Making Appropriate Ethical Decisions in Direct Practice

Every day, most professional counselors, social workers, and other direct care human service professionals are confronted in their work with the necessity to make ethical decisions.  Sometimes they have an opportunity to think about the choices, perhaps to talk it over with colleagues or to consult with experts.  In general, however, these professional human service direct practitioners must often make their own choices when faced with difficult ethical decisions because of the immediacy of the problems. 

There are many ways to prepare for this practice reality.  First, it is important to recognize that every decision in direct practice includes ethical aspects.  Next, practitioners need knowledge and skill to clarify these aspects of practice and to engage in effective ethical decision making.  Knowledge and skill in this area - as in all other aspects of direct clinical practice - need to be developed and refined.

The information provided in this review discussion on ethical choices in direct practice is meant to help you as direct practice professional counselors, social workers and others, to review and sharpen through practice, your ability to provide informed and skillful reasoning in ethical decision making.

About the Workshop:

This one day workshop has been developed for direct practice counselors, social workers and other clinical human service professionals who wish to meet the Ethics CE requirement.  This workshop will include formal individual work/self-assessment, small group discussion, small group activities, PowerPoint materials, and video segments.  The Case Decision Method is the foundation teaching model for this review of ethics in direct practice.  The primary aim of this workshop is to facilitate the development of professional skills.

 

The second part of the workshop will require participants to do what direct practice professional counselors, social workers and other direct human service practitioners must do every day - make difficult ethical decisions that involve work with real people, in real situations, under less than ideal conditions.  Utilizing the Case Decision Method, participants will be required to consider complex information in a systematic, organized manner, increasing their awareness of the emotional, intellectual, professional and other procedural complexity of making sound ethical decisions in the real world.

 

Workshop Goal:

This one day interactive workshop is aimed to assist direct intervention human service professionals to review and address the nature of ethics, ethical issues and related practice questions to enhance clinical skills.

 

Workshop Objectives:

• Examine relevant personal, social agency, client, and professional values

• Think about what ethical standard from the participant's particular processional Code of Ethics might apply to the situation, as well as, about relevant laws and case decisions.

• Hypothesize different courses of action.

• Identify who will benefit and who will be harmed in view of the profession's commitment to the most vulnerable.

• Consult with colleagues about the most ethical choice using the Case Decision Method.

• Application of skills, knowledge, critical thinking abilities, evaluation and formulation of preferred intervention using the Case Decision Method.

 About the Instructor:

Robert L. Hewitt MSW, PhD, professor Emeritus of Social Work - Shippensburg University, is a certified trainer with both Pennsylvania Family Development Credentialing Program and the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Competency Based Training Program.  He brings 18 years of direct and administrative social work practice and 22 years of university teaching and human service/juvenile justice training experience.