Annual Law and Ethics Workshop

Sunday, March 16, 2025
9:00am-4:00pm

Online Via Zoom

6 CE Credits

(Meets BBS requirements for mandatory 6 CEs/Ethical Education and 3 hours of Law & Ethics coursework for pre-licensed renewal.)

What is Out of Bounds? Legal and Ethical Boundaries in Mental Health Care

with Curt Widhalm, LMFT

Licensing board and ethics complaints involving boundary violations account for 20-40% of investigations. This workshop explores the ways in which therapists can potentially violate therapeutic boundaries. Beyond sexual relationships, this workshop also investigates the boundaries that can occur in supervisor-supervisee and educator-student relationships. Further, this workshop also provides guidance on how therapists can set and maintain boundaries for crisis situations in both individual and team settings.

Educational Goals/Learning Objectives:

This workshop is intended for licensed and pre-licensed master’s level therapists with beginner-to-advanced experience to cover professional boundaries, identify vulnerabilities to boundary violations, and make informed decisions to set and maintain boundaries in their professional work.

At the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:

1. Describe three types of boundary incursions.
2. Analyze the impacts of five types of boundary damage.
3. Formulate three boundaries for handling client crisis.
4. Evaluate boundary violations in two case studies.  
5. Contrast two ways that boundary violations can occur in technology and social media.
6. List three laws for therapists newly effective in 2025.

Curt Widhalm, LMFT (he/him) is the owner of Real Honest Therapy in Encino and West Los Angeles that specializes in working with teenagers and provides EMDR and comprehensive DBT. He is the Chair of the CAMFT Ethics Committee and a former lecturer at California State University Northridge where he taught Law & Ethics in the MFT program. Curt is also the co-host of “The Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide” podcast.

For more information, contact Course Organizer/CE Networking Chair Alexandra Levins-Trail.

Event Details:

For: Licensed Therapists, Associates, Students, & Related Professionals

When: Sunday, March 16, 2025 from 9:00am-4:00pm

(Check-In 8:45am; includes two 15-minute breaks and a 30-minute lunch break)

Where: Online via Zoom (Your registration confirmation email will include the Zoom link and instructions for accessing the event. A reminder email will be sent prior to the event.)

Cost:
$85 for LA-CAMFT Members /  Other CAMFT Chapter Members
$85 for CSCSW Members
$35 Prelicensed Member / Other CAMFT Chapter Prelicensed Members
$100 for Non-Members
$50 for Prelicensed Non-Members

*Registration closes Thursday, March 15 at 10:00pm.*

(To be sure you receive any information we send prior to the event, please add networkingchair@lacamft.org to your known contacts or safe list and check your bulk, junk or promotions mailboxes for any emails from us about this event.)

Register online today! We look forward to seeing you on Zoom.