Ethics and Boundaries: Working with Immigrant and Refugee Populations

Cultural competence when working with diverse populations is critical. In this online program, you will learn how to deliver culturally competent care to your clients while being cognizant of professional boundaries.

Understand the cultural challenges of working with immigrant populations

For a provider to understand potential ethical and boundary issues when serving refugees and immigrants, they must understand the different cultural backgrounds of their clients. You will learn about the differences between refugees, immigrants, and asylees. In this program, you will learn about the current refugee and immigrant populations in Wisconsin. Additionally, we will provide basic background information on the countries and cultures of the current Wisconsin refugee population. While working with refugee populations, you will likely work with an interpreter, bringing up additional ethical challenges.

Working with refugees and immigrants often requires changes in practices/policies at human services agencies to meet federal and state law and professional guidelines. Some of the major changes facing many human services agencies when serving refugee and immigrant populations will be discussed.

Learning Objectives:

• To identify common potential ethical dilemmas when delivering services to refugees and immigrants
• To identify potential ethical conflicts unique to serving this population
• To increase understanding of ways to respond to potential ethical conflicts when serving this population
• Increase understanding of professional boundaries and their importance when delivering human services to this population

This program satisfies the Wisconsin Social Worker’s Ethics and Boundaries requirements for licensing.

Who Should Attend

Social workers, counselors, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, substance abuse counselors, school psychologists, and other human service professionals

Instructors

Dr. Todd Sigler is a Licensed Psychologist, a National Certified Counselor and a registrant of the National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology. He received his Counseling Psychology M.A. and Psy.D. from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. Dr. Sigler has been in private practice since 2004 and has extensive experience working with refugee clients.