Irrational Ethics

Curt and Katie chat about how current ethical standards fail to recognize culture and humanity. We talk about how the ethics codes were initially created, looking at the racist, sexist, classist roots. We also discuss the problems in how ethics are usually taught and the lack of focus on ethical thinking and decision-making, rather than rigidly following rules based in oppression.

It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.

In this episode we talk about:

The gaps in the ethics codes, looking at the historical roots of the current codes
How ethics codes were initially created – racist, sexist, classist roots
The systemic implications related to continuing to refine the codes, rather than re-norming or recreating starting with the current people in the profession
Thoughts around fixing the codes to be more representative and inclusive
The challenges that ethics committees face in considering a new ethics code
The aspirational aspects of the “shared values”
The problems with how we teach ethics in grad school
“We were taught ethics as laws.”
The need to think ethically, not blindly follow rules out of context
The problem with rigidly holding to imperfect ethical codes
Authoritarian practices of holding each other to ethics codes
“We’re perpetuating oppression and disguising it as morality” – Curt Widhalm
Principle ethics – bare-minimum guidelines to protect against the lowest common denominator
Aspirational ethics – and why we should move in this direction
The willing ignorance of other cultures within the ethical codes
Our requirement to hold to white Eurocentric ideals
What we can do to improve the codes
Looking at ourselves as individuals and having guidance on how we can be better
The failure of the codes to consider how therapists show up in the room
The importance of having best practices for optimizing performance for therapists
The problem with not clearly distinguishing between principle versus aspirational codes
Posing the question on what an ethics code would look like when it isn’t tied to a professional association

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Resources mentioned:

We’ve pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below might be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance!

Association of Black Psychologists

The Society of Indian Psychologists

Complaints about the ethics codes from ethnic minority psychological associations

Therapy Reimagined 2020:

Therapy Reimagined 2020 Conference

Relevant Episodes:

That’s Unethical

Nam Rindani: Therapy with an Accent

Dr. Sonya Lott: Cultural Humility and White Fatigue

Connect with us!

Our Facebook Group – The Modern Therapists Group

Get Notified About Therapy Reimagined 2020 (and TR2019 Virtual Conference)

Our consultation services:

The Fifty-Minute Hour

Who we are:

Curt Widhalm is in private practice in the Los Angeles area. He is the cofounder of the Therapy Reimagined conference, the CFO of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University, a former Subject Matter Expert for the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, and a loving husband and father. He is 1/2 great person, 1/2 provocateur, and 1/2 geek, in that order. He dabbles in the dark art of making “dad jokes” and usually has a half-empty cup of coffee somewhere nearby. Learn more at: http://www.curtwidhalm.com

Katie Vernoy is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, coach, and consultant supporting leaders, visionaries, executives, and helping professionals to create sustainable careers. Katie, with Curt, has developed workshops and a conference, Therapy Reimagined, to support therapists navigating through the modern challenges of this profession. Katie is also President of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. In her spare time, Katie is secretly siphoning off Curt’s youthful energy, so that she can take over the world. Learn more at: http://www.katievernoy.com

A Quick Note:

Our opinions are our own. We are only speaking for ourselves – except when we speak for each other, or over each other. We’re working on it.

Our guests are also only speaking for themselves and have their own opinions. We aren’t trying to take their voice, and no one speaks for us either. Mostly because they don’t want to, but hey.