Brookhaven Hospital’s yearly ethics seminar will be held on Friday, May 17th 2019. Tammie Smith will present “Correlation Between Healthy Boundaries and Client Trust Levels.” The Seminar will be from 9a to 11:50a. Breakfast will be provided and there will be a $40 fee. Payments can be made in the form of cash or check at the door. To RSVP, email Jordan at [email protected] or call/text at (918) 808-2595.

This presentation will help those in the counseling and therapeutic profession understand how our clients view boundaries in the development of strong, trusting relationships helps us to remain ethically objective within the therapeutic relationship, relating to respect, honor, and trust.  This is a fun, interactive look at how various animal groups communicate through specific society expectations, thus providing us a more in-depth understanding of human behavior.

During the session, participants will have a fun interactive exercise of coloring, as they cognitively reflect back to a time when they were first taught to “color within the lines” as a child. We discuss black and white thinking and the importance of it being a concept children grow out of and not negotiated out of…as adults might have wanted children to believe things were “gray” instead of black or white.  By observing and developing a more keen sense of understanding, we learn to recognize how our clients often test boundaries in order to feel safe within their therapeutic relationships.

Boundaries of respect and honor are not boring when it comes to recognizing and detecting how clients non-verbally test us in order for their determination of trust to be granted.  Being “fully awake” within the helping profession, shedding our own projections and transferences, gives us exciting opportunities to help strengthen understanding of the “Correlation Between Healthy Boundaries and Client Trust  Levels”  which is the basis of effective therapeutic relationships. There is a direct correlation between boundaries, safety, and black and white thinking and deeper trust levels among animal groups, as well as human behaviors.  This exercise helps to see ethics from a higher perspective, one where black and white thinking MUST be re-entered into before abstract thinking works for the client to find their true self-actualization.

Tammie Smith founded the White Horse Ranch in 2006, a therapeutic residential treatment facility, providing hope, healing and new direction through integrated co-occurring treatment for girls ages 12 to 18.  Since its opening, White Horse Ranch has helped thousands of girls and family members find a new sense of belonging and purpose.  In June 2019 she will open White Horse Santa Fe, the only treatment center of its kind in New Mexico, specializing trauma and healing work with adolescent girls using Equine Assisted Psychotherapy.  Ms. Smith also founded White Horse Ranch Outpatient Services, offering Partial Hospitalization, Intensive Outpatient and Outpatient Services.  Since inception, White Horse Ranch has currently treated clients from 23 states and four countries.  

 Tammie holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Oklahoma State University, as well as a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology.  She holds licenses in Oklahoma and New Mexico as a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed  Alcohol & Drug Counselor.  Tammie studied at Georgetown and graduated from the Protocol School of Washington in 1989, serving for 6 years as a Congressional Field Representative for a United States Congressman both in Oklahoma and in D.C.  

Ms. Smith is an accomplished artist, winning national and state awards, having her artwork selected for exhibition for the State Capital of Oklahoma.  She is the author of Vintage of a Grateful Soul  – A collection of Humor, Insight, Wisdom and Right Brained Drawings Intended to Help Calm Restless Spirits and Feed Hungry Souls.  Her newest work, They Call Me Bravo!  is an interactive workbook for brave women seeking to reconnect with their inner child.

 Tammie Smith also serves as a Surveyor for the International Commission for Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities for facilities in both the United States and Canada.