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A Dance with Boundaries: The Top Ethical Challenges in Clinical Practice

CLINICAL EVENTS

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A Dance with Boundaries: The Top Ethical Challenges in Clinical Practice

Clinical Ethics

Feb. 20, 2027

10:00 AM - 1:15 PM (EST)

Virtual Event
3 CE Ethics or Professional Boundaries Credits
Master the ethical boundaries that shape effective clinical practice in this engaging CE training. Explore real-world ethical dilemmas involving dual relationships, confidentiality, cultural competence, and professional boundaries while gaining practical strategies to strengthen ethical decision-making, protect clients, reduce professional risk, and maintain integrity in complex clinical situations.

Clinical Ethics: Navigating ethical boundaries is one of the most complex yet essential aspects of clinical practice. This training explores the “dance” clinicians engage in when balancing professional responsibilities, client relationships, and ethical decision-making. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of the top ethical challenges, including dual relationships, confidentiality, cultural competence, and professional boundaries.

Using case studies, interactive discussions, and practical tools, this session will empower clinicians to identify boundary breaches, address ethical dilemmas, and maintain integrity in practice. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies to manage boundaries confidently while protecting both their clients and themselves in an increasingly demanding professional landscape. This engaging and thought-provoking training is ideal for clinicians, supervisors, and leaders seeking to elevate ethical awareness and safeguard clinical practice.

Session Highlights
  •  Apply Practical Tools Through Interactive Case Studies
  • Enhance Cultural Humility and Ethical Practice
  • Protect Confidentiality in Today’s Practice
  • Strengthen Ethical Decision-Making Skills
  • Navigate Complex Ethical Boundaries with Confidence
Key Takeaways for Clinical Practice

Clinical Ethics plays a central role in helping mental health professionals navigate complex situations involving professional boundaries, dual relationships, confidentiality, informed consent, and therapeutic decision-making. A strong understanding of Clinical Ethics helps clinicians recognize ethical risks before they develop into problems and supports thoughtful responses when professional responsibilities appear to conflict.

This training approaches Clinical Ethics through realistic clinical situations, allowing therapists to examine how boundaries, client vulnerability, professional judgment, and ethical standards interact in everyday practice. Applying Clinical Ethics effectively also means understanding how personal values, workplace pressures, technology, social media, and changing therapeutic relationships can influence clinical decisions. Through practical discussion, Clinical Ethics becomes more than a set of rules; it becomes a framework clinicians can use to evaluate difficult situations with greater clarity and consistency.

Professionals can explore additional Clinical Events CE trainings to continue developing their knowledge of Clinical Ethics, professional boundaries, and other important behavioral health topics. Clinicians can also review the American Psychological Association Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct for authoritative U.S.-based guidance related to Clinical Ethics and professional responsibilities. By strengthening knowledge of Clinical Ethics, clinicians can better identify boundary concerns, consider possible consequences, document their decision-making, and seek consultation when appropriate.

Ultimately, applying Clinical Ethics consistently supports responsible professional practice while helping clinicians maintain clear therapeutic relationships and protect client welfare. These practical takeaways make Clinical Ethics directly relevant to the challenging situations mental health professionals encounter in modern clinical practice.

This live interactive webinar is designed for behavioral health professionals, including:

  • Counselors
  • Social Workers
  • Psychotherapists
  • Marriage & Family Therapists
  • Psychologists
  • Substance Use Disorders Counselors
  • Case Managers
  • Physicians
  • Other Mental Health Professionals

Latasha Matthews, MA, LPC, CPCS, CPLC

Latasha Matthews, MA, LPC, CPCS, CPLC

Boundaries, Ethics & Wellness

Latasha Matthews, MA, LPC, CPCS, CPLC, is a Georgia Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Professional Counselor Supervisor, Certified Professional Life Coach, author, consultant, clinical educator, and wellness advocate. Her work focuses on professional boundaries, counseling ethics, clinical supervision, counselor development, emotional wellness, burnout prevention, private-practice sustainability, culturally responsive care, and healthier organizational culture. She brings these areas together through psychotherapy, supervision, continuing education, leadership training, and workplace consultation.

