There are a number of ethical questions that arise out of the incorporation of spirituality into a clinical practice. This program is a series of four interviews that focus on such questions as informed consent, self disclosure, practice competence and training, documentation, dual relationships, boundary violations, client self determination, undue influence, whether and how spiritual/religious issues should be addressed in therapy, and potential malpractice claims when ethical standards are violated.

Format: Asynchronous, distance learning. Non-interactive. Recorded audio with transcript.

This course meets the requirement for the risk management discount for the American Professional Agency.

You can access the audio to these interviews via your computer’s MP3 player and/or read the text of the interviews.

NAADAC Online CE Completion limits: There is a limit of 8 hours (8 CE) of credit for online courses within a 24-hour period.

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The course will be available in your account immediately after purchase. The Course Completion Certificate and Letter of Completion will be immediately available in your account upon successful completion of the course post-test (a score of 80% or higher) and completion of the course evaluation. You will have unlimited attempts to pass the post-test.

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NAADAC – The Association for Addiction Professionals

Athealth.com is approved as a continuing education provider by the National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors, the Association for Addiction Professionals. #148460.

Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)

At Health, LLC, Provider #1707, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 5/3/2023–5/3/2026.

Page last modified or reviewed by athealth.com on Jun 11, 2025.

Subject Matter Experts:

Terry Northcut, PhD, is the Director of Doctoral Programs at Loyola University School of Social Work in Chicago, Illinois, where she is also an associate professor. She received her MSSW at the University of Tennessee and her PhD at the Smith College School for Social Work. Dr. Northcut is the co-editor with Dr. Nina Heller of the book, Enhancing Psychodynamic Therapy with Cognitive Behavior Techniques. Her writing and research has lead her to publish and teach in the areas of integrating theory and practice, post modernism, the development of clinical social workers, and religion and spirituality in psychotherapy.

Frederic G. Reamer, PhD, is a professor in the graduate program of the School of Social Work, Rhode Island College, where he has been on the faculty since 1983. Dr. Reamer has conducted extensive research on professional ethics and has been involved in several national research projects sponsored by the Hastings Center, The Carnegie Corporation, and the Haas Foundation. He has lectured extensively nationally and internationally on the subject of professional ethics and professional malpractice and liability. He chaired the national task force that drafted the Code of Ethics adopted by the National Association of Social Workers in 1996. He is the author or editor of many books and articles on ethics, including Social Work Values and Ethics and AIDS and Ethics, and he has authored chapters on professional ethics in the Encyclopedia of Bioethics and the Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics.

In addition, he has been an essayist on National Public Radio's Morning Edition ("This I Believe" series) and a commentator on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. In 2007 Dr. Reamer was appointed producer of the National Public Radio weekly series, This I Believe-Rhode Island, sponsored by NPR and radio station WRNI.

Edward Canda, PhD, is Professor and Chair of the PhD program at the University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare. Founder of the Society for Spirituality in Social Work, he has written widely on this topic and is co-author of Spiritual Diversity in Social Work Practice: The Heart of Helping. This book integrates existentialist, transpersonal and holistic systems theories with Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Judaic, and shamanistic traditions of helping, plus ethical guidelines and practical skills and techniques. While Dr. Canda's work is directed toward social workers, the principles are universal for all mental health professionals.

Dennis Haynes, PhD, is an associate professor and program director of the master's level graduate in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas-Austin. He is a prolific writer and speaker, especially and most recently on the subject of ethical guidelines for incorporating religion and spirituality into social work practice. He received the Texas Excellence Teaching Award from the University of Texas-Austin, School of Social Work, for the years 2002 and 2003.

Interviewer:

Barbara Alexander, LCSW, BCD, is a graduate of the Smith College School for Social Work and the Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy Program of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis. After working for 13 years in child psychiatric settings and 30 years in private practice, she is now founder and president of On Good Authority, and an expert interviewer.

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