67th Annual Conference

Thursday, February 25

Morning Workshops

10:00 A.M. - 12:30 P.M.

Workshop 16

Privacy and the New Media: Ethical, Liability, and Practice Issues in Contemporary Adolescent Groups Psychotherapy (Ethics CEUs)

Chairs:                

Seth Aronson, Psy.D., CGP, FAGPA, Training and Supervising Analyst, William Alanson White Institute, New York, New York

Thomas Hurster, M.S.S., CGP, Adjunct Professor, Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

This workshop will focus on some of the common clinical challenges and dilemmas encountered in therapy groups with teens, viewed through the lens of potential ethical and legal issues, particularly those raised by what has been termed "the new media." A small panel of senior clinicians will provide short didactic presentations providing an ethical framework to guide the discussion and highlighting difficult behavioral situations frequently encountered in working with troubled youth, using illustrations from their own practice. Specific focus will be on how the "new media" has impacted concepts of privacy, confidentiality, and community for contemporary adolescents, and the subsequent impact on group psychotherapy. Small group problem-solving exercises using the concepts and principles introduced, and a question/discussion period to expand upon the issues presented, will conclude the workshop.

didactic-sharing of work experiences-experiential-demonstration

Learning Objectives:

The attendee will be able to:

1. Distinguish between ethical principles, professional codes, and state regulations and how they apply to work with adolescents.
2. Discuss the limits of confidentiality in group psychotherapy, and the merits of signed informed consent forms with both adolescents and their families.
3. Identify methods of working clinically with issues of privacy, confidentiality, and community through media with adolescent group therapy participants.
4. Recognize the impact of the ever-changing technological world on the clinical realities of working with youth.
 

Course References:

Aronson, S., and Scheidlinger, S. (2002). Adolescent Group Treatment in Context. Madison, CT: International Universities Press.

MacNair-Semands, R.R. (2005) Ethics in Group Psychotherapy. New York: American Group Psychotherapy Association.

Alessi, N.E., and Alessi, V.A. (2008). New Media and an Ethics Analysis for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Child Adol. Psych. Clinics of N. Amer. 17(1) 67-92.