The Prince Of Tides, By Susan Lowenstein

Privacy and confidentiality is a very important aspect of social work. Although Ehrenreich changed the names of her coworkers and places she worked at, she still disclosed private information about them they may not have wanted the entire world to know. Everyone has a right to privacy which Ehrenreich did not grant her coworkers who disclosed information to her with that right. Dishonesty, fraud, and deception is another part of the code of ethics and I believe she violated all of these.

Let’s look at what some of the ethical concerns are for Dr. Ernest Lash, in this book he faced many ethical dilemmas the first I think is that he doesn’t inform his client that he is extending his boundaries and trying an honesty type of counseling. There are also others such as dealing with Carol’s sexual advances on him, his sexual attraction to her, and when he found out about his supervisors wife cheating on him.

In the video, Ajia Meux spoke about a staff member who was not acting in a professional capacity.  The dual relationship the staff had with the client though considered non-sexual, affected her professional judgement. For example, the staff was more committed to promoting the well-being of client by unethically violating boundaries, in which she invited him to reside at her home, versus providing resources and assistance or seeking consultation.  The staff assumed multiple roles in her client’s life such as social worker, caregiver, friend and family. Hence, we see a conflict between the staff personal values, the client's needs and her professional obligation. This is also considered boundary violation as the client initially did not want to reside with the staff, this also appears to be an unintentional coercion. The NASW Code of Ethics caution again dual relationship specifically,

Regarding step 4, while there are no laws which pertain to this particular case as it does not involve a sexual relationship, but there are regulations and professional standards one must adhere to. Step 4 and step 5 are closely related and are the crux of this ethical dilemma. Ethics codes of all major mental health associations mandate that therapists/supervisors

1. Identify the most significant boundary issue(s) or “circumstances where social workers encounter actual or potential conflicts between their social, sexual, religious or business relationships” (Reamer, 2003) exhibited by the worker in this case. Justify your answer with specific evidence from the case AND the NASW Code of Ethics.

Concepts of reasonable limits refers to limiting one’s actions or in reference to nursing, limiting what one can say or do in terms of a patient’s care (Jonstone & Fry, 2002). When discussing reasonable limits, a nurse has to take into consideration at what point is enough, enough. For example, in the case study regarding Mrs. Z, reasonable limit would prevent the nurse from pushing the patient further into pursuing treatment and disclosing her medical prognosis to her family. Mrs. Z is a lucid individual, so the nurse and doctor caring for her would have to limit their interference in disclosing information to her husband due to reasonable limits. In nursing, there are times when breaking a patient’s confidentiality becomes an ethical issue. If the nurse was thinking in terms of Utilitarianism, breaching confidentiality would be the only reasonable thing to do. For example, if a patient who is HIV positive is knowingly having unprotected sex in order to infect other people, it would only be right to break the confidentiality of their diagnosis to prevent further harm to other individuals in the future. Sometimes, in order to protect the greatest amount of people, confidentiality has to be broken. Another example where a healthcare individual can break confidentiality is if a minor is being harmed and the minor does not want to disclose to anyone their situation. For

African Americans have been discriminated and were not treated fairly from the beginning of the American colonies up to the 1960s. Their history included about 250 years of slavery followed by another 100 years of discrimination. However, many people state that throughout the 1800s, the whaling industry helped African Americans thrive as a race. In addition, they were treated as equals and could gain glory and wealth from it. In most cases, this is not true because negroes for three main reasons. Almost all African people did not receive high positions on their crew ships. Also, they experienced segregation on ships and were treated not equally. Finally, they were taken for their cheap and hard labor in a dangerous, unrewarding industry. Using internet sources and the novel, In The Heart of The Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick, African Americans in the whaling industry had low status within crews and faced harsh working conditions as well as discrimination and racism.

Ethical dilemmas happen frequently in the social work and how one handles them could be the difference on how a clinician keeps their license or not. The problem is there is no way to prepare a person from knowing what situations will arise. Scenarios arise all the time and new ways to handle them is constantly changing. The ethical dilemma can happen anywhere and at any time with anyone, it could be a client, co-worker, and even supervisors. No social worker is safe from them. One however can practice with scenarios and be aware of personal biases. A social worker needs to evaluate each dilemma with the different frameworks and principals to determine which one applies best, anticipate what possible outcomes could happen, and what interventions a social worker would implement.

Kevin expressed shame for what he had been participating in and asked Dr. Andrews to not dictate to his parents what had been going on. It is made clear that Dr. Andrews feels that if Kevin’s parents were aware of the situation, they would be instrumental in providing support and guidance for their son. Later that day, Kevin’s mother called in to the physician’s office and asked that, although she knew Kevin’s visits with the doctor were confidential now that he had entered his teen years, if there was something that she should know because she was worried about his behavior at home. The ethical question here is whether or not Dr. Andrews should share that information with Kevin’s parents.

There are many ways in which social workers can avoid ethical dilemmas. In regards to the Jones case I will explain five ethical dilemmas. I will explain what 3 core values could have benefitted the Jones family and I will give three strategies I will use to practice ethical behavior in my field of social work in the future.

In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick, the crew on the Essex was pushed past their limits. The crew’s racism, prejudices, and tolerances effected the journey on the Essex. The crew on the Essex grew together, but sadly throughout the journey many did not make it and the others were forced to do unspeakable things just to try and survive the journey.

Lying on the Couch by Irvin D. Yalom has been both entertaining and interesting from a counseling standpoint in that it provides a scandalous and as was in most of the cases, a look at what could go wrong if ethics in a clinical counseling setting go awry. Following the characters of Seymour Trotter, Earnest Lash, and Marshal Streider in working with their clients and with each other the ethical lessons to be learned become obviously apparent, if not emotionally painful. Although, numerous issues arise throughout the book, there were at least three that will be covered within the context of this writing. In consideration of each of these ethical breaches there will be dialog on the nature of the ethical issue or violation, where the ACA ethical code applies, ramifications of the ethical issue or violation on both parties, and application of Kitchener?s five primary ethical principles that were involved or violated. In addition, the justification offered by the characters in the book for their actions or considered actions, application to the situation in the setting of Clinical Mental Health counseling, and indication of personal response to the situation presented. Understanding that the use of these ethical principles and considerations as they apply in counseling are unequivocally valuable tools in helping a practitioner in working with clients to make comprehensive decisions that will not create conflict within their ethical parameters and are aligned with the laws

There is a great necessity for the code of ethics in social welfare. The first code of ethics was “adopted in 1960” and was a single page (NASW,1998, para. 8). The last major adoption was in 1996, which was similar to what we see today, in the 2008 edition. In this changing profession it is absolutely necessary for a social worker to have something to reference to when there is an ethical dilemma, because they will transpire from time to time (NASW, 1998).

The key ethical issue presented in this case is whether the SLP should discuss sexuality and appropriate touching with Phil as requested by the manager of the day program despite the request to not do so by Phil’s mother.

It is no wonder that how advanced the world may be, there are still a number of human beings, who struggle a lot for their survival; These are the human beings, who are pushed to the margins for the reasons unknown to them, these are the human beings, who are denied a secured place in the world for the mistakes which are not committed by them. These are marginalized people and just like them, their history too is marginalized. Being neglected by the mainstream history, this marginalized history, sometimes has to transform itself and settle in fiction in order to come into light.