Latasha Matthews, MA, LPC, CPCS, CPLC, is the founder and clinical director of Illumination Counseling and Coaching and the founder of Why2LiveWell, an organization supporting emotional wellness, boundary development, inclusive leadership, psychological safety, and sustainable workplace performance. Her approach recognizes that emotional health is affected not only by individual coping skills but also by workload, expectations, communication, role clarity, organizational practices, and access to meaningful support.

Latasha Matthews, MA, LPC, CPCS, CPLC, also serves as adjunct faculty in Messiah University’s online graduate counseling program. Her current faculty profile identifies clinical supervision, counselor wellness, counseling ethics and boundaries, and EMDR among her professional interests. Across her teaching and training, she helps emerging and experienced clinicians translate ethical standards into practical decisions involving client welfare, professional competence, documentation, cultural humility, business practices, and the responsible use of authority.

Professional Background

Latasha Matthews, MA, LPC, CPCS, CPLC, completed graduate education in community and professional counseling at Argosy University–Atlanta and a postgraduate certificate in marriage and family therapy. Messiah University also lists graduate education in industrial relations with a concentration in human resources management from the University of Akron. This combination supports her interest in both individual clinical care and the organizational conditions that affect employee wellness, leadership, communication, and professional sustainability.

Latasha Matthews, MA, LPC, CPCS, CPLC, owns a group private practice in Lawrenceville, Georgia, where her current university profile identifies anxiety, depression, and trauma among the concerns treated. Her work has included individual and relational care, clinical supervision, consultation, continuing education, and ethics review related to possible boundary violations. This range allows her to connect formal professional standards with the situations clinicians encounter in everyday practice.

Latasha Matthews, MA, LPC, CPCS, CPLC, teaches counseling practicum, internship, and multicultural issues in counseling through Messiah University. These courses place professional identity, case conceptualization, cultural responsiveness, self-awareness, supervision, and ethical decision-making within the context of direct clinical work. Her teaching supports counselors as they learn to balance empathy and flexibility with documentation, competence, informed consent, boundaries, and accountability.

She develops continuing education for licensed professionals and provides consultation related to private-practice development, counselor wellness, ethics, and supervision. Her training emphasizes that a financially sustainable practice and ethical client care are not opposing goals. Clear fees, cancellation policies, communication expectations, caseload limits, and referral procedures can reduce inconsistency and help clinicians protect both client welfare and their own capacity to practice competently.

Latasha Matthews, MA, LPC, CPCS, CPLC, is also the author of The Dumping Ground: A Guide to Gaining Powerful Skills to Set Life-Changing Boundaries. The book presents boundary-setting as a practical skill relevant to relationships, work, finances, self-worth, overcommitment, and people-pleasing. It reflects a central theme in her professional education: saying no can be an intentional act of clarity rather than a rejection of another person.

Areas of Expertise

Professional Boundaries and Ethical Practice. Latasha Matthews, MA, LPC, CPCS, CPLC, helps clinicians understand boundaries as the structure that defines the therapeutic relationship rather than as emotional distance from clients. Her training addresses fees, cancellations, gifts, self-disclosure, after-hours communication, social media, dual relationships, availability, personal values, and gradual boundary drift. Clinical Events’ guide to professional boundaries for therapists offers related examples of crossings, violations, role confusion, and ethical risk management.

Clinical Supervision and Counselor Development. Latasha Matthews, MA, LPC, CPCS, CPLC, supports developing and independently licensed counselors through supervision, consultation, mentoring, and professional education. Her approach considers case formulation, documentation, treatment planning, competence, cultural responsiveness, power, countertransference, feedback, and the supervisor’s responsibility to protect client welfare. Supervision is presented as an active developmental relationship rather than a signature-gathering requirement.

Burnout Prevention and Counselor Wellness. Matthews examines how heavy caseloads, emotional labor, productivity pressure, weak boundaries, financial stress, and inadequate organizational support can affect clinicians’ well-being and judgment. Her work encourages early recognition of exhaustion and impairment while avoiding the idea that burnout can always be solved through individual self-care. Clinical Events’ Articles and Resources library includes complementary materials on burnout, clinician wellness, ethics, and professional sustainability.

Private-Practice Ethics and Sustainable Business. Matthews helps clinicians examine the ethical consequences of business decisions involving fees, marketing, availability, cancellation policies, workload, documentation, and financial avoidance. A practice that depends on chronic overwork or inconsistent policies can eventually affect continuity of care and professional effectiveness. Her work supports transparent systems that are clinically responsible and financially realistic.

Emotional Wellness and Boundary Development. Through Why2LiveWell, Matthews works with individuals, leaders, and organizations seeking healthier approaches to stress, emotional intelligence, communication, resilience, and personal limits. Her message emphasizes that boundaries can protect energy, clarify expectations, reduce resentment, and create more intentional choices about work and relationships.

Cultural Humility, Equity, and Inclusion. Matthews provides education on multicultural counseling, personal bias, microaggressions, systemic barriers, cultural humility, and inclusive practice. Her approach encourages clinicians to examine how identity, power, access, and personal values may affect assessment, therapeutic rapport, treatment planning, and ethical decision-making. Clinical Events’ guide to therapy ethics, boundaries, confidentiality, and competence provides related discussion of justice, cultural responsiveness, and professional responsibility.

Leadership and Organizational Wellness. Matthews supports leaders and teams navigating burnout, disengagement, poor communication, psychological-safety concerns, and underdeveloped wellness initiatives. Her organizational work connects emotional intelligence with accountability, empathy, belonging, conflict management, and sustainable performance. It also recognizes that employee distress may reflect systems and policies rather than a private weakness that workers must resolve alone.

Trauma-Informed and Integrative Practice. Her current faculty profile includes EMDR among her professional interests, while her private-practice work includes anxiety, depression, and trauma. Matthews approaches these concerns within a broader clinical framework that considers safety, pacing, coping resources, relationships, culture, and client readiness. Specific trauma interventions should remain connected to assessment, informed consent, and the clinician’s verified training and competence.

Authored Publications
  • The Dumping Ground: A Guide to Gaining Powerful Skills to Set Life-Changing Boundaries

Other Events

The Business of Therapy: Where Ethics Meet Income

Nov. 21 | 3 CE Ethics Credits

After this training, participants will be able to:

  • Analyze ethical boundary challenges faced by clinicians and supervisors, including confidentiality concerns, cultural dynamics, power differentials, dual relationships, and role strain.
  • Describe the role of ethical standards and decision-making models in guiding clinicians and supervisors responses to boundary and ethical dilemmas.
  • Examine ways clinician and supervisor stress, burnout, and impairment risk can impact ethical judgment and professional responsibility.
  • Utilize ethical strategies to uphold boundaries, standards, and promote client safety, and clinician and supervisor wellness across settings.

10:00–10:05 AM
Introduction & Training Overview
10:05–10:30 AM
Ethical Foundations of Counselor Wellness & Client Safety — Connecting clinician wellness, competence, impairment, boundaries, and ethical responsibility
10:30–11:00 AM
Ethical Practices in Telemental Health — Counselor wellness, client safety, boundaries, confidentiality, technology, and managing risk in virtual practice
11:00–11:30 AM
Ethical Decision-Making Model — Introduce and apply an ethical decision-making process designed to reduce ethical violations

11:30–11:45 AM
Break

11:45 AM–12:15 PM
Clinical Ethical Dilemmas — Analyze real-world dilemmas clinicians face and practice applying the ethical decision-making model
12:15–12:45 PM
Culture, Ethics & Clinical Practice — Explore the ethical implications of culture, identity, values, bias, and cultural responsiveness in clinical decision-making
12:45–1:05 PM
Integration & Case Application — Apply wellness, telemental health, ethical decision-making, and cultural considerations to clinical scenarios
1:05–1:15 PM
Q&A, Key Takeaways & Closing

All levels.

