Tattooed Truths and Therapeutic Maps: Applying Motif Mapping
By Andrew Horman, Our Lady of the Lake University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/cm8pg_v1
This manuscript introduces Motif Mapping, a disability-informed counseling modality developed through lived experience, clinical training, and systemic advocacy by Andrew Horman. Integrating narrative therapy, trauma-informed care, strengths-based theory, disability justice, and Internal Family Systems, motif mapping supports symbolic healing and narrative sovereignty. Clients are invited to define and evolve personal motifs—tattoos, metaphors, or visual emblems—as anchors for emotional regulation, identity reconstruction, and systemic resistance.
Designed to accommodate expressive barriers, sensory sensitivities, and mobility-related needs, the modality is especially suited for disabled and neurodivergent individuals. It is adaptable across individual therapy, supervision, curriculum design, and telehealth, with ethical integration of AI tools to enhance access without compromising authorship.
This work is currently being refined for submission to a peer-reviewed journal in counseling and mental health. The DOI above provides a stable reference, and the manuscript will be updated here as new versions or publications become available.
Motif Mapping © 2025 by Andrew Horman is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Ethical AI: A Clinical Framework for Professional Practice
By Andrew Horman, Our Lady of the Lake University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/bfp65_v1
This manuscript introduces a clinical framework for ethical AI use in mental health practice, developed through practitioner inquiry, clinical training, and disability-informed methodology by Andrew Horman. Grounded in therapeutic boundary principles, the framework integrates counseling ethics, law enforcement documentation standards, and disability justice perspectives to guide responsible AI interaction. Six core principles—role definition, context provision, professional boundaries, informed consent and data security, decision-making authority, and dependency monitoring—support practitioners in maintaining ethical alignment when using AI tools.
Designed to distinguish accommodation from replacement, the framework emphasizes how AI can reduce physical barriers without substituting for professional judgment. A self-assessment tool enables clinicians to evaluate their AI interactions systematically. Adaptable across counseling, supervision, curriculum design, and advocacy, the framework demonstrates that existing professional ethics codes already provide guidance for AI integration, offering both theoretical insight and practical utility for mental health professionals navigating technology responsibly.
This work is currently being refined for submission to a peer-reviewed journal in counseling and mental health. The DOI above provides a stable reference, and the manuscript will be updated here as new versions or publications become available.
Invisible Barriers: Therapy Can Reinforce or Resist Ableism
By Andrew Horman, Our Lady of the Lake University
This manuscript explores how therapeutic practices can either unintentionally reinforce ableism or actively resist it—depending on the clinician’s language, assumptions, and approach to disability. Drawing from both professional training and lived experience as a lifelong wheelchair user, Andrew Horman examines how diagnostic bias, disability spread, and systemic invalidation shape the mental health outcomes of disabled clients.
The piece offers trauma-informed strategies for affirming disabled identities in session and documentation, reframing disability as a cultural and systemic experience rather than a deficit. It highlights the psychological toll of being overlooked and calls for inclusive, dignity-centered care that validates disabled clients’ autonomy, resilience, and complexity.
This manuscript is currently under peer-review for publication in a professional counseling journal. A link or full-text version will be made available here once publication or public access is permitted.