Ethics and Boundaries in Psychotherapy

Ethics & Boundaries in Psychotherapy is a 3-hour online continuing education (CE) course intended to give psychotherapists the tools they need to resolve ethical and boundary issues and dilemmas that may be encountered in their everyday professional practice.

The psychotherapeutic process itself is all about boundaries " boundaries that join therapist and client, and boundaries that separate them; boundaries that define what is to be part of therapy and what is not; boundaries that the client may have compromised and must reinstate. It is this latter point that makes the issue of boundaries in psychotherapy one of the fundamental agendas for any therapeutic process: the fact that many clients find themselves in adverse situations they themselves have created by failing to establish effective boundaries. The ethics component is the therapist’s roadmap for providing assurance that therapeutic boundaries will be established and maintained throughout the client’s therapy experience.

Topics discussed include common ethics violations, boundary violations versus crossings, multiple/dual relationships, sexual boundary violations, erotic transference, disclosure, domains of boundary guidelines, confidentiality, privileged communication, HIPAA privacy rule, informed consent, ethics codes that apply to dangerous clients, ethics and cultural humility, ethics and boundaries in a digital age (including texting, Googling, telehealth, and AI), and steps in the ethical decision-making process.

This course satisfies the ethics and boundaries requirement for license renewal of Florida counselors, social workers, and MFTs.
It also includes teachings from the 2014 ACA Code of Ethics to meet the ethics requirement of West Virginia counselors.

Course #31-61 | 2026 | 20 posttest questions