You're Taking What?!

Course Description: Supporting clients as they navigate the world of psychopharmacology can be difficult.  Most therapists are not prescribers, and are thus ethically prohibited from giving what might be construed as medical advice.  And yet we want to be helpful.  Or we hear accounts that concern us.  How can we effectively navigate ethical issues related to the complexities of psychopharmacological knowledge and effective collaboration with prescribers and our mutual clients?  Psychotropic Medic*tion use is becoming increasingly prevalent, and therapists must navigate a nuanced ethical landscape that acknowledges the wide variance in treatment responses and the multifaceted nature of Medic*tion management.  As therapists, it behooves us to navigate this unfamiliar context with skill, sensitivity and awareness.

This workshop will use a contextual behavioral lens to explore a number of ethical issues beginning with how to maintain appropriate professional boundaries while advocating for clients' best interests when collaborating with prescribers.  With this foundation in place, we will explore ethical considerations in discussing Medic*tion effects, side effects, and alternatives with clients.  This will include a review of the placebo effect and the diversity of client responses to psychiatric medications, illustrated through case studies. Finally, we will cover the importance of non-pharmacological interventions and the impact of client-provider relationships on treatment efficacy.  Throughout the workshop, we will highlight the importance of therapist willingness, values-based action, and flexible perspective-taking in navigating these ethical dilemmas.

This interactive workshop combines didactic instruction with experiential learning. Participants will engage in small and large group discussions to explore ethical challenges and solutions. Role-play exercises will illuminate the complexities of ethical care and inter-professional collaboration

Target Audience: This workshop is suitable for therapists at all experience levels seeking to refine their ethical practice in the evolving landscape of mental health treatment, where the intersection of psychotherapy and psychopharmacology presents unique challenges and opportunities for client care.

Registration fee covers instruction, tea and light snacks

CE Credits

• You're Taking What?! The Therapist's Guide to the Ethics and Practice of Collaborative Psychiatric Care,  course # 5937, is approved by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program to be offered by True North Therapy and Training as an individual course. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE course approval period: 8/23/24 to 8/23/26. Social workers completing this course receive 3 Ethics continuing education credits.
• The activity is pending approval for 3 CEs for psychologists and counselors.
•  CE credits are not given for the 15 minute break.

Your Trainers:

Brett D. Howard, PhD, NP is a psychologist and Nurse Practitioner who specializes in organizational psychology, practice management & human performance. Brett's clinical practice has specialties in career counseling, professional derailment, work and job dysfunction, failures to launch, ADHD and collaborative psychiatric Medic*tion management. Brett's recent organizational work includes his direction of Organizational Performance & Wellness at Hawaii News Now and internal performance coaching & organizational development consulting to businesses local to Honolulu, Hawaii. Brett also regularly consults with mental health and psychiatric business owners across the country on the strategic, personnel, organizational, and management aspects of private practice. Brett is an Adjunct Professor of Nursing at Chaminade University of Honolulu and has been an active practitioner and trainer of Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) for over 10 years.

Miranda Morris, PhD, is a psychologist in Bethesda, MD.  She is a Peer Reviewed ACT Trainer, and she conducts regular workshops in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and related therapies including Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) and basic Relational Frame Theory (RFT)  She is currently a Past President of the Board of the Association of Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS).  In addition, Miranda is a member of the Mid Atlantic Chapter of ACBS Chapter and their ACT Carolinas affiliate.  In her paid-work life, she is the Co-founder of True North Therapy and Training, a group dedicated to sharing contextual behavioral therapies with clients,  practitioners, and the broader community.  

FOR MORE INFORMATION Please email [email protected]

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Silver Spring Civic Building at Veterans Plaza, 1 Veterans Place, Silver Spring, United States