Registration Cost

Registration $67 | Feb. 20 | Virtual Event | 3 CE Ethics or Professional Boundaries Credits | 10:00 am – 1:15 pm ET

Registration Deadline:  Feb. 20, 2027

Cancellation Policy

All registrations are non-refundable. However, you may request a full credit toward a future training if:

  • You notify us at least 72 hours before the event start time.
  • Credit is valid for up to 6 months from the original event date.
  • No credit will be issued for no-shows or cancellations made on the same day.
  • When you register for an event, you agree to these terms

Please email [email protected] to request a credit or reschedule.

A total of 3 CE Ethics credits are available.

This Program awards 3.0 continuing education hours, which may be applied toward either Ethics or Professional Boundaries

Additional Approvals Pending.


APA

Clinical Events, LLC is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Clinical Events maintains responsibility for all programming and its content.

ASWB ACE

Clinical Events, LLC, (provider # 2201) is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 11/01/2025 – 11/01/2028.

NBCC

Clinical Events, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7643. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Clinical Events, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

NAADAC

Clinical Events, LLC has been approved as a NAADAC-approved education Provider for educational credits. NAADAC Provider #320899, Clinical Events, LLC is responsible for all aspects of its programming.

Course Approvals

Please note it is your responsibility to contact your licensing/certification board directly to determine eligibility to meet your continuing education requirements. Please check with your state licensing board to ensure that nationally approved courses can be used to satisfy your continuing education needs.

State Provider Approvals & Accreditations

New York Board of Psychologists

Clinical Events, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0292

New York Board of Psychoanalysts

Clinical Events, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychoanalysts #P-0073.

New York Board of Social Workers

Clinical Events, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0828.

New York Board of Mental Health Practitioners

Clinical Events, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0329.

New York Board of Marriage & Family Therapists

Clinical Events, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed marriage and family therapists #MFT-0140.

NJ State Board of Social Workers & Professional Counselors
  1. New Jersey Social Work Examiners Board accepts ASWB ACE Provider credits.
  2. New Jersey Professional Counselors Board accepts NBCC-approved CE provider credits.
  3. New Jersey Professional Psychologist Examiners Board accepts APA-approved CE Provider Credits
Florida Certification Board

Clinical Events is approved by the Florida Certification Board (FCB) to offer continuing education programs (Provider # 5527-A).

Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation

SWB Provider # 159.001697 PC and CPC Provider # 197.000434.

All Other States Psychologists, Social Workers & Professional Counselors

All other states accept APA, ASWB ACE Provider credits and NBCC-approved CE provider credits. Licensees are responsible for determining whether courses meet the CE requirements in their jurisdictions. States and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for credit.

Canada Psychologists

Clinical Events is approved by the American Psychological Association (APA) to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Continuing education requirements and acceptance vary by Canadian province and profession. Participants are encouraged to confirm eligibility with their applicable provincial regulatory body.

Canada Counsellors

Clinical Events is an NBCC-approved provider. Licensees are responsible for determining whether courses meet the CE requirements in their province. Provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for credit.

Canada Social Workers
BC, AB, SK, MB, ON, and QC accept ASWB ACE-approved provider programs to meet licensure renewal requirements. Licensees are responsible for determining whether courses meet the CE requirements in their province. Provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for credit.

 

Questions:  [email protected]

In accordance with continuing education standards and requirements, the presenter discloses that they have no relevant financial relationships, affiliations, or conflicts of interest to report.

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