All Points North Lodge Edwards, Colorado, United States
Session Description: Sexual boundary violations among health care professionals is a serious ethical, moral, and usually illegal event, with impacts that are devastating to all parties. The recent and unprecedented barrage of individuals coming forward with evidence of past sexual coercion, misconduct, and criminal abuse has shown a spotlight on the underreporting of boundary violations in many professional relationships and settings. Yet there continues to be inadequate empirical investigation and evidence on the prevalence of sexual assault and misconduct in the health care professions, especially among psychotherapists. This, along with a lack of consensus on the basic question of what constitutes boundary violations among disciplines and in various jurisdictions, leaves information gaps that can be filled only with more rigorous examination, prevention efforts, reduction of reporting barriers, and implementation and development of treatment strategies for both parties. In this presentation, attendees will review risk and protective factors while gaining an understanding of the assessment, treatment, and monitoring process for behavioral health professionals who have engaged in this egregious behavior. This issue is critically important on several levels, but none more so than the emotional injury inflicted on vulnerable individuals seeking professional help. Clinicians will be provided specific examples to maintain ethical compliance.
This session has been approved by NBCC for NBCC credit.
Learning Objectives:
After this activity participants should be able to
Upon completion, participants will be able to assess boundaries as it related to professional/client interactions
Upon completion, participants will be able to analyze the risk factors for both distal and proximal dynamics for those who commit sexual boundary violations
Upon completion, participant will be able to describe and apply the Good Lives Model in assessment, treatment, and monitoring for those who commit professional sexual violations