10 Black and White and Gray All Over
Overview
- Each helping profession has a code of ethics
- These codes are critical to the healthy functioning of agencies and individuals working there
- However, not every situation is covered directly in the code of ethics
- Practitioners need to balance competing principles to make a best effort to support their clients
Read the code of ethics for your particular profession. Whether you are a substance use disorder counselor, social worker, therapist, case manager, psychologist, or any other type of helping professional, you will find a substantial set of guidelines that serves as your behavioral template. The ethics code reveals the principles of the field while also spelling out the dos and don’ts of professional conduct. Do: maintain confidentiality, build on client strengths, and support the community. These rules might seem like a black-and-white set of directives that provide clear instructions for helping professionals to follow, similar to baking cookies or playing a board game. The fact is, many of our daily interactions and decisions are based on judgment calls. They are informed by our training, including ethics training, but they have to be carried out by human beings in challenging situations which may constitute gray areas.
The point of this essay is to convey how difficult it is to actually apply a code of ethics in practice. A person could memorize their code word-for-word, but when a genuine ethical dilemma arises, chances are there is no section of the code that addresses exactly what to do in that exact situation.
It is quite different to answer a test question about the right way to deal with a situation than to carry out that decision in a work setting. As one example, I ask student interns how they would handle a client who told them that she is HIV-positive and has multiple sexual partners from whom she kept her health status a secret.
This inevitably leads to hearty discussion, which quickly reveals people’s own morals and values. Students mention legal ramifications, agency policy, personal obligation. And of course, we can return to the code of ethics, which in most cases will say little if anything about how to handle this situation, other than the fact that confidentiality should still be followed. But shouldn’t there be a duty to warn? What are the implications if we break that confidentiality? Could we lose our job or face punishment from a licensing board?
Not every decision in a helper’s day falls into this ethical gray area, but during the course of a career, some likely will. If you read my introductory story about riding a late-night train with a patient from the psychiatric hospital where I worked, then you know I am guilty of at least one ethical violation in my career. I would hazard a guess that at least a few other instances could fall into that category as well. Yet, I consider myself an ethical professional. I aspire to make a positive impact in the lives of the cli