An ethical dilemma a social worker might have to face would be a client who is currently self harming themselves. A situation involving self-harming that a social worker might have to face could be if a client admits to their social worker that they’re always sad and unhappy, and that they help themselves feel better by self-harming. The social worker has been seeing this client for years, and only now is the client opening up to them. This can become an ethical dilemma because more than one social work values are in conflict (Hick, 2010). This dilemma would be both a absolute and approximate dilemma, as it conflicts with more than one of the values mentioned in the CASW Code of Ethics (as cited in Hick, 2010), and also conflicts with personal values (Hick, 2010). One of the ethics that this situation would effect is the first value of the CASW Code of Ethics, which is respect for dignity and worth of the person (as cited in Hick, 2010). Since the client feels like this is a way to help themselves cope, you don’t want take away their right to harm themselves. This could also be influenced by personal beliefs in the sense that you don’t believe that harming one’s self is an effective coping mechanism, but you can’t tell them that what they’re doing isn’t helping them because they believe that it is. …show more content…
Since this client took so long to trust the social worker, if the social worker tells anyone else about how the client self-harms, they could break the trust of the client. In this situation though, since the client is self-harming, they could potentially kill themselves. Since there is always that possibility, the social worker should break confidentially in order to get the client the help needed, especially since self-harming can often be linked to depression or other mental
In this case the social worker is providing clinical services for a client who has a history of depression and cocaine addiction. The social worker
Moreover, ethical issues are ubiquitous within the field of social work. As such, social workers employed in all facets of the profession, whether it is substance abuse, mental health, among many others encounter ethical issues common and specific to each area. According to the article “Ethical Issues in Addiction Counseling” by Cynthia G. Scott (2000), prominent ethical situations specific to the field of substance abuse include, “confidentiality and privileged communication” (p. 213). In her article Scott (2000) discuss the blurred boundaries of confidentiality with regards to group counseling. The author points out the discrepancy in federal confidentiality laws that prevent the practitioner from sharing confidential information disclosed
The client main concern was that the university would find out of the accident and kick him out of the program, and as a consequence his career would be over. For this same reason, the client had suicidal thoughts. The social worker intern should let the client know about limits of confidentiality and letting him know that she cannot tell that information for the university or anyone else. As a worker of the hospital, he is cover and she cannot say
As a part of the National Association of Social Workers, social workers may face different kinds of ethical dilemmas in their scope of practice. The code of ethics is put in place so that these professionals may be able to act wisely and make the most suitable and appropriate decisions thereby positively benefitting the client likewise themselves. An ethical dilemma is a conflict between two or more ethical principles. These ethical principles aim to provide beneficense, least harm, respect for autonomy, and provide justice. I will discuss three ethical dilemmas affecting human rights in social work.
Breaking confidentiality would threaten the goodwill and relationships within our group and could detriment group function. Protecting human relationships is a critical value in social work, and this worker strives “to promote, restore, maintain, and enhance the well-being of individuals, families, social groups, organizations, and communities” (Code of Ethics - NASW, n.d.). Sharing confidential information would go against social work’s ethical principles and tarnish the integrity of this worker who is intentionally “moving toward adherence to one’s professed values” (Miller & Rollnick, 2012, pg.
...actually needs help. However, I have to respect his decision, in order to provide client-centred care. “Respect for life means that human life is precious and needs to be respected, protected and treated with consideration” (College of Nurses of Ontario, 2009c, p. 8). Sometimes offering medication may not necessary be the first and best solution for the situation. We as a registered nurse, have the responsibility to offer the client health teaching such as pain control instead of giving him medication right away. This prevents the client developing a certain medication addiction and helps to establish a therapeutic nurse-client relationship by providing supports and cares without the use of medication. Therefore, this experience from mental health clinical practicum had helped me to improve nursing practice of delivering high quality health care to my clients.
In Module 1, Kindred Todd faced quite a few ethical dilemmas that included her values and technical ineptness. The first predicament was tested her personal morals and ethics. According to, Cumming and Worley, OD practitioners are dealing more and more with value conflicts with powerful outside groups (Cummings & Worley, 2008). Kindred was immediately faced with the issue of knowing what was ethically correct but being told the unethical approach was the best in order to benefit the client and her job security. Although compromising is one of the many skills of organization developers there are still morals that should be followed on each assignment. Kindred, know that deceiving the clients was unethical, took the first step to working on behalf of the client and immediately involved her superior, Larry, to resolve a potential conflict In the project. While her actions went in vain when she told her boss to remove her from the project and provide the client with a more qualified resource, Kindred did what she thought to be the best approach.
