Ethics and Boundaries Workshops for Social Workers
September 2025
Virtual Via Zoom
Health and Human Services, Health and Wellness

​Ethics and Boundaries

​Ethics & Boundaries: Things That Make You Go Hmm…Boundaries, Barriers, and Shame, Oh My!

​Friday, November 8, 2024 | 12:45pm - 4:45pm CT | Virtual via Zoom

Have that gut instinct, feeling of rumbling in your stomach, those things that make you go hmm…? This training offers participants an opportunity to explore the difference between boundaries and barriers in peer-to-peer and client relationships. It explores personal boundaries, trust, shame, vulnerability, and use of self-assessment tools. Participants learn new strategies in paradigm thinking, communication and conflict management in the workplace; through examining challenges they face when colleagues are unethical or cross professional boundaries. The training provides related information to enhance the workplace, conflict resolution strategies, and developing ethically informed decision-making model of practice with peer to peer and client to practitioner relationships. It furthers the development of teams, colleague’s adherence to the NASW Code of Ethics and improves performance in agency ethical decision making.

Learning Objectives: 

  1. Understand the importance of client/patient rights above and beyond the rights of social work practitioners and the agencies they represent. 
  2. Examine the 9 professional boundaries and explore how these impact ethical decision making and the relationship with clients and colleagues. 
  3. Discover the concepts of shame and vulnerability and how these interact with our personal social work practice and when determining how to best approach ethical decisions. 
  4. Identify personal examples of professional social work ethical dilemmas, boundary crossing and blurring, that have negatively impacted your practice and discover the lessons learned. 
  5. Understand and apply the Code of Ethics, Code of Conduct, and our ethical principles, when boundaries when confronting ethical challenges by co-workers, utilizing the Nine Step Ethical Decision-Making Model.​​


This course has been approved for 4 CEUs from NASW. NASW: National Association of Social Workers

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Registration Information

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Register Now for Things That Make You Go Hmm... 

Friday, November 8, 2024 | 12:45pm - 4:45pm CT | Virtual via Zoom​

$129/person​




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Ethics & Boundaries: Cognitive Bias, My Internal Disguise

Wednesday, March 5, 2025 | 8:30 am – 12:30 pm CT | Virtual via Zoom

Emotions impact the decisions we make, including the 'good,' the 'bad,' and the 'ugly' influencers that rest in the deep areas of our mind: heuristics. We say we are not biased individuals but the reality; our underlying thoughts and emotions are based on preconceptions and lived experience. We will take a deep dive into the cognitive biases that are subconsciously impacting your decision making, your role as a helper, and may be blinding you from making the best decisions. We will explore how these biases affect your personal relationships, judgments regarding equity, diversity, and inclusion, and the day-to-day responses in working with others. Take a journey to provide light and clarity, removing the blindfold of bias. 

Learning Objectives: 

  1. Gain an understanding of heuristics. 
  2. Explore and interpret personal cognitive biases that affect decision making. 
  3. Examine personal biases and the role of power to improve self-awareness in a helping role. 
  4. Develop and enhance interventions with clients from differing identities and cultures than oneself, through a critical-self bias review lens.
  5. Recognize ethical dilemmas faced by bias and implement an ethical decision-making model to process and improve future social work practice.


​This course has been approved for 4 CEUs from NASW. ​

Registration Information​​​

​Register Now​ ​

Wednesday, March 5, 2025 | 8:30 am – 12:30 pm CT | Virtual via Zoom

$129/person


​Ethics and Boundaries: ​Stepping Forward When Colleagues Cross the Line

Friday, ​June 6, 2025 | 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CT | Virtual via Zoom

