Week 11 Assignment

My Ethical Autobiography

Walden University

My Ethical Autobiography

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 their morals in different ways. Such factors include one's parents, religion and school. 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 .

Influences on My Moral and Ethical Development

While I grew up, I picked many behaviors and mannerisms that currently shape my morals. I picked these behaviors from parents, relatives, family members and friends. My religious teachers greatly influenced my morals. They taught me what was acceptable as being right and what was wrong. When I joined school, my teachers taught me how to be civilized, stay with other students and behave in ways acceptable to the society. All these teachings have helped to ensure that there is harmony between my personal and professional moral beliefs. With all the moral shaping however, there are shades of gray on my moral beliefs especially when it comes to emerging controversial topics such as abortion and same gender sexual rights.

Experiences that Contributed to My Personal and Professional Development

In my life, I have learnt to listen to friends and help them to get over their difficult moments. The experience with friends has helped me to be empathetic and as a result I can now listen to clients and try to understand their troubles. In my personal life, I find joy responding to the suffering of friends. In a similar manner, I am interested in the wellbeing of my clients. I uphold honesty, fairness and confidentiality when making professional decisions. I also involve my clients in decision-making rather than making conclusions for them. When clients are involved in decision-making, they feel part of the solution offered by the counselor and are therefore willing to live by the solution offered (Bashe, et al., 2007). With these experiences, I do not experience variations between my personal and professional life.

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

The law requires confidentiality of client information. I therefore take care not to disclose client information to unauthorized parties. It is my duty also to warn clients against disclosure of their private information. In case client information is required for legal reasons, I am obliged by Standard of Practice SP-15 to seek client consent (American Counseling Association, 2014). Standard B4.e requires written consent from the client. The profession regulations require that a counselor keeps client records for the purposes of traceability (Herlihy and Corey, 2015; Remley and Herlihy, 2016). Keeping the records helps the counselor to track the progress of a client hence being in a position to offer better services going into the future .

Reflection

The learning has helped me to understand ethical development in individuals and how experiences in life shape the moral autobiographies of persons. I have also been able to learn more about the interaction between the law and the counseling profession which is necessary for me as a counselor. It will help me to act within the provisions of the law. A closer look at my ethical autobiography will also help me to serve my clients better. Learning the course has also helped me to understand how the law compels individuals to behave. I have also developed a deeper understanding of right and wrong.

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 moral 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, pp. 148-153

Comments by teacher:

You have met the at least the minimum required for this assignment. You are going to want to be sure that you see the final project rubric (it is very detailed) and make sure that you hit on all areas to get credit. You have a great start, but a lot of work ahead of you! Remember, no abstract is needed, tie in scholarly citations throughout your paper, and write in times new roman font 12. Good luck and please reach out to me if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. I provided a sample copy of a student’s final project last week. Be sure to check this out. I will also put another copy in the classroom week 10 on Tuesday.