This course is intended to give psychotherapists the tools they need to resolve the common and not-so-common ethical and boundary issues and dilemmas that they may expect to encounter in their everyday professional practice in the 21st century. Among the topics discussed are definitions of boundaries; resolving conflicts between ethics and the law; boundary crossings vs. boundary violations; multiple relationships; sexual misconduct; privacy and confidentiality in the age of HIPAA and the Patriot Act; ethics issues with dangerous clients; boundary issues in clinical supervision; ethics and cultural competency; ethical boundaries in use of social media; ethical practice in teletherapy; fees and financial relationships; and a 17-step model for ethical decision making.

Should therapists and counselors use humor as a therapeutic technique? If so, should they be formally trained in those procedures before their implementation? This course will review the risks and benefits of using humor in therapy and the relevant historical controversies of this proposal. The paucity of rigorous empirical research on the effectiveness of this form of clinical intervention is exceeded only by the absence of any training for those practitioners interested in applying humor techniques. In this course a representative sample of its many advocates’ recommendations to incorporate humor in the practice of psychological therapies is reviewed. Therapeutic humor is defined, the role of therapists’ personal qualities is discussed, and possible reasons for the profession’s past resistance to promoting humor in therapy are described. Research perspectives for the evaluation of humor training are presented with illustrative examples of important empirical questions still needing to be answered.

This is a brief course that describes various models of group work and addresses the aspects of group psychotherapy with adolescents that distinguish it from individual therapy, and techniques for identifying and working with difficult behavior. How is adolescent group work different from individual work with youth? What are the advantages? The challenges? This course will address how therapists and group leaders can work with youth who are dealing with negative life experiences to address cognitive change, strength mobilization and develop effective coping techniques.

Rebecca E. Williams, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist, clinical supervisor, and award-winning author. She specializes in recovery from mental illness, addictions, and life’s challenges. Dr. Williams received her master’s degree in Counseling and Consulting Psychology from Harvard University and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is currently a clinic director at the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System. Dr. Williams is Associate Clinical Professor of Psyc…