Ethics & Boundaries has never been this fun to learn! You will learn and enhance professional skills in conflict resolution and understanding conflict theories. Exploring difficult crucial conversations; you will build skills in the 5 Essentials to Navigating Difficult Conversations with peers and gain the ability to hold colleagues accountable when needed. Communication styles and mitigation of risk is examined through personal and professional review of workplace culture. This workshop focuses on appropriate ethics and boundaries in client-social worker, therapist, counselor, and peer-to-peer relationships. Workbook activities, case scenarios and personal reflection will help develop ethical, reflective practices, communication skills, and cooperative confrontation when facing ethical challenges with clients, colleagues, and agencies. We will examine how appreciation in the workplace can relieve ethical dilemmas and improve decision-making. You will not learn this content anywhere else! ​

Learning Objectives: 

  1. Understand the importance of client/patient rights; above and beyond the rights of clinicians and the agencies they represent.
  2. Examining personal values and personality characteristics that encourage or hinder one’s ability to step forward and report unethical behavior
  3. Evaluate personal responsibility and choices made in one’s practice and how these choices have/have not prevented further ethical violations or improved ethical practice in the workplace.
  4. Understand and apply the Code of Ethics and the Code of Conduct (MPSW 20), and our ethical principles and boundaries when making critical decisions in exposing ethical challenges in ​practice.
  5. Demonstrate understanding of the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct (MPSW 20), ethical principles, and boundaries applied to specific ethical dilemmas when confronting challenges with co-workers, utilizing the Nine Step Ethical-Decision Making ​Model.​

 

This course has been approved for 4 CEUs from NASW. ​​

Registration Information​​

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Register Now 

Friday, June 6, 2025​ | 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CT | Virtual via Zoom​​​​​​​

$129/person​

The Future is Here: Ethical What If's of Artifical Intelligence

Friday, September 12, 2025 | 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CT | Virtual via Zoom

A.I. is here and evolving quickly. We will explore how we interact and use technology at present and examine the future in how tech is moving towards generative A.I. and evolving towards Artificial General Intelligence. We will examine morality tied to the use of A.I. to solve complex human social problems, while maintaining individual rights. How will we address the impact A.I. will have on the families we serve? How will A.I. help us professionally be more adept in our work? How will we serve populations whose reality is based on relationships ​with machines - - are those relationships real or artificial? Lastly, we will explore the crisis of geopolitical conflicts, income inequality, climate and mental health challenges, and the role of hope in our future interventions. Let’s explore the ‘what if’s’ together.

Learning Objectives:

1. Demonstrate a knowledge of the varying forms of Artificial Intelligence impact on the human population.

2. Examine and define the impact of A.I. on differing human populations and the role of the helping professions.

3. Develop an ethical framework related to various A.I. technology and consider the moral and ethical implications on human and social problems.

4. Explore worldwide crisis and understand the necessity of hope as an effective strategy in placing boundaries around the use of A.I. in everyday life.

This course has been approved for 4 CEUs from NASW. ​​

Registration Information​

Register Now for Friday, September 12, 2025 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.​​ ​

Friday, September 12, 2025 | 8:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. CT | Virtual via Zoom​​​

​$129/person​​

​​Meet the Instructor

Dana Johnson HeadshotDana Johnson, MSW

Dana Johnson, MSW is a career social worker, practicing in senior level management in state government, county human services, an educator in higher education, and operating a consulting and professional development firm. His experience includes child welfare practice, policy, and reform; transformational organizational leadership and culture change, supervision of teams, continuous quality improvement, and dynamic equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts across micro, mezzo, and macro systems.

​Special Needs and Accommodations

Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two week in advance. Please contact Continuing Education Customer Service at 715-346-3838 or uwspceweb@uwsp.edu.

Cancellation Policy

​​We expect all participants to attend for the duration of the training, have good internet connection, and participate with camera on. There is no recording provided since it is highly interactive and experiential. 

Refunds will be granted if the Continuing Education and Outreach office is contacted at least fourteen (14) days before the start of a class. No refunds will be given with less than fourteen (14) days notice. ​We reserve the right to cancel a course due to low enrollment, severe weather, or instructor illness. A full refund will be issued under these circumstances. Be sure​ to provide your email address and phone number when registering so we can contact you if a class is cancelled for any reason. Email us at uwspce-cps@uwsp.edu​ to cancel your registration.​

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