Ethics

The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music holds great potential for exploring the depths of consciousness within the human psyche and bringing forth powerful material that can lead to personal transformation and wholeness on a profound level. Because of its power the method must be honored with the highest respect, particularly because it utilizes an expanded, nonordinary state of consciousness, which invites clients to become more vulnerable than they are in most other therapeutic modalities. Those persons trained in the method must adhere to the highest ideals of integrity and responsibility when providing services to clients, training, or teaching students, conducting research and presenting the method to the public.

Members of AMI pledge to uphold the Code for Ethical Conduct and Standards of Practice at the time they join the organization or when they apply for the status of Fellow at the completion of their training. They renew this pledge each year when they renew their membership, re-affirming through their signature that they continue to adhere to the principles outlined in the Code for Ethical Conduct and Standards of Practice. The AMI affirms that its members will live up to these principles and will take personal responsibility to follow the Code for Ethical Conduct and Standards of Practice which defines both personal and professional conduct for AMI members who are practicing The Bonny Method with clients, students, or research participants.

Ethics Committee

The Mission of the Ethics Committee is to support AMI members in the ethical practice of The Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music. We accomplish this mission through:

• Providing ethics-centered education to the membership
• Providing ethical consultation to the membership
• Providing guidance to the Circle for ethical decision making

As a smaller professional organization which supports a specialized therapeutic method and whose membership is comprised mostly of therapists, many of whom belong to other larger professional organizations, the AMI has elected to operate from a consultative and educational approach in its ethical code rather than a judicial or regulatory one. The AMI encourages its members who are practitioners of The Bonny Method to become credentialed with a clinical degree that qualifies them to provide therapy legally in their state or country. Members are also encouraged to join that clinical profession’s national organization, which will regulate their ethical conduct and receive complaints about an AMI member’s ethical behavior. 

2023 - 2025 AMI Ethics Chair and Committee

• Lara McKinnis, MS, MT-BC, FAMI