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Healing from Empathic Distress through the Code of Ethics
Date: 7/12/25 (Saturday) & Time: 9 am–4:30 pm (Mountain Time) with a one-hour lunch on your own
Details: CEUs 6 Ethics | Level: Intermediate | Cost: $90
Title: Healing from Empathic Distress through the Code of Ethics
Presenter: Sheila Ciminera, LCSW
Organizer: Center for Excellence in Social Work
Location: Zoom Training w/ Canvas Learning Platform
Enrollment: Click Here
Description: The NASW Code of Ethics states our mission of supporting and empowering individuals who are oppressed and vulnerable, details the values we must uphold, and asserts the change we strive for in our society. However, as professionals, we often experience oppression and harm from the behavioral health system we have committed to being part of. These conditions can create empathic distress (commonly referred to as compassion fatigue). Participants will learn the symptoms of and contributing factors to helping-induced stress and trauma. We will use the Code of Ethics values to create reasonable expectations of ourselves, boundaries with ourselves, and compassion practices for ourselves (and our profession as a whole!).
Presenter: Sheila Ciminera, LCSW, is a South Asian-American licensed clinical social worker and owner of To Bear Witness Therapy. She began her helping career more than 20 years ago as a punk kid working in syringe exchange. Since then, she has had the privilege of being a case manager, program developer, individual and group therapist, clinical supervisor, acudetox specialist, professor, and trainer. Sheila has worked extensively with formerly incarcerated individuals on their reintegration journeys, folks with histories of trauma and oppression, helping professionals coping with compassion fatigue, and many dealing with substance use struggles- all through the lens of trauma-informed care, harm reduction, mindfulness, and anti-oppression. Outside of her career, Sheila loves animals (particularly her two bullies), art, photography, punk rock, memes, and retail therapy.