Week 9 Assignment

My Moral and Ethical Development

COUN 6306F-1: Ethics and Legal Issues

Walden University

Abstract

In this paper I will present four sections on my moral and ethical development. The first section contains the factors that influenced my moral development on right and wrong. The second part outlines the experiences that contributed to my personal and professional development. The third section describes the legal factors that have influenced my ethics whereas the fourth section presents a reflection on this assignment. After the reflection I present a conclusion on the major points.

My Moral and Ethical Development

In the development of an individual's morals, many factors come into play. For example during the early stages of growth, an individual goes through various experiences and interacts with different people and places that all shape one's morals differently. Such things include one's parents, religion, schools among other factors. Experiences through these places shape one's personality which later influences their professional life. After childhood the legal processes and requirements shape an individual's ethical autobiography. In this paper I will analyse my moral and ethical development.

Section I. Influences on My Moral and Ethical Development

1. Developmental of right and wrong

1. I developed a sense of right and wrong through my interactions with family, friends, relatives, religious teachers and my teachers in school.

2. My early education and church attendance shaped my moral and ethical development

3. Do both the personal and professional ethics align well?

   1. My personal and professional ethical guidelines are in harmony

   2. The difference is negligible

B. My idea of right and wrong

1. The practice through which people hold to their cultural values that dictate what is acceptable and what is not acceptable

2. It helps people to live in harmony

Section II. Experiences that Contributed to My Personal and Professional Development

1. Compatibility of my personal and work ethics in the counselling field

1. In my personal life I am full of empathy and I like to understand other people's feelings and inner movements. In my professional life, I like to listen to my clients and understand what they feel.

2. I feel the need to respond to the suffering of friends and so do I for my clients. I am happy for the well-being of my friends and also my clients

B. Decision Making

1. Basic values that I uphold in counselling are honesty, respect, fairness and confidentiality

2. Involves the client in decision making

Section III. Legal and Ethical Issues in Counseling as they Relate to My Ethical Autobiography

1. Confidentiality

1. Determines what information and how much I share with others

2. Standard of Practice (SP-15) requires client consent though does not have to be written

3. Standard B4.e. (ACA , 2014) requires written consent from the client before the counsellor can share client information

1. Record Keeping

1. Helps to keep client progress for provision of better services

2. To keep record for traceability of client information either by the law or as required by the profession

Section IV. Reflection

1. Meaningfulness of the Assignment

1. 1. Helps me to understand the ethical development of an individual and how experiences in life shape the moral and ethical development of a person

   2. Gives and understanding of how the law shapes the counselling profession

1. Assignment Contributes to Professional Development

1. 1. The understanding of my moral development will help me to serve my clients better

   2. Gives better understanding and application of law in counselling

1. Corresponding supporting point: Ways Ethical and Legal Practice Influences Social Change

1. 1. The law compels individuals to behave in a certain way

   2. Provides basis for punishing wrong doers hence enabling people to be orderly

1. Values Reexamined in Course

1. 1. My understanding of right and wrong

   2. My view on the law and regulations on the counselling profession

Conclusion

Family, religion and schooling influence a person's moral and ethical development. As one grows, their own experiences apart from those gained from family, church and school start to have influence on their personal development. Their personality in turn may contribute to their professional development. Above the personality of an individual, the law and professional ethics help to shape the person's ethical autobiography. Carrying out this assignment has helped me to re-examine my understanding of right and wrong. It has also helped me to appreciate the value of the law in the counselling profession.

References

American Counseling Association (ACA). (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics [White Paper]. Retrieved from http://www.counseling.org/docs/ethics/2014-aca-code-of-ethics.pdf?sfvrsn=4

Bashe, A., Anderson, S. K., Handelsman, M. M., & Klevansky, R. (2007). An acculturation model for ethics training: The ethics autobiography and beyond. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 38(1), 60–67.

Herlihy, B., & Corey, G. (2015). ACA ethical standards casebook (7th ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.

Remley, T. P., Jr., & Herlihy, B. (2016). Ethical, legal, and professional issues in counseling (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Great start!!!! You did a nice job completing what was required for this assignment. I looked at your outline to make sure that you followed at the minimum what was being asked for the assignment, which was to use the outline provided and to generate corresponding supporting points for each main idea in complete sentences. While I am not looking for APA formatting in your outline at this time, be sure that your paper is in proper APA format for your final project and that you are using scholarly citations from your learning resources and scholarly outside resources in your paragraphs. You may write in first person for your final project. In addition, in your final project you will not have your paper with any roman numerals or numbers or in any outline format. It will just be your header and content.

Not Complete

0 points Assignment not completed.

Partially Complete

25 points Student completed less than 4 of the 4 sections

Some of the 4 sections did not have 3 main points with 2 corresponding subpoints

Template provided in the course was not utilized

Completed

50 points Student completed all required elements in all sections AND used the template provided in the course.