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Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Behavioral Health Professions: Emerging Ethical and Risk Management Challenges

February 5 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Artificial intelligence is transforming behavioral healthcare.  AI is being used to conduct client risk assessments, assist people in crisis, monitor clients’ status, strengthen prevention efforts, record clinical notes, identify systemic biases in the delivery of behavioral health services, provide clinical education and supervision, and predict practitioner burnout and service outcomes, among other uses. This training will examine cutting-edge ethical issues related to clinicians’ use of AI; apply relevant ethical standards; and outline elements of a strategy for practitioners’ ethical use of AI.

Join Dr. Frederic Reamer as he examines ethical issues and risks related to informed consent and client autonomy; privacy and confidentiality; transparency; potential client misdiagnosis; client abandonment; client surveillance; plagiarism, dishonesty, fraud, and misrepresentation; algorithmic bias and unfairness; and use of evidence-based AI tools.

Frederic Reamer, PhD, is on the faculty of the School of Social Work, Rhode Island College.  His teaching and research focus on professional ethics, criminal justice, mental health, health care, and public policy.  Dr. Reamer received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and has served as a social worker in correctional and mental health settings.  He chaired the national task force that wrote the Code of Ethics adopted by the National Association of Social Workers in and served on the code revision task force.  Dr. Reamer also chaired the national task force sponsored by NASW, the Association of Social Work Boards, Council on Social Work Education, and Clinical Social Work Association that developed standards governing social workers’ use of technology in professional practice.

Dr. Reamer serves as associate editor of the Encyclopedia of Social Work and served as editor of the Journal of Social Work Education. He also served on the State of Rhode Island Parole Board for 24 years and has been the ethics instructor for the Providence (RI) Police Department Academy since 2012.

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Psychoanalysis in Action: The Feminine in Buddhism & Psychoanalysis: Our Portal to Aliveness

In this talk, Dr. Pilar Jennings will explore her decades long relationship to Tibetan Buddhism and its influence on her psychoanalytic practice. With an emphasis on the tradition’s shared efforts to restore our contact with feminine aspects of the psyche – intuitive knowing, empathy, and receptivity – she will consider how the Buddhist and psychoanalytic traditions benefit from active engagement. She will also consider recent collective struggles influencing analytic work, and the analyst’s increased need for feminine resources nurtured in the Buddhist model of mind.

Pilar Jennings is a psychoanalyst based in New York City with a focus on the clinical applications of Buddhist meditation practice. She received her Ph.D. in Psychiatry and Religion from Union Theological Seminary, and has been working with patients and their families through the Harlem Family Institute since 2000. Dr. Jennings is a long-term practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. She is a Visiting Lecturer at Union Theological Seminary; Columbia University; a faculty member of the Nalanda Institute for Contemplative Science; and teaches internationally on the intersection of Buddhist psychology and psychoanalysis. Her publications have included “East of Ego: The Intersection of Narcissism and Buddhist Meditation Practice,” “Imagery and Trauma: The Psyche’s Push for Healing,” Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism (Wisdom Publications; 2010), and a memoir about her entry into clinical work: To Heal a Wounded Heart: On the Transformative Power of Buddhism & Psychotherapy in Action (Shambhala; 2017).

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Grounded in decades of neuroscientific research as well as in the accumulated wisdom of ancient contemplative traditions, Richard Davidson, PhD will discuss how to promote human flourishing and enhance mental health across the life span through the cultivation of four transformative practices.
These practices include:
  • Awareness – learning to be fully present with your emotions.
  • Connection – grow meaningful relationships and a sense of belonging.
  • Insight – learn to know yourself through self-inquiry.
  • Purpose – connect with your core values to enhance clarity and make sound decisions.
Dr. Davidson will speak to the practical application and measurable benefits of developing these habits of mind for us as individuals as well as for integration into our therapeutic approaches.
Richard J. Davidson, PhD, received his PhD from Harvard University in Psychology in 1976. Davidson’s research is broadly focused on the neural bases of emotion and emotional style and methods to promote human flourishing including meditation and related contemplative practices. He has published over 600 papers, numerous chapters and reviews, and edited 20 books. Davidson’s newest book, “Born to Flourish” with Cortland Dahl, is set to release in March 2026. He is also author (with Sharon Begley) of “The Emotional Life of Your Brain”published in 2012, and co-author with Daniel Goleman of “Altered Traits” published in 2017. He was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2006. He was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2017 and appointed to the Governing Board of UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) in 2018. In 2014, Davidson founded the non-profit, Healthy Minds Innovations, which translates science into tools to cultivate and measure well-being.

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2 CE Hours available for NY Practitioners – LCSWs, LMSWs, LPs, LMFTs, LMHCs, LCATs, PHDs, PSYDs

This presentation, configured largely as a Q & A forum, aims to capture the playful essence of Winnicott’s work such that the process and content of his thinking are given equal weight. Moving from the Capacity to be Alone, to the Holding Environment, to the creation of False and True Selves, to the Capacity to Use Objects and to Hate, to the creation of Transitional Phenomena, we will portray his work as a dialectical dance between child and caretaker(s). The talk will also consider how Winnicott’s clinical voice speaks to what a “good enough” parent is and what gets in the way of good enough parenting. This format will allow the audience to engage in a creative way with Dr. Tuber and discuss why the “play” goes well or not.

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CE CREDITS AVAILABLE FOR NYS PRACTITIONERS
Today’s divisive political climate has made the idea of talking to those on the “other side” an act of traitorous betrayal. At the same time psychoanalysis has a long history of attempting to bridge what can feel like irreconcilable differences and splits, as they appear in both individual and group dynamics. Rather than following the expectable, and often appropriate, tendency to avoid conversations that break down into attacks and opposition, Dr. Kolod will explore what is possible when we are willing to place ourselves intentionally in the line of fire between polarized groups.
Sue Kolod, PhD, is President of the North American Psychoanalytic Confederation (NAPsaC).  She is a Supervising and Training Analyst and member of the Faculty at the William Alanson White Institute and co-leads a study group on polarization called the Depolarization Project.  Dr. Kolod is a Director-at-Large and serves on the Board of Directors of the American Psychoanalytic Association. Her essay, From Chosen Trauma to Depolarization: Addressing Toxic Polarization in Groups Using the Work of Vamik Volkan, appears in the April 2025 issue of The American Psychoanalyst.

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