Responsible Care in a Post-Roe World: The Impacts and Ethical Responsibilities of Mental Health Professionals - Hardcover

by Jennifer Toof (Author), Ami Crowley (Author)

In June 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark piece of legislation which had previously protected the rights of Americans to seek abortions. Now, individual states are free to outright ban or severely limit Americans' rights to a procedure that had been legal since 1973. This ruling threw the country into a tailspin and put mental health professionals in the challenging position of wondering how they can best support clients impacted by the ruling while also abiding by pertinent laws and ethical codes.
This timely book will help mental health professionals navigate their roles and responsibilities in a highly politically charged situation. Readers will understand the various ways the ruling may impact the clients with whom they work, as considerable research has found that people forced to carry unwanted pregnancies experience adverse financial, social, physical, and mental health effects. The negative effects are more severe for people in marginalized groups, such as persons living in poverty, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and those in medically underserved areas.
This book addresses timely issues facing providers today. Should mental health professionals set aside their personal thoughts and feelings about abortion to best serve their clients, and is this even possible? What do the ethical codes that mental health professionals abide by suggest for traversing this situation? This engaging text encourages deep personal reflection while broadening professionals' understanding of the mental health effects of the ruling and providing insight into its ethical and social justice implications.

Author Biography

Jennifer Toof, LPC, NCC, is the owner/founder of Trauma Informed Counseling & Consulting,
through which she provides trauma-informed mental health counseling services to children and
adults and trauma/mental health consulting services to organizations. She earned her PhD in
International Psychology from The Chicago School with a focus on trauma services. She has
presented on a wide array of subjects at national and international professional conferences, most
recently presenting on the topic of this book at the 2023 American Psychological Association
conference in Washington, DC. She has been published in peer-reviewed journals on topics such
as childhood trauma, integrated family therapy, and rehabilitative yoga and mindfulness for the
incarcerated population.

Dr. Ami Crowley is a Full Time Associate Professor in the Counselor Education Department at The Chicago School - Online where she teaches numerous classes and supervises the clinical fieldwork experience of mental health counseling graduate students. She is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Cincinnati in their Substance Abuse Counseling program. Additionally, she is the co-owner and founder of Infinity Counseling Services, LLC, through which she provides mental health and substance abuse counseling services, supervisors counseling interns, as well as provides trainings and consulting services to organizations. Dr. Crowley is an active member of many national, state, and local professional associations, holding numerous offices and contributing to the progression of the field of counseling through advocacy, research, presenting, and publication. She currently resides in Florida with her family.