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 utilizing electronic devices; 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 services that will allow system involved youth and families to achieve positive outcomes!

Learning Objectives

• Learn to describe what is meant by ethical boundaries with system-involved youth, how they are defined, and what they “look like” in our work.
• Identify why boundaries are easy to overstep and how to decrease the likelihood of doing so.
• Learn to better identify how our own self-awareness is directly linked to maintaining ethical boundaries with system-involved youth.

Agenda 

10:00 AM – 10:10 AM   Sign In/Introductions

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

11:45 AM – 12:00 PM    BREAK (CEUs will not be issued for this time)

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM      Section II:  The biggest barrier to sustaining ethical boundaries is our

lack of self awareness: small group break-out discussions.

1:00 PM – 1:30 PM         Lunch (CEUs will not be issued for this time)

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

3:00 PM – 4:20 PM        Role play practice and discussion of a variety of typical boundary

struggles in our everyday work with system-involved youth.

4:20 PM – 4:30 PM        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. Dr. Parkinson has spent most of her career working with system involved youth in our Continuum of Care (foster care, juvenile justice, mental health and the kids struggling in our school systems). She is a certified PCOMS evidence-based practice trainer. Pamela currently works as a child/family consultant to CBO’s in the Bay Area and 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 CEUs for LCSWs and MFTs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences & is provided by Fred Finch Youth Center, CAMFT Provider #045295.