Sequence XVI: Risk, Relationship, and Responsibility: Ethics and Risk Management in the Web of Modern Practice

Presenter: Leisl Bryant, PhD

6 Continuing Education Ethics Credit

Program Description: Psychological practice today unfolds within an increasingly complex and interconnected landscape - one that places unprecedented demands on both new and experienced clinicians. Expanding scopes of practice, rapidly evolving technologies, interjurisdictional care, and continued ethical and regulatory scrutiny have fundamentally reshaped what it means to practice responsibly. The challenge goes beyond understanding ethical principles to applying them skillfully, compassionately, and coherently across overlapping roles, systems, and expectations where decisions in one area often ripple outward into others.

This workshop offers an integrated, systems-informed framework for navigating complexity with clarity and confidence, supporting thoughtful, care-driven decision-making that protects clients, preserves trust, and sustains clinicians over time.

Three interconnected dimensions of contemporary practice will be explored. Participants will examine the relational foundations of ethical work, including informed consent as an ongoing process and the management of multiple relationships and boundary complexities that arise when professional roles and contexts intersect. The focus then turns to the digital and interjurisdictional landscape, addressing ethical responsibilities related to artificial intelligence (AI), digital privacy, and practicing across regions and regulatory contexts - where actions in one setting can have implications far beyond it. The workshop concludes with the legal and regulatory dimensions of modern practice, including documentation, multi-state practice considerations, and responding skillfully to licensing board complaints as professional reach and responsibility expand.

Throughout, the emphasis is on helping clinicians make integrated, ethical, and defensible decisions in a complex environment without becoming reactive, overly cautious, or disconnected from care. Participants will leave with practical strategies, renewed clarity, and a steadier sense of how to strengthen their professional structures and practice ethically, responsibly, and sustainably within today's evolving landscape.

Program Learning Objectives: At the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:
1. Describe at least four methods to improve ethical and risk management decision-making.
2. Identify three elements of a fully informed consent process.
3. Delineate at least three steps in determining whether a boundary crossing is more likely to be a harmful violation.
4. Define four aspects of AI that should be evaluated before its adoption for professional practice.
5. List at least three ethical and risk management aspects of interjurisdictional practice.
6. Describe three central themes in documentation.
7. Identify three methods of addressing licensing board complaints.

Presenter: Dr. Bryant is a licensed New Hampshire and Massachusetts-based clinical and forensic psychologist, with board certification in Forensic Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. She received her B.A. from the University of West Florida, her M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Duquesne University, and completed a forensic postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Medical School Law and Psychiatry Program. Working in both criminal and civil arenas, Dr. Bryant has maintained a private practice in clinical and forensic psychology for nearly two decades and has provided psychological services in a variety of forensic and therapeutic settings. Dr. Bryant is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology, and formerly served as President and Executive Director of the New Hampshire Psychological Association (NHPA). She also served on the NHPA Ethics Committee for over ten years, received the Margaret M. Riggs Award for Distinguished Contribution to Psychology in the State of New Hampshire, and was awarded the Karl F. Heiser APA Presidential Award for Advocacy. Dr. Bryant brings extensive experience in forensic, clinical, and ethical consultation, academic instruction, and professional presentation to her role on the risk management team.

Eligibility for Insurance Premium Discounts
Workshop completions earns 6 CE credits and eligibility to receive a 15% premium discount on your Trust Sponsored Professional Liability Insurance for your next 2 consecutive policy periods. To obtain CE discounts, submit CE certification from an organization approved by APA to offer CE credit (must have been completed within the previous 15 months) with the insurance application. Discounts cannot be combined and are not applicable to Researcher/Academician or Student policies. Group policies become eligible for the CE discount when at least 50% of those insured under the group policy submit CE certification. All applications are individually underwritten and submission of CE certification will not guarantee insurance policy issuance or renewal.