Reamer explains that values are important in regard to “The nature of social work’s mission; the relationships that social workers have with clients, colleagues, and members of society; the methods of intervention that social workers use in their work, and the resolution of ethical dilemmas in practice” (p. 15). Reamer discusses the importance of ethical decision making and ethical risk management in regards to any ethical dilemma a social worker may face. Reamer also explores how our values can challenge our profession; opposing or conflicting personal, professional, cultural and religious values in particular. Other ethical issues include confidentiality, privacy, divided loyalties, professional boundaries, dual relationships, conflicts of interest, and a client’s free will or determinism (Reamer,
I chose two standards from the National Association of Social Worker’s Code of Ethics (2007) that would be most beneficial to uphold while providing services to this family, self-determination and conflicts of interest. The value of self-determination (1.02) explains that the social worker must assist the client in identifying and clarifying their own goals. The Doe family took the first step in reaching out for assistance because they are aware that they have problems that need to be addressed. And most likely, if supported properly, they have an idea of where they would like to end up. As a social worker, I cannot expect to step into a family situation and be the expert of their current issues. I should, however, have the knowledge and expertise to properly support and empower them towards positive change. The value of conflicts of interest (1.06) states that when providing services to two or more people who share a relationship with each other, the social worker must identify which of the individuals are the clients. Once identified, the social worker must explain this to all of the parties and include information on the specific professional obligations that will be maintained with each of the parties. As the social worker, I would identify and work with Jane as the client...
It is my belief that in order for someone in the social work profession to serve vulnerable populations it was intended to serve, it is imperative to use critical thinking and ethical decision making in tandem to achieve the optimal result. The balance is a delicate and often complex. It requires a close examination or critically thinking, of all the issues not just within yourself, but the community as a whole, the individuals within it, and the client population that the social work serves. The social work profession is built on the foundation that each individual has equal worth and individual rights to self determination. Some mistakenly believe that this means simply doing what is right, but then the decision making is not based on critical thinking and ethics but one’s personal beliefs and does not keep in guidelines with the ethical guidelines that governs social work practice. As stated on the web site for The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University (2009):
The social work profession and its Code of Ethics dictate that social workers must act in the best interest of the client, even when those actions challenge the practitioner’s personal, cultural and religious values. In practice; however, ethical decision-making is more complex than in theory. As helping professionals, social workers are constantly faced with ethical decision-making or ethical dilemmas. As noted by Banks (2005), an ethical dilemma occurs “when a worker is faced with a choice between two equally unwelcome alternatives that may involve a conflict of moral principles, and it is not clear what choice will be the right one” (as cited in McAuliffe & Chenoweth, 2008, p. 43). In addition, ethical decision-making is a process that
There are few circumstances counselors have to oblige when dealing issues from clients. Counselors have to be trustworthy; this is a fundamental to understanding and solving issues. Counselors have to keep information gathered confidential and restrict any disclosure of information to anybody. Clients voluntarily seek help to counselors for therapy or any kind of help they need. Hence as a counselor it is important to respect their clients’ self-government and ensure precision in information given. Commitment of a counselor plays a big role in a therapy. It is not ethical for a counselor to neglect a client such that the client’s well being is not taken care of. It is also important for counselors to have a fair treatment with all their clients. No matter how each client will be, there must not be any form of judgment, which will cause any form of unfair
However, the social worker can reveal details of themselves as long as it is beneficial to the client. This process is known as self-disclosure (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2012). Self-disclosure is not beneficial if it causes strife in the relationship between client and social worker. It is beneficial to be honest with the client. If a limitation is not disclosed and the client later finds that the worker is not competent, it can negatively affect the process that may have been made during counseling sessions.
Ethics in the workplace is a very important thing to have. Without a sense of ethicality in the workplace there are many things that could go wrong. You could even end up losing a job because of a lack of ethics, or other consequences could be felt due to a lack of caring or morality. The workplace is a place that you should show respect and dignity, and a deeper sense of ethics is very important in order to uphold these senses of morality. Workplace ethics, which include such things as behavior, integrity, commitment, teamwork, and other things, are important, if not required, in most workplaces and can help to improve performance and morale for workers and employers.
There are certain ethics that social workers must follow and is a guidance for professional standard of work. However sometimes people are not aware of their own values, though the more fully conscious someone is about their values, the more people are able to ensure that their actions are consistent with the values. As a social worker it is vital to know the dangers of not taking account of values and the ethical dimension of practice. A social worker should see their client for who they are and not just another object that is unclear by their own emotions hence why self-awareness is a key to