. You will have access for 90 days after the program for review.

Please note: There will be a 70-minute lunch and two 15-minute breaks; one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Lunch and break times will be announced by the speaker and at their discretion. A more detailed schedule is available upon request.

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Objectives

1. Determine the importance of both personal and professional boundaries for self-care.
2. Identify how the NASW, APA, AAMFT and ACA Code of Ethics applies to boundary setting and self-care in the outpatient clinical setting.
3. Develop strategies that minimize burnout.
4. Develop a self-care plan that supports healthy boundaries.
5. Analyze predictive factors of burnout.
6. Choose strategies to communicate personal and professional boundaries.

Outline

• Personal v. professional boundaries
• Types of professional boundaries
  • Self-disclosure
  • Dual relationships
  • Telehealth
  • Documentation
  • Countertransference
• Law vs code of ethics
• How the latest codes and standards inform boundaries
• Duty to report colleagues – importance of this ethical standard
• Identify personal values and how they related to boundaries
• Connections between personal values and professional ethics
• What to do if your values don’t align with ethical standards
• Protect your clients: Self-determination, values, and more
• Protect yourself: Burnout, ethical and legal obligations, and more

• How investing in self-care is upholding our professional ethics
• Compare areas from the code of ethics (NASW, APA, ACA, AAMFT)
• Difference in professional self-care and personal self-care
• Pillars of self-care: Emotional, psychological, physical, spiritual, professional, and relational
• Build a self-care plan to support healthy boundaries
• Teach boundaries to clients as a form of self-care
  • How and when to say no
  • Listen to client’s needs rather than imposing our own
  • Teach clients reframing of obligations as a choice
  • Identify client values to facilitate their building their own boundaries
• Recognize and manage transference and countertransference
• When to refer out a client due to transference issues
• Self-care specifically for therapists
  • Eliminate unethical dual relationships
  • Prevent burnout
  • Have structure of healthy boundaries around work
  • Support colleagues in being ethical
  • Accept or reject employment based on your needs
  • Supervision and peer support
  • Continuing education
  • Moral disengagement as result of poor work environment

• Predictive & protective factors of burnout
• How environment of workplace contributes
• Strategies for preventing burnout
  • Personal strategies
  • Seeking support
  • Use stress inventory
  • Time management
• Explore what boundaries are needed to prevent burnout

• Limitations, risks, and scope of practice
• Examples on how to phrase treatment goals
• Recognize personal boundaries within the clinical relationship
• Use values and boundaries work with clients
• Stay objective when our values don’t match our client’s values
• Relevant ethical codes and us working in our client’s best interests
• Intervention strategies if a client’s views are harmful vs. when they are different from our own
• Communication skills for holding clients to established boundaries
• Framework for interactions with clients
  • Consent and other paperwork that starts conversation
  • Boundaries on how and when to communicate
  • Teach clients about emergency services
  • Recognize differences in client needs without compromising self or acting unfairly to others
  • Modes of communication and limitations of each

Target Audience

• Counselors
• Social Workers
• Psychologists
• Case Managers
• Therapists
• Marriage & Family Therapists
• Other Mental Health Professionals
• Physicians