CODE OF ETHICS
OUR COMMITMENT TO ETHICAL SOMATIC AND RELATIONAL THERAPY
The work we do asks people to bring us vulnerable parts of their lives: trauma, attachment, relationships, sexuality, grief, fear, shame, identity, and experiences that have shaped how they move through the world.
That creates a real responsibility.
At The AUM Institute, ethical practice is not separate from the therapeutic work. It is part of the work.
The principles below guide how we practise Somatic Integration Therapy, trauma therapy, attachment therapy, relationship therapy, and the other forms of individual and relational work we offer.
1. Dignity, Autonomy & Self-Determination
We respect each client as the primary authority on their own experience.
Therapy is collaborative. Clients have the right to ask questions, disagree, slow down, change direction, decline an invitation, or end therapy.
Our role is not to impose an interpretation, belief system, emotional experience, or predetermined outcome.
We aim to create a therapeutic relationship in which choice becomes more available, not less.
2. Informed Consent
Consent is an ongoing process, not a form signed at the beginning of therapy.
We explain the nature of our work, our approach, fees, scheduling expectations, confidentiality and its limits, therapeutic boundaries, and anything else that affects a client's ability to make an informed decision about participating.
When we introduce a new therapeutic intervention, clients are given enough information to understand what is being proposed and decide whether they want to participate.
Consent can be withdrawn at any time.
This reflects the broader counselling standard that informed consent continues throughout therapy rather than ending once initial paperwork is completed.
3. Somatic Work & Therapeutic Touch
Somatic therapy brings attention to what is happening through sensation, breath, posture, movement, emotion, imagery, memory, impulse, relationship, and other aspects of present-moment experience.
Therapeutic touch is not required for somatic therapy.
When touch is offered, its purpose is discussed beforehand and explicit consent is obtained. Consent remains active throughout the interaction and can be changed or withdrawn at any moment.
We pay attention to both verbal consent and what is happening in the client's experience. A previous yes does not create an obligation to say yes again.
Touch is never used for the practitioner's gratification, to pressure a client toward intimacy, or to override uncertainty, hesitation, or refusal.
Sexualized or genital touch is not part of our therapeutic work.
Current somatic ethics standards place particular emphasis on the power dynamics surrounding touch, ongoing consent, client vulnerability, and the practitioner's responsibility for maintaining appropriate boundaries.
4. Pacing & Choice
We do not believe trauma therapy requires forcing emotional intensity, catharsis, disclosure, or reliving traumatic experiences.
We pay attention to capacity, activation, shutdown, connection, boundaries, and what is happening in the therapeutic relationship.
A client is never required to participate in an exercise or disclose material simply because a practitioner believes it would be therapeutic.
Slowing down, stopping, changing direction, orienting to the present, or deciding not to proceed are all legitimate parts of therapy.
5. Professional Boundaries & Power
Therapeutic relationships contain an inherent difference in role and power. We take responsibility for maintaining the professional boundaries of that relationship.
We do not exploit clients financially, emotionally, professionally, spiritually, sexually, or relationally.
We avoid relationships and arrangements that interfere with therapeutic judgment, compromise the client's welfare, or create conflicting roles.
When unavoidable overlapping relationships arise, we address them openly and consider whether additional boundaries, consultation, referral, or another course of action is required.
6. Sexual & Romantic Boundaries
Sexual or romantic relationships between practitioners and current clients are prohibited.
Therapeutic intimacy, emotional openness and genuine human connection are not invitations into a sexual or romantic relationship.
The responsibility for maintaining this boundary belongs to the practitioner.
7. Confidentiality & Privacy
We protect the confidentiality of information shared with us in therapy and consultation.
Before beginning therapy, we explain the limits of confidentiality and the circumstances in which information is legally required or permitted to be disclosed.
When professional consultation or supervision is used, identifying information is minimized wherever possible.
We also take reasonable precautions with digital communication, online sessions, scheduling systems, payment systems and other technologies used in the practice.
Our handling of personal information is described more fully in our Privacy Policy.
Confidentiality is a foundational counselling and psychotherapy obligation and extends to protecting the fact that an individual is a client, not merely the content of sessions.
