Connecting with Caregivers: Ethical Engagement in Child Trauma Therapy

Training description

Caregivers play a pivotal role in a child’s recovery from trauma, yet these relationships can present complex ethical challenges for clinicians. This training focuses on engaging caregivers in ways that acknowledge and address the impact of trauma, whether experienced by the child, the caregiver, or the family.

Participants will explore how trauma histories, attachment patterns, and high-stress family dynamics influence caregiver engagement, follow-through, and communication. Topics will include navigating confidentiality and consent in cases involving abuse or high-conflict custody, balancing child safety with caregiver trust, and addressing sensitive conversations such as body safety education, discipline versus abuse, and how trauma may emerge in play or everyday interactions. Participants will gain practical strategies for maintaining ethical boundaries, fostering trust, and partnering with caregivers in ways that enhance children’s therapeutic outcomes.

This training meets the ethics requirement for license renewal with the Board of Social Work Examiners.

Cost: Free for non-CEU attendees, $25 for CEU attendees.

Please note, training registration will close one hour prior to the training start time. You will be unable to register after this time.