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The power of questions over answers
In a field often focused on providing answers, Dayna Guido emphasizes the value of asking questions.
This might sound counterintuitive coming from someone who’s spent decades training therapists, running supervision groups, and writing books about ethics and parenting. But for Guido, a clinical social worker, longtime trainer, and quiet rebel in a world of rigid frameworks, she believes learning is most effective when it starts with self-reflection rather than direct instruction.
“Ethics isn’t something I lecture on,” she says. “I don’t give people answers. I help them think.”
Making ethics feel alive
That philosophy informs the structure and content of Creative Ways to Learn Ethics, her best-known book. It’s not a textbook. It’s a tool. Twenty chapters that double as workshops—games, media exercises, expressive arts prompts, each designed to make ethical concepts more engaging and relatable than traditional training formats.
Guido’s work is used in therapy settings, schools, churches, businesses, and retreats. It’s intentionally modular, designed to meet people where they are and to prompt further reflection and discussion. “There’s an approximate time listed for each training. Materials. Handouts. It’s very user-friendly,” she explains. “But it’s also meant to challenge people. To connect ethics to how they actually live and work.”
Teaching with simplicity and depth
A defining feature of Guido’s teaching is her ability to maintain clarity without oversimplification. She brings depth without rigidity, helping to clarify complex ethical concepts and make them more approachable. Her approach is grounded in emotional honesty and practical application.
Structured for practical use
Her first book, The Parental Toolbox for Parents and Clinicians, co-written with her late husband, brings that same clarity to parenting. The book is structured more like a practical dialogue than a traditional guidebook.
Learning from nature and loss
Guido lives and works along the Blue Ridge Parkway, where she notes that working in a natural setting often brings unexpected inspiration, including observations from local wildlife. “They’ve taught me a lot,” she says. “About patience. About unpredictability. About not forcing anything.”
She notes that grief, in particular, has influenced her understanding of growth and ethical reflection. “Ethics has to include emotions,” she says. “It has to feel real.”
A future rooted in care
This integration of emotion, reflection, and adaptability is what ties her work together. Whether guiding someone through a professional dilemma or training future clinicians, Guido avoids rigid solutions. Instead, she encourages critical thinking and self-awareness.
Her upcoming projects include creative applications of ethics training and developing resources for educators and professionals. She emphasizes a consistent approach that values clarity, emotional awareness, and progress over perfection.
Guido describes her work as an ongoing process rooted in curiosity and continuous learning, rather than fixed outcomes.
