Overview

Professional boundaries involving self-disclosure may blur when providing care to the dying and bereaved. This "blurring" often causes clinicians and volunteers alike to struggle with whether to share their own experiences with patients, clients, and families. Even when it seems important to share these personal stories, one must decide the exact method for sharing them without the caregiver's story becoming an emotional burden to the helped individual. Using principles and case examples, Dr. Hoy will examine how the challenges of self-disclosure can be properly navigated in everyday practice.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• describe common pitfalls of self-disclosure and potential guardrails (safeguards) for use
• utilise Gamion/Ritter (2009) ethical framework in grief counseling to determine ethics of self-disclosure
• apply principles learned in everyday practice with dying and grieving individuals

Presenter Bio

Dr. William G. Hoy, DMin, FT

Over the last 40 years, Dr. William G. (Bill) Hoy has been walking alongside the dying, the bereaved, and the professionals and volunteers who care for them. From 2012 to 2024, he served as Associate Director and Clinical Professor in the Medical Humanities Program at Baylor University. He is widely regarded as an authority on the role of social support in loss and his experience includes more than 20 years leading bereavement and pastoral care programs in hospice care. Though primarily a bedside clinician, he is author of 250 articles and seven books. 

In his post-Baylor career, he acts as a hospice bereavement program advisor and provides continuing education programs for colleagues across the United States and Canada while continuing his active engagement with the Association for Death Education & Counseling, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), and the Hospice Foundation of America.

Bill and Debbie Hoy make their home in rural central Texas about 25 miles from the Baylor campus and are parents to two adult children and three grandchildren. 

Important Information

All webinar registrants will receive a link to the recording in the week following the event. Those who haven’t registered can also purchase the recorded webinar through our website.

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