Clinical Ethics in Close Quarters: Navigating Dual Relationships

ONE OF THE MOST BEDEVILING CHALLENGES in counseling and other helping relationships is navigating dual relationships. Dual relationships occur when the helping professional runs into clients in public, has other roles in the client’s life, or routinely encounters the client outside the professional setting. These challenges are pronounced in close-knit demographic groups: ethnic and faith communities, recovery networks, rural areas, and small towns. Digital, online, and other electronic technology have transformed the nature of helping relationships, adding another layer of potential hazard (and benefit!) to these challenges.

Historically, the wisdom was to avoid dual relationships at all costs; however, most practitioners realize that they are sometimes unavoidable. Some practitioners suggest they can be helpful in some circumstances. How can practitioners navigate dual relationships with intention and self-awareness? How can they anticipate impacts and avoid conflicts of interests? When are dual relationships clinically beneficial, and when do they do harm?

Planning for these sometimes awkward encounters and overlapping roles can reduce surprise and poor handling in the moment. This scenario-based workshop allows practitioners to do a “deep dive” into one area of clinical ethics--dual relationships and conflicts of interest--and to apply context-based analysis and critical thinking to their decision-making. By the end of this workshop, participants will:

1. Articulate the pros and cons of dual or multiple relationships as they relate to their agency setting, professional identity and role, type of treatment, and model of practice;

2. Describe the harmful impacts of conflicts of interest and explore what these look like in participant’s area of practice;

3. Explore the hazards and benefits of social media to the helping relationship;

4. Draft a statement about handling public encounters with clients, the potential for dual or multiple relationships, and avoidance of conflicts of interest, including a clear social media policy; and

5. Understand the nature of sexual transference and underscore the prohibition on sexual relationships with clients.

Six continuing education units (ethics) approved through the National Association of Social Workers (Oregon).

BIPOC REPARATIONS DISCOUNT: If you identify as a BIPOC, you are entitled to a 25% discount.

MILITARY DISCOUNT: If you served in the military, either currently or in the past, or you are a military spouse, there is a 25% discount.

GRADUATE STUDENT DISCOUNT: If you are currently in graduate school in a clinical discipline and wish to register, there is a 25% discount.

Contact the EVENT ORGANIZER at the bottom of the page for discount codes.

Host or Publisher Wayne Scott, MA, LCSW