Our ability to cope with stress, frustrations, anger, relationship problems and grief — all magnified by the pandemic — is based on multiple strategies working together. The more the load is shared, the better.
Category: Online Exclusives
Counseling clients for a reduced fee or for free – pro bono – in a private practice setting comes with some ethical caveats.
The truth is that even when it is safe to resume previous activities, it will never be the same. It can’t be. Too much has happened.
Counselors, what’s on your bookshelf? The good books you read offer the same opportunity as therapy does: to connect with your emotions and your humanity.
Without experience, it might be easy to be intimidated by police, angry parents or clever attorneys. But you cannot be arrested (as I was threatened on one occasion) for following counseling ethics and HIPAA requirements regarding client information. In fact, you will likely be in greater trouble if you concede to these “requests” and thus violate our code of ethics.
Role-playing games have long been an effective group therapeutic modality, but creating a shared imaginary world presents unique opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we are unable to safely convene in person.
As we forge ahead, recovery from the trauma of COVID-19 will take time, patience and work. Yet, there are signs of change. Glimmers of hope. Flickers of light from the shards of a very broken year.
By not telling children about an event, we risk the likelihood of them hearing false information from someone else or finding out about it in an uncontrolled way.
The pandemic — and a frayed political climate — have been at the center of various instances of workplace bullying.
“An ethical ‘oopsie’ that violates trust might never be known to anyone else. But then again, it might. Even the slightest breach might damage a client’s trust to the point that they will never seek counseling again. And that, my dear colleagues, is unforgivable.”