Awareness of Our Own Reactions When Working with Youth and their Families
(What is Your Stuff & How do You Know?)

Examine the reasons that you chose to work in this field. They can be a “double-edged sword”— by being both the very things that make you excellent at your work and cause burn-out. Explore how your own “stuff” impacts your work with youth and their families even when you don’t know that it is happening. Discuss self-disclosure with clients, explore ourselves and counter-transference, identify how we know when we are over-involved with our clients, and review ways to address this.

(For a training that focuses more on professional boundaries and less on our own reactions, consider Appropriate Professional Boundaries in Working with Kids/Families).

Instructor Pamela Parkinson, PhD, LCSW, is a licensed clinical psychologist and a licensed clinical social worker with over 26 years in the field of providing services to children and families. Dr. Parkinson been trained in two disciplines (psychology and social work) and has worked as a residential counselor, a teaching assistant for special education, and a recreation specialist in residential treatment. Additionally, she has worked in the full continuum of services from residential and non-public school to community-based services such as outpatient clinics, school-based programs, diversion, kinship, etc.