A helpful discussion about planning maternity/paternity leave in clinical practice, including review of legal/ethical considerations

Interview-style, with Elizabeth Irias, LMFT

  • Course Description

    Being in private practice has many benefits, but built-in paternal leave is not one of them… preparing for maternity/paternity leave is definitely not something they covered in graduate school. This course discusses operational, financial and emotional strategies to plan for maternity leave, and also discusses legal and ethical concerns relating to things like client communication, providing therapy referrals, managing client expectations, etc.

    Note: This interview discusses logistics of maternity leave for pregnant clinicians, however, some of the content is also applicable to other persons considering semi-planned leaves-of-absence from clinical practice, whether due to childbirth, adoption, or other considerations.

  • Learning Objectives

    Upon completing this course, participants will be able to: List three or more operational strategies to implement relating to clinician maternity/paternity leave; Describe two or more strategies to ethically prepare clients for clinician maternity/paternity leave


    Target Audience and Instructional Level
    This course is intended for psychologists, therapists, social workers, clinical counselors, and addiction counselors. Instructional level: Introductory/Intermediate

  • How To Take This Course

    In order to receive a certificate of completion reflecting the associated CE credit hour, you must:
    #1: Have an active paid Clearly Clinical membership
    #2: Listen to the corresponding course podcast
    #3: Achieve a passing grade on the post-presentation test (the test has up to ten questions and you must earn a score of at least 80%; users can re-test up to three times. After three attempts, users are advised to re-listen to the audio course in its entirety and then subsequently re-test. Psychologists who are seeking CE credit may not be awarded credit if they attempt to pass the post-test more than three times.)
    #4: Complete the requested course evaluation.

    Course elements (including the course audio, post-test, and requested course evaluation) can be completed on a computer or mobile device via your Clearly Clinical account.

  • Course Format

    This high-quality and interesting course contains a one-hour, non-interactive audio podcast presentation which is available for free via all major public podcast providers. You can also listen to and download the file via our course player.

  • Commercial Support

    There is no known commercial support or conflict of interest for this CE program, presenter, sponsor, instructor, or content.

  • Certificate Access Details

    Once you've completed the course, your certificate will automatically populate in the 'Certificate' section of your account; it will also be emailed to you. Access to completion certificate will expire 365 days after issuance. Course certificates will be on file for ten (10) years from date of course completion.

  • Accommodations

    If you have special needs or need an accommodation, please email us at [email protected] and we will do our best to assist you.

Interviewee & Interviewer

Amanda Landry, LMCH #10243

Practice Management Expert

Amanda Patterson is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Certified Addictions Professional, and National Certified Counselor. Amanda is a private practice consultant who helps therapists create business and marketing plans. She’s the owner of a group practice, Caring Therapists of Broward in South Florida, and the founder of My Private Practice Tribe, an online community for therapists in private practice.

Elizabeth Irias, LMFT

Founder of Clearly Clinical, Senior Instructor

Elizabeth 'Beth' Irias (she/her) is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and the Founder and President of Clearly Clinical. She has specializations in Clinical Documentation, Best Practice, and Utilization Review, and works closely with clinical teams across the US as a trainer and national conference presenter; Beth was formerly an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University in the Graduate Psychology and Education department. Licensed in California and Oregon, she provides therapy via her private practice to young adult and adult clients, members of the LGBTQ population, and those with addictive disorders. She has two young children, a super cool spouse who helps out with Clearly Clinical's tech, and a rescue dog.

See why we're the country's premier CE provider

  • CONVENIENT: All courses are 1-hour podcast episodes, available on all public podcast platforms

  • AFFORDABLE: We offer quality CE courses through a reasonably-priced membership

  • SOCIALLY-RESPONSIBLE: We donate to The Trevor Project for LGBTQIA+ youth suicide prevention

  • WOMEN-OWNED: We are founded and run by Elizabeth Irias, LMFT

  • DIVERSE: We highlight expert presenters from historically-marginalized communities

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