Virtual: Ethical and Boundary Considerations in Peer-to-Peer Recovery Support

Sponsor: New Hampshire Alcohol & Drug Abuse Counselors Association

PRESENTATION: Boundary issues, dual relationships and ethical conflicts among competing professional allegiances and responsibilities can require difficult decisions on the part of helping professionals.  These issues can become even more complicated for Recovery Support Workers and Recovery Coaches whose interactions with individuals seeking recovery are often more informal and more peer-based than the traditional counseling relationship.  The resulting familiarity can result in a blurring of boundaries traditionally established between service recipients and service providers. This workshop will examine common ethical issues and conflicts faced by recovery support workers in the usual course of practice. It will focus specifically on boundary issues, dual relationships and confidentiality issues and provide frameworks for sorting out priorities and competing loyalties in order to make the best decisions possible.   It will also examine how the potential overlap between the Recovery Coach’s professional and personal life could impact the coach’s privacy, safety and self-care. Ethical conflicts and dilemmas will be addressed through discussion and case analysis. Strategies for managing these conflicts will be explored. Participants are encouraged to bring ethical conflicts and questions they have encountered in their own practice settings for discussion. As a result of this training Participants will learn to:

• Identify 3 common boundary violations and how to avoid them;
• Balance the legal and ethical responsibilities with respect to member/participant confidentiality; and
• Identify their own personal biases and beliefs and how they may impact the work they do in their respective professional settings.

PRESENTER: Jacqui Abikoff, LICSW, MLADC, is the Executive Director of Horizons Counseling Center in Gilford and Plymouth, NH. She has been working with substance abusers and their families for over 25 years. Abikoff has an extensive background providing clinical services, as well as training and consultation in the areas of confidentiality and professional ethics, domestic violence, co-occurring disorders, PTSD, women’s issues, corrections and forensics. Her professional training and consultation services have been delivered to substance abuse and mental health professionals and provider agencies across the country. She is currently on the Board of the NH Alcohol & Drug Abuse Counselors Association.

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