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Revisioning Ethics: An Anti-Oppressive Framework for Practice - Cathleen M. Morey, PhD, LICSW (Recorded self study)
This ethics course is approved for AMA PRA Credit™ risk management study
Traditional approaches to professional ethics often emphasize compliance, risk management, and individual decision-making. While these models are important, they frequently fail to address the deeper sociopolitical realities—such as systemic racism, gender bias, institutional hierarchies, and structural oppression—that shape ethical practice in the real world.
This course reimagines ethics through a justice-centered, anti-oppressive lens. Drawing on over two decades of clinical practice, teaching, and research, Dr. Morey introduces a practical, reflective framework for ethical action that moves beyond traditional Eurocentric models and integrates equity, accountability, and restorative practices.
Through lecture, case analysis, and guided reflection, participants will:
- Explore the four supraordinate principles of anti-oppressive ethics: aspirational practice, recognition of whiteness in traditional ethics, epistemic justice, and intersectional ethics.
- Examine a real-world case study that highlights how basement ethics, bias, and systemic power dynamics can lead to ethical collapse, and how an anti-oppressive framework can transform practice.
- Learn how to create ethical formulations that account for systemic and organizational dynamics alongside clinical concerns.
- Apply tools of ethical discernment, including reflexivity, humility, and values clarification, to strengthen daily practice.
- Learn and apply a step-by-step decision-making framework that integrates restorative practices, centers marginalized voices, and promotes systemic accountability.
By the end of the course, participants will be able to recognize ethical dilemmas in their broader cultural and organizational context, engage with ethics as a proactive resource rather than a compliance requirement, and adopt practices that foster dignity, justice, and repair.
Target Audience
______ Introductory ___X___ Intermediate ______ Advanced
Learning Objectives
- Describe the conceptual foundations of anti-oppressive ethics and the limitations of traditional compliance-based models.
- Analyze the four supraordinate principles of anti-oppressive ethical practice—aspirational ethics, dominance of whiteness, epistemic justice, and intersectional ethics using clinical and organizational case examples.
- Apply ethical discernment strategies, including reflexivity, humility, and values clarification, to identify and address ethical dilemmas in practice.
- Design an anti-oppressive ethical formulation that incorporates systemic, cultural, and organizational dynamics alongside clinical considerations.
- Critique organizational ethical cultures by assessing where they fall on the spectrum from punitive to anti-oppressive, and design strategies for fostering cultures of repair, accountability, and justice.
Cathleen M. Morey, PhD, LICSW, is the director of clinical social work at the Austen Riggs Center, where she oversees clinical social work services, supervises social work training programs, and provides family treatment and clinical casework for adults with complex psychiatric conditions. She also serves as an adjunct associate professor at the Smith College School for Social Work, teaching in the doctoral and clinical supervision certificate programs.
With over 25 years of clinical, research, and leadership experience across psychiatric, residential, community mental health, and forensic settings, Dr. Morey’s scholarship and teaching focus on ethics, system enactments, psychodynamic systems approaches, interdisciplinary teamwork, family therapy, and clinical social work education. She has published widely in peer-reviewed journals, presented nationally and internationally, and is a peer reviewer for the Clinical Social Work Journal and the Journal of Social Work Practice.
Dr. Morey is active internationally through her volunteer work with International Social Work Solutions, conducting research and trauma training in Uganda, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. She also maintains a private practice specializing in psychotherapy, supervision, and ethics consultation.
Austen Riggs Center Inc. adheres to the ACCME’s Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Medical Education. All those at Austen Riggs Center involved in the planning of this activity, including the presenter(s) listed above, report they have no relevant financial relationships with an ineligible company*.
The views and opinions expressed in this presentation are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the Austen Riggs Center.
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, The Austen Riggs Center, Inc. approves this content for AMA PRA Credit™ risk management study.
Available Credit
- 2.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
ACCME - As a Jointly Accredited Organization, The Austen Riggs Center, Inc. designates this learning activity for a maximum of 2.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
- 2.00 APA
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, The Austen Riggs Center, Inc. designates this learning activity for 2.00 continuing education credit(s) (CE) for psychology. Continuing Education (CE) credits for psychologists are provided through the co-sponsorship of the American Psychological Association (APA) Office of Continuing Education in Psychology (CEP). The APA CEP Office maintains responsibility for the content of the programs.
Austen Riggs Center, Inc. is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Psychology as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed psychologists #PSY-0115.
- 2.00 ASWB-ACE
As a Jointly Accredited Organization, The Austen Riggs Center, Inc is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organization, not individual courses, are approved under this program. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Austen Riggs Center maintains responsibility for this. Social workers completing this Enduring will receive 2.00 continuing education credit(s).
Austen Riggs Center, Inc is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0843.
- 2.00 Contact Hours/ ParticipationA certificate of attendance for all Learners.