Ethics & AI: Navigating the Future of Mental Health Practice

Pro Bono Counseling

2026 Professional Continuing Education Online Webinar

Full Workshop Title: Ethics & AI: Navigating the Future of Mental Health Practice

Fri, January 30, 2026

9:00 AM - 12:15 PM

Online Workshop - Three (3) CE Credits

Fee: $39/person

FREE for Active PBC Volunteer Clinicians

This Program meets the Ethics Social Work Practice content requirement. Three (3) Category 1 continuing education credits were earned in this training.

Featured Presenter: Kristin Whiting-Davis, LCSW-C

Session Description: Artificial intelligence is showing up across mental health settings—in documentation platforms, accessibility tools, client-facing apps, and the larger systems our clients move through. This ethics-focused training offers space to slow down and look at AI through the lens of our shared professional values: transparency, cultural humility, client self-determination, and the centrality of human relationships.

We explore how AI can both support and complicate trauma-informed, relational, and somatic practice. The training includes real examples of clinician-facing tools, the ways clients are already bringing AI into sessions, and the broader systemic uses of AI that shape access, equity, and client experiences in healthcare, education, and social services. Touchpoints from disability justice and data ethics are woven throughout to highlight the communities most impacted by technological decisions.

Through case vignettes, guided reflection, and a structured ethical decision-making process grounded in national ethics guidelines across psychology, counseling, and social work, participants will examine when AI can ethically augment practice and when it begins to cross into territory requiring human judgment, attune, and presence. Dedicated discussion time allows participants to connect the material to the realities of their own settings.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this presentation, the participant will be able to:

• Identify the primary ways AI is currently emerging in clinical and administrative settings across mental health professions.
• Distinguish situations where tools may ethically support practitioner tasks.
• Examine potential risks of AI use within trauma-informed, relational, culturally responsive, and somatic practice, including issues related to bias, equity, and client safety.
• Apply a structured ethical decision-making framework, grounded in national ethics guidelines across psychology, counseling, and social work, AI-related dilemmas in documentation, direct practice, and supervision.
• Determine practical, discipline-appropriate next steps for responsible, transparent, and ethically aligned integration of AI tools within one’s professional setting.

Presenter Bio: Kristin Whiting-Davis, LCSW-C

Kristin Whiting-Davis is a licensed clinical social worker in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia with more than twenty-five years of experience in child welfare, schools, community mental health, and healthcare. Her background includes extensive clinical work, behavioral health operations leadership, and supervising clinicians across many stages of their careers. Kristin owns KWD Wellness, where she provides psychotherapy, clinical supervision, and continuing education as a board-approved supervisor and certified mindfulness facilitator. She focuses on supporting caregivers of all forms—healthcare workers, therapists, parents, partners, and adult children—using trauma-informed, somatic, and mindfulness-based approaches that help people steady their nervous systems, ease overwhelm and clarify what they need most in their lives and work. She has extensive experience developing and delivering continuing education trainings for mental health professionals, including ethics, supervision, mindfulness in clinical practice, and the emerging intersection of AI, digital identity, and mental health care. Kristin is known for her clear, grounded teaching style and her ability to make complex topics accessible and practical. Outside of work, Kristin feels most at home in nature, spending time with her husband, two sons, and their dog and three cats. She also makes the most of any chance to camp and travel in their pop-up camper.

Workshop registrants will receive a code prior to the webinar to log on to Zoom and participate in the online session.

IMPORTANT: Attendance will be monitored. Participants must be logged on to the meeting by the workshop start time and participate in the entire event in order to earn CE credit.

Pro Bono Counseling is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Pro Bono Counseling maintains responsibility for this program and its content. The Maryland Boards of Social Work Examiners and Professional Counselors and Therapists certify that this program meets the criteria for three (3) credit hours of continuing education for social workers (Category 1 ), professional counselors, and therapists (Category A) licensed in Maryland.

CE credit is granted to participants with documented attendance at individual workshops. Attendance is monitored. Credit will not be granted to registrants who log on late or depart early from a session. It is the responsibility of registrants to comply with these requirements.

Please note that upon attendance verification, you will receive your CE certificate within four weeks via email. Please add Pro Bono Counseling to your contacts and check your SPAM folder to ensure delivery.

Registration Note - PBC will only collect data required to document attendance and deliver CE credits. PBC does not share registrant information.

By registering for this event, all participants agree to abide by the following code of conduct:

Workshop Code of Conduct

Pro Bono Counseling (PBC) is dedicated to providing a positive continuing education experience for everyone of all backgrounds and identities. We do not tolerate disrespectful behavior or harassment of workshop participants, facilitators, or PBC staff in any form. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment on the basis of characteristics that include but are not limited to: gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, citizenship, veteran status, pregnancy status, race, ethnicity, or religion. Anyone asked to stop unacceptable behavior is expected to comply immediately. If a participant engages in unacceptable behavior, PBC may take any action it deems appropriate, including warning or expelling the offender from the event with no refund.

Workshop Views Disclaimer

The views expressed by the workshop presenter(s) and participants are their own opinions and do not represent Pro Bono Counseling, and do not imply an endorsement of them or the organizations they represent.

Please note: If you have any questions or concerns regarding workshops and/or PBC's continuing education program, please reach out to Colby Rhea, Event & Development Coordinator, crhea@probonocounseling.org or 410.825.1001 ext. 112.