Counseling clients who regularly use legal marijuana for both medicinal and recreational purposes is a nuanced and evolving area of practice, especially considering the changing cultural landscape around marijuana in various regions. Legalized marijuana has added ethical and legal complexities to an already challenging landscape of substance use disorder (SUD) and integrated dual diagnoses treatment (IDDT). In addition to the increasing importance of knowing the laws in your area of practice, the marijuana landscape presents new imporant considerations in both practice models and clinician subjective world view regarding clients who habitually use legal marijuana. Abstinence versus harm reduction and values bracketing is at the forefront of treatment considerations for clients habitually using marijuana – now legalized, decriminalized, and often enjoyed medicinally. Biases around marijuana use and its legality, in many cases, are at the heart of client distress in their relationships, employment, and educational achievement. Related legal conflicts is another ethical challenge to consider in treating this population (despite the legality of a substance at the state level).

How do clinicians with a bias against legal marijuana recognize and address the clinical concerns around a client’s heavy use while still upholding their ethical obligation to preserve client autonomy and honor the ethical principles of beneficence and non-maleficence?

Please join us to increase your knowledge and insight related to treating clients who habitually use legal marijuana. Jodi Geis-Crowder will draw on 26 years of experience in clinical mental health to increase your knowledge of how the landscape of SUD and IDDT has drastically changed with the legal recreational and medicinal use of marijuana. Jodi will explore mandatory disclosure, monitoring, and ethical practice toward providing the best client care without alienating clients or jeopardizing the therapeutic alliance. Learn and understand how your biases may impact treatment, and protect your credentials both from an ethical and legal perspective.

In addition to the below Objectives, this webinar training includes the following highlights:

1. A general ethics review to inform attendees of the importance of keeping ethics at the forefront of their practice while meeting requirements for most state licensing boards.
2. An opportunity to create an ethical decision-making model.
3. An opportunity to apply knowledge gained in the course to a clinical case example.
4. Ability to identify at least two reasons why collaborating with a professional team, that includes clinical, legal, and medical consultation, is crucial to navigating the increased complexities that legal marijuana adds to SUD and IDDT.

Cost: $60 – Want to attend this event and any future event or course from our CE library for FREE and unlimited for the cost of $34.99/month for 12 months??!! Check out our Everything Plan here.

Attendance and Location Details

Date and Time

Friday, August 23, 2024

10:00am – 12:00pm CST 

11:00am – 1:00pm EST 

8:00am – 10:00am PST

*Zoom link will be made available to you 24-48 hours prior to event date.

Objectives:

This training will provide participants clinical knowledge and tools to:

a), Identify two reasons why mandatory disclosure is one of the most important aspects of client care that sets the stage for safe SUD and IDDT treatment, especially when treating clients who use legal marijuana.

b). Identify two tools to assess clients in determining the best practice approach/clinically appropriate level of care (LOC) for clients who want to continue using marijuana for medicinal or other purposes.

c). Name two clinical approaches when treating clients who habitually use marijuana when it may be negatively impacting relationship, employment, education, and legal aspects of their lives.

d). Identify two aspects of an abstinence model of care and a harm reduction model of care when treating clients who habitually use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

e). Explore and identify two aspects of managing “the dance” between dealing with our reactions/biases and holding clinical ethics at the forefront of client care.

Target Audience:

Clinical Mental Health Professionals such as Counselors, Psychologists, Therapists, Substance Abuse Counselors, and Licensed Clinical Social Workers.

Instructional Level: Intermediate

Instructor(s): Jodi Ann Geis-Crowder, MS, LPC, ACS

Material Author(s): Jodi Ann Geis-Crowder, MS, LPC, ACS  

Jodi Geis-Crowder has a passion for the helping profession to ensureaccess to care for all. She is also passionate about mentoring, supervising and training others to reach their professional potential. Jodi has spent the past 25 years dedicating her professional efforts to ensuring that individuals in rural, frontier areas in Northeast Colorado and Southeast Wyoming have access to quality, culturally meaningful behavioral health care and substance use disorder services, delivered by trained, competent providers. A native of Wyoming, Jodi holds an Associate of Science Degree in Education from Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, a Bachelor of Science Degree in Social Sciences with areas of emphasis in psychology, economics, political science and anthropology, and a Master of Science Degree in Counselor Education and Human Development with an emphasis in Leadership from the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming. She holds professional counseling licenses in good standing in Colorado (LPC-2476, March 2000) and Wyoming (LPC-1602, September 2016), is an Approved Clinical Supervisor, a certified Solution Focused Brief Therapy practitioner, holds a certificate in the Human/Animal Bond from the Denver University Graduate School of Social Work, has studied and gained numerous continuing education credits in the area of the human/animal bond, has been registered with four previous therapy dogs (2005, 2010, 2019 and 2021) and recently passed her test and credentialing with her Border Collie, Shay River, through the Alliance of Therapy Dogs. Jodi’s passion for culturally appropriate human/animal bond and agriculture related services in rural areas resulted in her developing animal assisted therapy programs and therapeutic horticulture for two community mental health centers: Centennial Mental Health Center in Northeast Colorado and Peak Wellness Center in Southeast Wyoming. Jodi states, “I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to bring my passion for the natural world and rural culture into my professional work by developing programs that are culturally meaningful and support the rural culture.” She further states, “My original therapy dog, Mr. Big, taught me more about patience and unconditional love than any other relationship in my life. It is astounding to me how much he continues to teach me about grief and loss through his passing.”

Jodi has held positions as a clinician, clinical coordinator, clinical supervisor, regional clinical director and telehealth clinical supervisor, and education and training coordinator in her years at Centennial Mental Health Center and Peak Wellness Center. Jodi developed animal assisted therapy, therapeutic horticulture and peer specialist programs during her tenure at Centennial Mental Health Center and was the architect for and developed a centralized, telehealth clinical supervision model for Peak Wellness Center. Jodi has extensive training and experience in working in the telehealth model. She authored an article regarding transitioning to working remotely and provided support to others transitioning to remote work during the Covid 19 Pandemic shut down in March, 2020. This article was used internally at Peak Wellness Center to support staff during this transition. Jodi also served as secretary of the Iliff Head Start Advisory Board for six years in Iliff, CO and is currently on the Absaroka Head Start Advisory Board in Worland, WY.

Jodi currently works full time as a telehealth clinical supervisor and trainer for Volunteers of America Norther Rockies (VOANR). Volunteers of America Northern Rockies merged with Peak Wellness Center in July of 2020 and serves the needs of individuals with behavior health care and substance use disorder challenges, as well as specializing in services for veterans in Montana, Wyoming and Western South Dakota. She enjoys teaching webinars and assisting others in their professional development under her private company JGC Enterprises, LLC in the areas of Ethics, Solution Focused Brief Therapy, working in the telehealth model and the human/animal bond. Jodi is also a professional mixed media and water color artist and hopes to volunteer at the Washakie County Library in Worland, WY, developing an animal assisted reading program for youth.

For additional information about this course, the instructors, or the material authors, please contact Content Assistance at content@onlinececredits.com.

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