Processing very difficult relationships with loved ones is the bread and butter of psychotherapy. In recent decades there has been a trend towards people considering drastic distancing or cutting off relationships they consider toxic, particularly with parents and adult children. This decision is a quintessential ethical one because the relationships involved come with obligations and there are usually third-party stakeholders (siblings, extended family members). This session will focus on the relational ethics of family cutoffs and how to do skillful ethical consultation.

The Ethical Lives of Clients: Transcending Self-Interest in Psychotherapy 

Bill does an intro before we interact as a group on where you’ve felt stuck with clients on their relational ethics around an affair.