8. Couples & Relational Work
When we work with couples or other relational systems, we clarify who the clients are, the role of the therapist, and how information shared individually will be handled within the larger therapeutic relationship.
We do not secretly align ourselves with one partner against another.
Where individual and couples work overlap, we pay particular attention to confidentiality, competing roles, alliances, and the effect those relationships have on the therapeutic process.
9. Competence & Scope of Practice
We practise within the limits of our education, training, experience and professional competence.
We do not represent ourselves as psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, or members of another regulated profession unless we hold the qualifications required to use that title.
When a client's needs fall outside our competence or require services we do not provide, we discuss this openly and help identify appropriate additional or alternative support.
Clarity about scope of practice is a specific focus of Somatic Experiencing International's current ethics guidance.
10. Consultation, Supervision & Continuing Education
Ethical practice requires reflection.
We engage in continuing education, professional consultation and supervision to deepen our skills, examine blind spots, consider difficult clinical situations and remain accountable for the quality of our work.
When consultation involves client material, confidentiality is protected.
We also recognize when personal circumstances, impairment, stress, illness, or other factors interfere with our ability to practise responsibly and take appropriate action.
11. Respect for Difference
We respect differences in culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, relationship structure, disability, spirituality, religion, socioeconomic circumstances, family structure and lived experience.
We do not require clients to share our beliefs, values, spiritual worldview, relationship choices or understanding of healing.
We remain responsible for examining how our own history, identities, assumptions and biases enter the therapeutic relationship.
12. Spirituality & Therapeutic Influence
The AUM Institute has been shaped in part by contemplative and Tantrik and Yogic traditions.
These influences do not give us authority over a client's spiritual beliefs or personal worldview.
Spiritual ideas are never used to dismiss trauma, bypass emotion, excuse harmful behaviour, override boundaries, or position the practitioner as possessing special insight into a client's truth.
Clients are free to engage with, question, reinterpret or reject any philosophical or spiritual framework introduced in the work.
I would definitely keep this section for AUM. It addresses something generic psychotherapy codes do not need to address as explicitly, but your practice does.
13. Honesty in How We Describe Our Work
We represent our education, training, experience and services accurately.
We do not guarantee therapeutic outcomes or claim that one approach is appropriate for everyone.
Our marketing, website content, testimonials and educational material should reflect the work we actually provide.
When we draw from the work of teachers, researchers, therapeutic modalities or traditions, we acknowledge those influences rather than presenting their work as our own.
14. Client Feedback, Rupture & Repair
Clients are welcome to tell us when something does not feel right.
Disagreement, misunderstanding and rupture are not treated as evidence that a client is resistant or failing at therapy.
We take concerns seriously, examine our contribution, clarify misunderstandings, repair where repair is possible, and seek consultation when necessary.
Being the therapist does not make us infallible.
15. Ending Therapy
Clients are free to end therapy.
We do not pressure people to remain in therapy because they have begun a program or established a therapeutic relationship with us.
We also take responsibility for ending or changing the therapeutic relationship when continuing would no longer be appropriate, ethical, useful, or within our competence.
Where continuity of care is important, we make reasonable efforts to discuss next steps and appropriate referrals.
16. Safety, Impairment & Crisis
We do not provide sessions when a practitioner's ability to practise responsibly is impaired.
We also assess whether a client's state allows meaningful participation and consent in the work being offered.
The AUM Institute is not an emergency or crisis-response service. When someone's needs require emergency, medical, psychiatric, substance-use, or other specialized support beyond what we provide, we direct them toward appropriate services.
17. Accountability
Ethical practice includes being accountable when concerns arise.
If you have a concern about your experience with The AUM Institute, we invite you to raise it directly with your practitioner or contact us at:
We will take concerns seriously, respond respectfully, and consider appropriate consultation, repair or corrective action.
OUR STANDARD
We do not expect ethical practice to come from having perfect practitioners.
We expect it to come from clear boundaries, informed consent, humility, competence, accountability, ongoing learning, and a willingness to examine the impact of our actions.
Your autonomy, dignity and wellbeing remain central to the work.