Boundaries, Boundaries, Darn those Ethical Boundaries When Working with System Involved Youth

Pamela Parkinson, Ph.D., LCSW

Training Description

Do you ever struggle with how close or distant your relationships with system-involved youth should be in order to maintain your ability to be helpful? We provide support to youth in our continuums of care and to their families in their own homes, in schools, in their communities, and remotely; this can be confusing for us and for those we support as to what our roles are and what kinds of relationships are being developed. The true helping relationship requires clear relationship boundaries so that we don't unintentionally exploit system-involved youth and/or their families or experience our own compassion fatigue. This training clarifies what we mean by boundaries, ways in which we might be overstepping them, what is meant by dual relationships, and other issues regarding the boundaries we need in order to offer support that will allow system involved youth  and families to achieve positive outcomes!

Learning Objectives

· Participants will be able to identify 2 ethical boundaries and explain what they “look like” in our work.

· Participants will be able to identify 2 reasons why boundaries are easy to overstep and explain how to decrease the likelihood of doing so.

· Participants will be able to explain how our own self-awareness is directly linked to maintaining ethical boundaries within efforts to support system-involved youth.

Agenda

10:00-10:10AM  Sign In/Introductions

10:10-11:45AM Section I: Defining ethical boundaries.

11:45AM-12:00PM  BREAK (CE hours will not be issued for this time)

12:00-1:00PM Section II:  The biggest barrier to sustaining ethical boundaries is our lack of self awareness: small group break-out discussions.

1:00-1:30PM  Lunch (CE hours will not be issued for this time)

1:30-3:00PM Section III: Culture and ethical boundaries!

3:00-4:20PM Role play practice and discussion of a variety of typical boundary struggles in our everyday support of system-involved youth.

4:20-4:30PM ADJOURNMENT

Meet Our Trainer

Pamela Parkinson, PhD, LCSW, is a clinical psychologist and clinical social worker, whose specialty area is working with youth and their families with an emphasis on the importance of family engagement and on the healing of traumatic attachment ruptures in work with youth, especially youth who we serve in our continuum of care: child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health and the school systems. Dr. Parkinson is also a certified PCOMS evidence-based practice trainer. She currently works as a child/family trainer and consultant to CBO’s in the Bay Area and Pamela has worked in level 14 residential, NPS, hospitals, and a variety of community-based settings including outpatient clinics, schools, diversion, kinship, etc.

This course meets the qualifications for (5.75) BBS CE hours for LCSWs, LMFTs, LPCCs, and LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.