Utilizing a Code of Ethics as a compass supports mental health professionals' work as an objective agent in a client's progress toward their goals.  A Code of Ethics may work as a guide for: important and challenging conversations,  community engagement, questions that need to be asked about a clinician's practices, and other complicated issues and dilemmas.  My Master's degree is in Social Work and I am licensed by the State of Montana.  The following are highlights from the Social Work Code of Ethics that I rely on to make appropriate professional decisions in 'grey' areas of practice and engagement (you can also read the entire Code here):

• "The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty. A historic and defining feature of social work is the profession’s dual focus on individual well-being in a social context and the well-being of society. Fundamental to social work is attention to the environmental forces that create, contribute to, and address problems in living" (NASW, 2025).

• A social worker's 'values' include: 

  • service,

  • social justice,

  • dignity and worth of the person,

  • importance of human relationships,

  • integrity,

  • competence.

• A social worker's 'standards' include responsibilities:

  • To their clients and their client's interests,

  • To the broader society,

  • To the social work profession,

  • To their colleagues,

  • As professionals,

  • In their practice settings.

• A social worker's responsibilities to their clients include:

  • Promoting and protecting a client's well-being and self-determination;

  • Providing appropriate informed consent to the client considering the service and the client's needs;

  • Exercising competency and caution in the administration of services;

  • Engaging in cultural humility and understand the nature of social diversity and oppression; 

  • Being alert to, informing clients of, and when possible, avoiding conflicts of interest;

  • Communicating clear, appropriate, and culturally sensitive boundaries to protect the working relationship and client;

  • Respecting clients’ right to privacy and adhering to standards of confidentiality (NASW, 2025).

Many of my clients are, or have been, the victim of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Additionally, I offer consult to other professionals wanting to provide trauma-informed, adapted, appropriate support to victims (some prefer the term 'survivor'). Survivors of IPV face additional safety risks in general and when engaging in mental health care. A provider must understand the nuances to providing appropriate and skilled care for a survivor of IPV. 

Domestic violence (DV), now often referred to as Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), and sometimes referred to as Narcissistic abuse, is quite common. IPV is emotionally, verbally, spiritually and/or physically violent behavior perpetrated on a person in a pattern over time by a partner, spouse, fiancé, boyfriend, or girlfriend.  Sometimes patterns of IPV exist in friendships, relationships in the workplace or between family members.  IPV does NOT have to involve physical abuse.  The abusive and manipulative behaviors are utilized by the perpetrator to exert power and/or control.  Therefore, a sign of IPV in a relationship is the existence of emotional, verbal, spiritual and/or physical abuse perpetrated in a pattern over time, while one person constantly has less control and decision-making power in the relationship and over their own agency.

If you are the victim/survivor of IPV or are in a relationship marked by constant conflict, negativity, and disrespect; I am trained and have experience that may support you in reaching your mental health goals.

Treatment modalities are unique processes that work to decrease the frequency, intensity and/or duration of undesired mental health symptoms.  These modalities are different than 'just talking' (i.e. talk therapy).  A licensed clinician must be specially trained to practice such modalities with appropriate competency.  When you begin mental health therapy, you will identify your personal goals and undesirable mental health symptoms and communicate those to me.  Then, together, we will decide if one of these treatment modalities is appropriate for treatment.  You may chose from or opt out of:

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

• Hypnotherapy: I have advanced training in this modality and have been practicing hypnotherapy with clients for over 5 years.  Hypnotherapy is a more gentle, different modality than EMDR.  But similar to EMDR, hypnotherapy is often utilized in the treatment of post-traumatic stress symptoms.  Engaging in hypnotherapy can also be helpful for other unsavory mental health symptoms, disorders, and/or illnesses such as:

  • Anxiety,

  • Depression,

  • Compulsions and/or impulsive behaviors,

  • Obsessive-compulsive disorder,

  • Phobias,

  • Sleeping disorders,

  • Disordered eating,

  • And more!

Treatment theories are systems of ideas that have general principles in which clinicians are trained.  They support clinicians' ability to be as objective as possible in the working relationship of patient/practitioner.  These theories often offer a conceptual framework a clinician draws upon to guide a client in expanding their thinking to support change in feelings, behaviors, and other mental health symptoms from which clients seek relief.  Additionally, these theories are often the subject of research to broaden our understandings of what are effective processes and themes to utilize when working to deliver effective treatment.  Different mental health therapists use different theories.  The theories and perspectives I often utilize when working with clients are:

• CBT (Cognitive behavioral theory),

• Attachment,

• Strengths Perspective,

• IFS (Internal Family Systems),

• Person-Centered,

• Family systems,

• Trauma-informed,

• DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy).