Scenario Analysis: Staying current with trends in poetry therapy presents a professional challenge for Registered Poetry Therapists (PTRs) as it requires a proactive and discerning approach to ensure continued competence and ethical practice. The field is dynamic, with evolving research, new therapeutic modalities, and changing client needs. A PTR must balance incorporating novel approaches with maintaining a strong foundation in established, evidence-based practices, all while adhering to professional standards and ethical guidelines. The challenge lies in distinguishing between fads and genuinely beneficial advancements, and integrating them responsibly into their practice without compromising client safety or efficacy. Correct Approach Analysis: The best professional practice involves actively engaging with reputable professional organizations, peer-reviewed literature, and continuing education opportunities specifically focused on poetry therapy and related mental health fields. This approach is correct because it aligns with the ethical imperative for PTRs to maintain and enhance their professional knowledge and skills. Professional organizations often provide ethical codes and practice guidelines that implicitly or explicitly encourage staying abreast of developments. Engaging with peer-reviewed research ensures that new trends are evaluated based on evidence, promoting a practice grounded in scientific understanding rather than anecdotal claims. Continuing education, whether through workshops, conferences, or formal courses, offers structured learning from experts and opportunities for supervised practice of new techniques, directly supporting the PTR’s commitment to providing effective and up-to-date therapeutic services. Incorrect Approaches Analysis: Relying solely on popular social media trends or anecdotal testimonials from non-credentialed individuals to inform practice is professionally unacceptable. This approach fails to meet the standard of evidence-based practice and can lead to the adoption of unproven or even harmful techniques. It bypasses the rigorous evaluation processes inherent in academic research and professional development, potentially exposing clients to ineffective or inappropriate interventions. Adopting new techniques exclusively based on personal intuition or without seeking external validation or supervision is also professionally unsound. While intuition plays a role in therapeutic relationships, it must be informed by knowledge and experience. Without seeking validation through peer consultation, research, or further training, a PTR risks operating outside of established best practices and may not adequately assess the suitability or efficacy of a new approach for their specific client population. Ignoring emerging research and new methodologies in favor of strictly adhering to outdated practices, even if they were once considered standard, is also a failure to maintain competence. While established methods have value, a static approach can lead to a decline in the PTR’s ability to meet the evolving needs of clients and may result in suboptimal therapeutic outcomes. This stagnation can be seen as a dereliction of the duty to provide the most effective care possible. Professional Reasoning: Professionals should adopt a systematic approach to staying current. This involves dedicating regular time for professional development, actively seeking out information from credible sources such as professional associations (e.g., National Association for Poetry Therapy), academic journals, and reputable continuing education providers. A critical evaluation of new trends is essential, weighing evidence of efficacy, ethical considerations, and relevance to their practice setting and client population. Consultation with peers and supervisors is also a vital component of this process, providing a sounding board for new ideas and ensuring that professional judgment is sound. This continuous learning cycle ensures that practice remains informed, ethical, and effective.

This scenario is professionally challenging because it requires a Registered Poetry Therapist (PTR) to move beyond a purely aesthetic appreciation of poetry to a therapeutic application, demanding a nuanced understanding of how poetic structure can serve as a tool for client insight and emotional processing. The PTR must balance the inherent artistry of poetry with the ethical imperative to use it responsibly and effectively in a therapeutic context, ensuring that the analysis serves the client’s well-being and therapeutic goals. Careful judgment is required to select analytical techniques that are both relevant to the client’s needs and ethically sound. The best professional practice involves analyzing poetic structure through the lens of its potential impact on the client’s emotional and cognitive experience, and how these structural elements might mirror or illuminate the client’s internal landscape. This approach prioritizes the therapeutic utility of the structural analysis, ensuring it directly supports the client’s journey of self-discovery and healing. For instance, examining the rhythm and meter might reveal patterns of control or release that resonate with the client’s own experiences of anxiety or freedom. The use of enjambment could be explored to understand how the poet creates suspense or a sense of flow, which can be a metaphor for the client’s own narrative progression or stagnation. This method is ethically justified as it places the client’s therapeutic needs at the forefront, aligning with the core principles of beneficence and non-maleficence by ensuring that the therapeutic intervention is purposeful and beneficial. It also upholds the professional standard of competence by applying analytical skills in a manner that is directly relevant to the therapeutic process. An approach that focuses solely on identifying and cataloging literary devices without considering their potential therapeutic relevance fails to meet professional standards. While technically accurate in literary terms, this method neglects the primary purpose of poetry therapy, which is to facilitate healing and growth. It risks treating the poetry as an academic exercise rather than a therapeutic tool, potentially alienating the client or missing opportunities for deeper engagement. Another unacceptable approach is to impose a pre-determined interpretation of structural elements onto the client’s experience, regardless of the client’s own associations or feelings. This disregards the client’s subjective reality and can be disempowering, undermining the collaborative nature of therapy. It is ethically problematic as it can lead to misinterpretations and potentially harmful therapeutic interventions based on the therapist’s assumptions rather than the client’s lived experience. Finally, an approach that prioritizes the complexity or obscurity of the poetic structure over its accessibility and potential for client engagement is also professionally unsound. While complex structures can be therapeutically valuable, the focus must remain on how these elements can be understood and utilized by the client within the therapeutic context. Overly academic or esoteric analysis can create barriers to communication and hinder the therapeutic process. Professionals should employ a decision-making framework that begins with understanding the client’s specific therapeutic goals and presenting concerns. This understanding then guides the selection of poetic texts and the analytical techniques employed. The PTR should consider how specific structural elements (e.g., rhyme scheme, stanza form, repetition, line breaks) might evoke particular emotions, cognitive patterns, or narrative structures that are relevant to the client’s issues. The analysis should always be framed in a way that invites client participation and exploration, allowing the client to draw their own connections and insights. Regular assessment of the client’s response to the intervention is crucial to ensure the chosen techniques remain effective and ethically appropriate.

This scenario presents a professional challenge due to the inherent subjectivity in interpreting poetic expression and the potential for misinterpreting a client’s emotional state or therapeutic needs. A Registered Poetry Therapist (PTR) must navigate the delicate balance between facilitating creative expression and ensuring the therapeutic efficacy and safety of their interventions. Careful judgment is required to select interventions that are both responsive to the client’s immediate needs and aligned with established ethical and professional standards for poetry therapy. The best professional practice involves a client-centered approach that prioritizes the client’s expressed needs and emotional state in the selection of therapeutic poetry. This approach involves actively listening to the client’s verbal and non-verbal cues, understanding their current emotional landscape, and then thoughtfully selecting poems or poetic exercises that resonate with their lived experience and therapeutic goals. This is ethically justified as it upholds the principle of client autonomy and beneficence, ensuring that the therapeutic process is tailored to the individual’s unique journey and aims to promote their well-being. The PTR’s role is to facilitate the client’s exploration, not to impose their own interpretations or preferences. An approach that focuses solely on the aesthetic merit of a poem, without considering its potential impact on the client’s emotional state, is professionally unacceptable. This fails to prioritize the client’s therapeutic needs and risks causing distress or misinterpretation, violating the ethical duty of care. Similarly, selecting poetry based on the therapist’s personal preference or a predetermined curriculum, without regard for the client’s current engagement or emotional resonance, is ethically flawed. This demonstrates a lack of responsiveness to the client’s evolving therapeutic process and can alienate the client, hindering progress. Finally, an approach that uses poetry primarily as a diagnostic tool, attempting to “decode” the client’s psyche through specific poetic themes, is problematic. While poetry can offer insights, it should not be used in a reductionist manner that bypasses direct communication and client self-discovery, potentially leading to misdiagnosis and inappropriate therapeutic direction. Professional decision-making in such situations requires a continuous process of assessment, intervention, and reflection. Therapists should begin by establishing a strong therapeutic alliance and understanding the client’s goals. They should then employ active listening and empathetic attunement to gauge the client’s emotional state and receptiveness. When selecting poetry, the primary consideration should always be its potential to support the client’s therapeutic journey, offering avenues for expression, validation, or insight that are relevant to their current experience. Regular check-ins with the client about their experience of the poetry are crucial to ensure the intervention is beneficial and to make adjustments as needed.

This scenario presents a professional challenge because a Registered Poetry Therapist (PTR) must balance the inherent vulnerability of clients sharing deeply personal emotions through poetry with the ethical imperative to maintain professional boundaries and ensure client safety. The effective use of poetry as a tool for emotional expression requires a nuanced understanding of how to facilitate this process without inadvertently causing distress or oversharing. Careful judgment is required to discern when a client’s expression is therapeutic and when it might indicate a need for further intervention or a shift in therapeutic approach. The best professional practice involves a therapist carefully observing the client’s emotional state and verbal cues in conjunction with their poetic output. This approach prioritizes the client’s immediate well-being and the therapeutic relationship. By integrating the client’s non-verbal communication and stated feelings with the themes and imagery in their poetry, the therapist can gauge the depth of emotional processing and respond appropriately. This aligns with ethical guidelines that emphasize client-centered care, responsiveness to client needs, and the therapist’s responsibility to create a safe and supportive environment for emotional exploration. An approach that solely focuses on the literal interpretation of the poetry, disregarding the client’s emotional presentation, is professionally unacceptable. This failure to consider the client’s affective state can lead to misinterpretations, potentially invalidating their feelings or pushing them into uncomfortable territory without adequate support. It neglects the holistic nature of therapeutic engagement and the importance of attunement. Another professionally unacceptable approach is to encourage the client to express emotions that are clearly beyond their current capacity to manage, based solely on the intensity of the poetry. This can be detrimental, leading to emotional dysregulation and potential harm. Ethical practice demands that therapists assess a client’s readiness for certain levels of emotional exploration and provide appropriate containment and support. Finally, an approach that prioritizes the therapist’s personal interpretation or aesthetic appreciation of the poetry over the client’s emotional experience is also ethically flawed. The primary purpose of poetry therapy is the client’s healing and growth, not the therapist’s artistic critique or personal resonance. This approach risks objectifying the client’s experience and undermining the therapeutic alliance. Professionals should employ a decision-making framework that begins with a thorough assessment of the client’s current emotional state and therapeutic goals. This should be followed by a dynamic integration of the client’s verbal and non-verbal communication with their poetic creations. Therapists must remain attuned to the client’s responses throughout the session, adjusting their interventions as needed to ensure safety, promote processing, and foster a strong therapeutic relationship. Continuous self-reflection and consultation with supervisors or peers are also vital for navigating complex emotional expressions.

This scenario is professionally challenging because it requires a Registered Poetry Therapist (PTR) to navigate the delicate balance between utilizing a powerful therapeutic modality for trauma recovery and ensuring client safety, informed consent, and adherence to professional ethical standards. The effectiveness of poetry in trauma recovery is well-documented, but its application demands careful consideration of the client’s current state, potential for re-traumatization, and the therapist’s scope of practice. Careful judgment is required to select interventions that are both therapeutically beneficial and ethically sound. The best professional practice involves a phased approach that prioritizes stabilization and safety before engaging with potentially triggering trauma narratives through poetry. This approach begins with establishing a strong therapeutic alliance, assessing the client’s readiness for trauma work, and employing grounding and containment techniques. Poetry is then introduced gradually, focusing on themes of resilience, self-compassion, and post-traumatic growth, rather than directly confronting traumatic memories. This method aligns with ethical guidelines that mandate client welfare, informed consent, and the principle of “do no harm.” It ensures that the client is adequately supported and resourced before exploring sensitive material, minimizing the risk of adverse reactions. An approach that immediately encourages clients to write poetry directly about their traumatic experiences without prior stabilization or assessment is professionally unacceptable. This fails to uphold the ethical obligation to protect clients from harm and can lead to re-traumatization, emotional dysregulation, and a breakdown of the therapeutic alliance. It bypasses essential preparatory work and disregards the client’s current capacity to process such intense material. Another professionally unacceptable approach is to solely focus on the creative expression of poetry without integrating it into a broader trauma-informed therapeutic framework. While creative expression is valuable, it must be guided by therapeutic goals and an understanding of trauma processing. Without this integration, the poetry may become a form of avoidance or superficial engagement, failing to address the underlying trauma effectively and potentially leaving the client feeling unsupported in their deeper healing journey. Finally, an approach that relies on generic poetry prompts without tailoring them to the individual client’s needs, cultural background, and specific trauma experiences is also professionally deficient. Trauma is highly individualized, and effective poetry therapy requires a personalized approach. Generic prompts can be irrelevant, invalidating, or even inadvertently triggering, failing to meet the client where they are in their recovery process and undermining the therapeutic intent. Professionals should employ a decision-making framework that begins with a thorough client assessment, including their trauma history, current coping mechanisms, and readiness for trauma-specific interventions. This is followed by establishing a safe and trusting therapeutic relationship. Interventions, including the use of poetry, should be introduced incrementally, with continuous monitoring of the client’s response and ongoing opportunities for feedback and adjustment. The therapist must remain within their scope of practice, seeking supervision or consultation when necessary, and always prioritizing the client’s well-being and autonomy.

This scenario presents a professional challenge due to the inherent vulnerability of individuals experiencing grief and loss, coupled with the ethical imperative to maintain professional boundaries and ensure client well-being. The Registered Poetry Therapist (PTR) must navigate the delicate balance between offering therapeutic support and avoiding the exploitation or re-traumatization of the client. Careful judgment is required to ensure that interventions are client-centered, ethically sound, and aligned with professional standards. The best professional practice involves the PTR acknowledging the client’s expressed desire to share personal poetry but prioritizing the therapeutic process and the client’s immediate needs within the established therapeutic framework. This approach involves gently redirecting the client back to the therapeutic goals, perhaps by exploring the emotions or themes present in their existing work or by offering to co-create poetry that addresses their current grief. This respects the client’s agency while maintaining the PTR’s professional role and ensuring the focus remains on therapeutic progress. This aligns with ethical guidelines that emphasize client welfare, professional competence, and the avoidance of dual relationships or boundary violations. The PTR’s primary responsibility is to facilitate healing within the therapeutic context, not to become a confidante or recipient of personal creative output outside of that context. An incorrect approach would be for the PTR to accept the client’s poetry and offer personal feedback or critique as if they were a literary peer. This blurs professional boundaries, potentially shifting the focus from therapeutic processing to artistic evaluation, and could inadvertently create a dual relationship. Ethically, this is problematic as it deviates from the PTR’s role and could lead to the client seeking validation or judgment in a way that is not therapeutically beneficial. Another incorrect approach would be for the PTR to dismiss the client’s offer outright without acknowledging the underlying emotional impulse. While maintaining boundaries is crucial, a blunt refusal could be perceived as rejection, potentially hindering the therapeutic alliance and exacerbating the client’s feelings of isolation or misunderstanding. This fails to acknowledge the client’s attempt to connect and express themselves, even if the method is not ideal for the therapeutic setting. A further incorrect approach would be for the PTR to agree to review the poetry outside of the therapy session, perhaps by asking the client to email it. This creates an expectation of engagement beyond the contracted therapeutic time and space, further blurring boundaries and potentially leading to unsolicited therapeutic advice or engagement outside of the established professional relationship. This can compromise the PTR’s ability to maintain objectivity and professional distance. Professionals should employ a decision-making framework that begins with identifying the core ethical principles at play, such as beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice. They should then consider the specific professional standards and guidelines relevant to their practice, such as those outlined by professional bodies for poetry therapy. In situations involving boundary considerations, professionals should ask themselves: “Does this action serve the client’s therapeutic needs?” and “Does this action maintain professional integrity and avoid potential harm or exploitation?” When in doubt, seeking supervision or consultation with experienced colleagues is a critical step in ensuring ethical practice.

This scenario presents a professional challenge because it requires a Registered Poetry Therapist (PTR) to navigate the delicate balance between therapeutic intervention and client autonomy, particularly when the client’s self-esteem is fragile. The PTR must ensure that their interventions are not only effective but also ethically sound, respecting the client’s right to self-determination and avoiding any actions that could inadvertently cause harm or exploit vulnerability. Careful judgment is required to discern when to offer support and when to empower the client to find their own internal resources. The best professional practice involves a collaborative approach where the PTR facilitates the client’s exploration of their own strengths and resilience through poetry, rather than imposing external validation. This approach respects the client’s agency and fosters genuine, sustainable self-esteem. By guiding the client to identify and articulate their positive attributes and past successes within their poetic expressions, the PTR empowers the client to internalize these affirmations. This aligns with ethical guidelines that emphasize client empowerment, non-maleficence, and the principle of promoting well-being by fostering internal locus of control. The PTR acts as a facilitator, creating a safe space for self-discovery, which is a cornerstone of ethical therapeutic practice. An approach that involves the PTR directly providing affirmations or compliments about the client’s perceived strengths, even with good intentions, is professionally unacceptable. This can create a dependency on external validation, which is not conducive to building robust self-esteem. It risks undermining the client’s ability to develop their own internal sense of worth and may be perceived as paternalistic, failing to fully respect the client’s autonomy. Furthermore, if the PTR’s assessment of the client’s strengths is inaccurate or misaligned with the client’s own perception, it can lead to confusion and distrust, potentially damaging the therapeutic alliance. Another professionally unacceptable approach would be to focus solely on the client’s negative self-perceptions without actively seeking to counterbalance them with explorations of their positive attributes. While acknowledging difficult emotions is part of therapy, neglecting to foster a sense of self-worth through poetry can exacerbate feelings of hopelessness and hinder progress. This approach fails to leverage the full potential of poetry therapy to build self-esteem and could be seen as a failure to promote the client’s well-being. Finally, an approach that involves the PTR sharing their own personal experiences of overcoming low self-esteem to inspire the client is also problematic. While empathy is important, the therapeutic relationship is not a peer relationship. The PTR’s role is to guide the client’s process, not to become the subject of the therapy. This can blur professional boundaries, shift the focus away from the client’s needs, and potentially introduce the PTR’s own unresolved issues into the therapeutic space, which is an ethical breach. Professionals should employ a decision-making framework that prioritizes client-centered care, ethical principles, and the specific modalities of their practice. This involves actively listening to the client, assessing their needs and goals, and collaboratively developing therapeutic strategies. When working with self-esteem, the focus should always be on empowering the client to discover and cultivate their own inner resources, using the therapeutic tools available in a way that respects their autonomy and promotes their long-term well-being.

This scenario presents a professional challenge because it requires the Registered Poetry Therapist (PTR) to balance the therapeutic goals of the session with the ethical imperative of maintaining professional boundaries and ensuring client safety. The client’s disclosure of a personal crisis, while potentially a sign of trust, also introduces a risk of the therapist becoming overly involved or inadvertently crossing professional lines, which could compromise the therapeutic process and the client’s well-being. Careful judgment is required to respond therapeutically without sacrificing professional integrity. The best professional approach involves acknowledging the client’s disclosure with empathy and validating their feelings, while gently redirecting the focus back to the therapeutic work and the client’s internal experience. This approach respects the client’s vulnerability and the trust they have placed in the therapist, while simultaneously upholding the established boundaries of the therapeutic relationship. It allows the client to explore their crisis within the safe container of the therapy session, using poetry as a tool for processing, without the therapist taking on a personal support role that falls outside their professional scope. This aligns with ethical guidelines that emphasize maintaining professional boundaries, avoiding dual relationships, and prioritizing the client’s therapeutic needs. An incorrect approach would be to immediately offer personal advice or share personal experiences in an attempt to relate to the client’s crisis. This blurs the professional boundary between therapist and client, potentially creating a dual relationship and undermining the client’s agency in finding their own solutions. It shifts the focus from the client’s internal processing to the therapist’s personal life, which is not the purpose of poetry therapy and can be detrimental to the therapeutic alliance. Another incorrect approach would be to dismiss or minimize the client’s disclosure, perhaps by quickly changing the subject or continuing with the planned session as if nothing significant was shared. This response fails to acknowledge the client’s emotional state and can lead to feelings of rejection or invalidation, damaging the therapeutic trust and potentially hindering the client’s willingness to engage further in the session or future sessions. It neglects the ethical responsibility to respond with sensitivity to the client’s expressed needs. A professional reasoning framework for such situations involves first assessing the immediate emotional impact of the client’s disclosure. The therapist should then consider the potential implications for the therapeutic relationship and the client’s well-being. The next step is to identify interventions that are consistent with the principles of poetry therapy and ethical practice, prioritizing the client’s therapeutic goals and maintaining appropriate boundaries. This often involves a combination of empathetic listening, validation, and gentle redirection back to the therapeutic process.

The risk matrix shows a potential for emotional distress and boundary challenges when working with clients who have experienced trauma. This scenario is professionally challenging because it requires the Registered Poetry Therapist (PTR) to balance the client’s need for uninhibited expression with the ethical imperative to maintain a safe and therapeutic environment, ensuring the client’s well-being and avoiding re-traumatization. Careful judgment is required to navigate the delicate line between encouraging vulnerability and protecting the client from harm. The best professional approach involves acknowledging the client’s emotional intensity while gently guiding the session back to a manageable scope, ensuring the client feels heard and supported without overwhelming them. This approach prioritizes the client’s safety and therapeutic progress by validating their feelings and offering containment. It aligns with ethical guidelines that emphasize client welfare, the principle of non-maleficence (do no harm), and the PTR’s responsibility to manage the therapeutic process effectively. The PTR should offer a supportive presence, perhaps by reflecting the intensity of the emotion without necessarily delving into graphic details, and then suggest a way to process these feelings within the session’s boundaries, such as focusing on a specific image or metaphor that emerged. An incorrect approach would be to immediately shut down the client’s expression due to discomfort or fear of the intensity. This fails to acknowledge the client’s emotional reality and can lead to feelings of rejection or invalidation, potentially hindering the therapeutic alliance and the client’s willingness to engage further. It also risks re-traumatization by suppressing a genuine emotional release. Another incorrect approach would be to allow the client to continue expressing themselves without any guidance or containment, even if it becomes overwhelming or self-destructive. This neglects the PTR’s ethical duty to manage the therapeutic space and protect the client from potential harm, blurring professional boundaries and potentially leading to a crisis that the PTR is not equipped to handle. A further incorrect approach would be to abruptly change the subject or dismiss the client’s intense emotions as irrelevant to the therapeutic work. This demonstrates a lack of empathy and understanding of the therapeutic process, signaling to the client that their deepest feelings are not welcome or important, which is detrimental to building trust and facilitating healing. Professionals should employ a decision-making framework that begins with assessing the immediate risk to the client and the therapeutic environment. This involves recognizing signs of overwhelming emotion and understanding the potential impact of different responses. The framework should then consider the ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice, alongside professional codes of conduct. The PTR should ask themselves: “What response will best support the client’s immediate safety and long-term therapeutic goals while maintaining professional boundaries?” This involves active listening, empathetic validation, and skillful intervention to guide the session towards a productive and safe outcome.

The assessment process reveals a scenario where a Registered Poetry Therapist (PTR) is tasked with facilitating a poetry therapy session for a group experiencing shared grief. The challenge lies in navigating the delicate balance between acknowledging and validating the diverse emotional responses to loss, which are intrinsically linked to the tone and mood evoked by the poetry chosen, while ensuring the therapeutic environment remains safe and supportive for all participants. The professional challenge stems from the potential for certain poetic tones or moods to inadvertently trigger overwhelming distress in some individuals, or conversely, to feel dismissive of the depth of another’s sorrow. Careful judgment is required to select poetry that resonates with the group’s collective experience without exacerbating individual pain. The best professional approach involves selecting poetry that offers a range of emotional expression, allowing for both catharsis and gentle exploration of grief. This approach acknowledges that grief is not monolithic and that different poetic tones and moods can serve different therapeutic functions. By choosing poems that can be interpreted in multiple ways, or that offer a spectrum from lament to quiet hope, the PTR can facilitate a session where participants can engage with their feelings at their own pace. This aligns with the ethical principles of beneficence and non-maleficence, ensuring that the therapeutic intervention aims to do good and avoid harm. It also respects the autonomy of the participants by providing a space for their individual processing of the material. An approach that prioritizes poetry with a uniformly somber and despairing tone, while seemingly aligned with the theme of grief, risks overwhelming participants and hindering their ability to process their emotions constructively. This could be seen as a failure to adequately consider the potential for harm, violating the principle of non-maleficence. Another incorrect approach would be to select poetry that is overly didactic or prescriptive in its emotional message, attempting to guide participants towards a specific emotional state. This undermines the principle of autonomy and can feel invalidating to those whose grief experience does not align with the prescribed tone or mood. Finally, an approach that avoids any poetry that might evoke strong negative emotions, opting for overly light or superficial selections, fails to acknowledge the depth and complexity of grief and misses opportunities for genuine catharsis and healing, thereby not fully serving the principle of beneficence. Professionals should employ a decision-making framework that begins with a thorough understanding of the group’s specific context and needs. This involves considering the potential impact of various poetic tones and moods on individuals experiencing shared grief. The PTR must then ethically evaluate potential poetic selections against the principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, and autonomy, ensuring the chosen material is likely to support healing rather than cause distress. Ongoing assessment of the group’s response during the session is crucial, allowing for flexibility and adaptation of the chosen poetry or therapeutic approach as needed.