Ethics Update: How to Chat, Post, Follow, Like, Tweet, and Still Sleep Soundly in a Digital Age

Description: The digital age has raised a number of ethical dilemmas for counselors to grapple with. Do I approve or deny a friend request from a client? Can I look up information about my client on the internet? Can I have a Facebook page for my practice? What happens if a client posts a comment? Can I still send emails to clients? What about text messages? Can we Skype? Can I facilitate a cyber group? Fortunately, recent revisions in the ethical codes of the American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA), American Counseling Association (ACA), American Association for Marriage & Family Therapists (AAMFT), National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), and Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC) provide guidance on questions like these. But on the other hand, how many counselors have the time to review each of these codes in great detail to find out what’s new? In this 3- hour workshop, we’ll review recent changes in the ethical codes governing our profession with particularly emphasis on the 2020 revision of AMHCA’s ethical code.

CE Broker Tracking #: 20-873842

This is an event sponsored by FMHCA. This course is approved by the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling, LMHC, LMFT, LCSW – FMHCA CE Broker #: 50-748

Learning Objectives:

1.    Identify novel ethical issues related to technological advances in counseling.

2.    Review revisions in various ethical codes in the past 5 years that relate to technology and counseling

3.    Identify gaps, challenges, and unanswered questions that still generate ethical ambiguity among counselors.

About the Presenter:

Aaron Norton is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapy serving as Executive Director of the National Board of Forensic Evaluators, Adjunct Instructor at the University of South Florida, Southern Regional Director for the American Mental Health Counselors Association, and President of the Florida Mental Health Counselors Association. He is board-certified in addictions, rehabilitation counseling, clinical mental health counseling, forensic mental health evaluation, forensic behavioral analysis, and clinical trauma treatment. He has 20 years of clinical experience at Integrity Counseling, Inc., was awarded Mental Health Counselor of the Year by the American Mental Health Counselors Association and Counselor Educator of the Year by the Florida Mental Health Counselors Association in 2016, Researcher of the Year by Florida Mental Health Counselors Association in 2019, and has been published in NAADAC’s Addiction Professional, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services, Journal of Individual Psychology, Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, and AMHCA’s The Advocate Magazine.