Collective Wisdom | Default Settings: Technology, Ethics, and the Practice of Relationship
Collective Wisdom is our seasonal rhythm of communal, holistic learning. The belief that our need for human connection is enduring shapes these offerings. Our intent is to create an intentional space for inspiration, connection, deepening, and activation in service of collective healing.
This season, we turn our attention to our relationship with technology.
Much of the technology woven through our practices (and lives) is designed to disappear. Scheduling systems, electronic health records, telehealth platforms, AI note-takers, and the devices in our pockets are built to be frictionless, running quietly in the background like an operating system. Over time, their defaults can begin to feel like requirements, shaping how we take notes, hold the frame, communicate with clients, and protect privacy, often without our conscious consent.
As healers and practitioners, we know that healthy relationship asks for presence, differentiation, and the willingness to negotiate and even disagree. What would it mean to bring that same quality of relationship to our tools? And how is technology shaping the inner lives of our clients, and the ways they arrive in treatment?
Together, we will explore questions such as:
Which of the technological practices we treat as required are actually choices, and what ethical responsibility comes with choosing?
How do platform defaults shape the therapeutic frame, including documentation, boundaries, availability, and communication between sessions?
What do informed consent, confidentiality, and privacy require of us when our tools collect, store, and analyze client information?
What does differentiation look like in our relationship with technology, and where might friction, negotiation, or refusal be an act of care?
How is technology shaping our clients' attention, nervous systems, relationships, and expectations of healing, and how does this show up in the room?
How can we model and support a more conscious relationship with technology for our clients, our colleagues, and the next generation of practitioners?
This gathering holds technology as neither villain nor savior, and creates space for critical inquiry, ethical reflection, and multiple perspectives. There will be a facilitated, interdisciplinary dialogue with practitioners working at the intersection of clinical practice, education, ethics, and technology, followed by small-group reflection and integration. Collective Wisdom is designed not only to think together, but to metabolize insight into lived practice.
This gathering is for therapists, counselors, social workers, clinical supervisors, wellness practitioners, healers, educators, and technologists who want to move from passive use into conscious, ethical relationship with the tools that shape our work.
Container
This is a hybrid offering. We will gather in person at Shelterwood’s home base in Pioneer Square and virtually via Zoom.
Exchange
General public with CEUs — $44
General public without CEUs — $22
Shelterwood Members — included in your membership fee
Authorization
Participation includes 2 Professional Ethics applicable continuing education units, if desired. These CEUs are authorized and approved by the NASW Washington State Chapter. Our provider #1975-507. Licensed social workers, marriage and family therapists, and mental health counselors are eligible.
Nicole Greenwald
Psychotherapist, Clinical Supervisor, & Consultant
Nicole (she/her) is a psychotherapist, educator, consultant, gatherer, and artist.
She has 15 years in practice as a psychotherapist and specializes in trauma and abuse, C-PTSD, identity, grief, and soulfulness (creativity/communion/spirit).
Nicole has over 20 years of experience in higher ed and non-profit leadership and provides consulting services for businesses, non-profits, and creatives focused on sustainability, social justice, and cooperative models.
She has long been inspired by and devoted to the beauty of mentorship and collaboration. One expression of that is her work with clinical supervisees and supervision of supervisors.
She is the co-Founder and Executive Director of Shelterwood Collective, a cooperative providing community, mentorship, and business administration support to healing practitioners.
Learn more about Nicole