Common Therapist Mistakes and the Ethics of Owning Them

Common Therapist Mistakes and the Ethics of Owning Them

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.

Learning Objectives: 

At the end of this workshop, the participant will be able to:

1) List at least 10 common therapist mistakes

2) Identify the role of the relevant ethical codes in conceptualizing and addressing therapist mistakes from ethical codes of ACA, NASW, AAMFT

3) Utilize specific strategies to avoid making each of these mistakes

4) Describe at least three strategies to use when a therapeutic rupture has occurred

5) Reframe resistance in psychotherapy as ambivalence

Dr. Linda Buchanan is a psychologist who has been working in the mental health field for over 30 years. She received her master’s degree from Georgia State University and her Ph.D. from Georgia State University with a specialty in family therapy.  Dr. Buchanan founded Atlanta Center for Eating Disorders in 1993 which was acquired by Walden Behavioral Care in 2017.  She now primarily focuses on consulting and writing. Her book A Clinician’s Guide to Pathological Ambivalence was published in 2019, the content of which she has presented at national and international conferences. She has also self-published three workbooks (one serves as a client companion to the Clinician’s Guide) which can be found on her website at www.lindapaulkbuchanan.com. Additionally, she has published four research articles on the treatment of eating disorders including two outcome studies of the treatment provided at Atlanta Center for Eating Disorders and two book chapters.  Dr. Buchanan serves as a peer reviewer of American Psychological Association (APA) Journals and writes a blog called From One Therapist to Another, writing about experience gained in over three decades of clinical practice. She has been married for over 30 years and is the mother of two adopted sons.

Schedule of Day:

8:15-9:15 registration, breakfast, networking

9:15-10:45 Intro and review of applicable ethical standards

10:45-11:00 break

11:00-12:30 Common mistakes related to therapeutic alliance

12:30-1:15 lunch

1:15-2:45 Common mistakes related to taking sides

2:45-3:00 break

3:00-4:30 Common mistakes related to therapist agenda

Host or Publisher Atlanta iaedp