Duluth Training: Integrated Ethical Practices in the Modern Clinical Environment

The modern mental health professional is faced with a widening number of ethical challenges. Between the integration of technology and practice, medical and behavioral health services, and multiple modalities of practice, complications are bound to arise. This in-person training in Duluth establishes a firm foundation in the philosophy of ethics and the common guiding ethical principles across disciplines to facilitate understanding and aid in making informed ethical decisions through a framework that emphasizes nuanced decision making and thoughtful analysis of problematic situations. Through use of vignettes and real-world situations, this seminar will help practitioners hone their ethical skills and identify ways to improve their own practice. This continuing education experience will emphasize decision-making and problem-solving processes that encourage flexibility and adaptation to complex problems that do not have obvious answers.

Learning Objectives

· Identify and understand the interaction of various philosophical stances on ethics, and how these stances can inform ethical decision-making.

· Make use of guiding ethical principles to identify and attend to ethical challenges effectively.

· Integrate problem-solving models and strategies to engage in ethical decision-making.

· Identify personal biases and values that might interfere with or complicate ethical decision making.

· Facilitate effective consultation to improve ethical problem-solving.

· Proactively identify potential areas of ethical vulnerability in a modern practice setting and develop a plan to reduce vulnerability.

· Use critical thinking and problem-solving to resolve challenging ethical situations.

Outline

I. Introduction – Ethics and History

II. Ethical Philosophy and the role of philosophical thinking in modern practice

a. Utilitarianism

b. Teleology

c. Deontology

III. Ethical Principles as guiding concepts

a. Variations between ethical codes.

b. Ethics vs. Law (or Ethics and Law?)

IV. Vignette: The Real Estate Opportunity

V. Ethical Decision Making in Action

a. Models vs. Method

b. Identifying Personal Bias and Complications

c. The role of consultation and coordination.

VI. Vignette: The Grieving Man

VII. Modern Ethical Dilemmas

a. Personal Information and Identity

i. Vignette: The Defrauded Clinician

b. Integrated Care

c. The Internet, Marketing, and Social Media

d. The Political Climate

e. Culture and Values

VIII. Vignette: Threat to Public Health

IX. Identifying and Managing Ethical Vulnerabilities

a. Personal Inventories – What are my Crusades?

b. Professional Inventories – Points of Contact

X. Time for additional vignettes, Q&A and responsive problem solving.

Bio

Dr. Christopher Malone first began his learning and study of ethics as an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, working with various research groups to ensure ethical research practices within the Department of Psychology. Dr. Malone has been studying philosophy and ethics ever since, going on to teach classes in ethics in University settings. Currently, he integrates ethical decision-making into regular didactic trainings as a part of the training committee at Mental Health Systems. His eighteen years of experience providing services in a variety of environments and modalities of therapy have exposed him to many different complex ethical situations, some of which he uses in teaching vignettes and as learning tools for future students.