Assignment 2: LASA: Ethical Decision Making: Case Study Paper

Many counselors are competent in their knowledge and understanding of ethical standards and relevant laws. However, real-world situations often do not lend themselves to straightforward solutions. Therefore, counselors must rely on ethical decision-making models to clearly explore ethical dilemmas and to identify appropriate courses of action for different dilemmas. This assignment will help you not only apply an ethical decision-making model but also clearly identify a conceptual model for risk management that can be used throughout one's clinical practice.

Directions:

For this assignment, you will review the following case study and incorporate the materials learned throughout the course to answer the set of requirements that follow in a paper approximately between 8-10 pages.

Case Study:

Zander is doing his master's in clinical mental health counseling and has become friends with Tasha, one of his peers in the program. Tasha has shared that she had a substance abuse problem in the past but did not attend an addiction counseling program; rather, she chose to self-monitor and attend AA meetings as needed. Tasha also confided that she has been involved in a sexual relationship for several weeks with Dr. Supervisor, a new supervisor at the agency where they are both interning. Dr. Supervisor has just recently started to provide on-site internship supervision to Zander and Tasha as well as two other students at the internship site.

Tasha reveals she began spending time with Dr. Supervisor 3 months ago, when he asked for her assistance in setting up a personal Facebook page, so he could better communicate with clients he sees at the site. Being well-versed in social media, Tasha helped him set one up and taught him how to use it. Over the next few weeks, they spent more time together, initially working on Dr. Supervisor's Facebook profile and trying to "friend" old clients he used to work with at another agency. Tasha was thrilled they had convinced at least five clients to leave Dr. Supervisor's old agency.

Dr. Supervisor and Tasha began to eventually go out to dinner. After 2 months, their interactions evolved into a sexual relationship. Tasha tells Zander that she's not concerned about any conflict of interest and that she and Dr. Supervisor will likely get engaged once she graduates from the program at the end of the year. Zander is becoming increasingly concerned, however, as he has seen Tasha and Dr. Supervisor meeting at an off-campus bar multiple times in recent weeks, and Tasha has begun to miss classes and other regularly scheduled meetings with clients. Zander reports a significant increase in his caseload because Tasha is missing meetings with clients.

Tasks:

In approximately 8–10 pages:

1. Identify Ethical Dilemma or Issues.
   1. Identify the relevant ethical dilemma and issues in the case study.
2. Summarize Your Ethical Model.
   1. Outline the proposed action(s) you would take in this case, providing justification for the proposed action(s) and a description of the decision-making model used to arrive at that decision.
      1. The decision-making model should be one that has been discussed in the professional literature, and after explaining the model, you will need to offer a rationale regarding why you chose to apply that particular model to the case study.
         1. You should be sure to cite appropriate literature and must give proper credit to the authors of any decision-making models used to analyze the case.
         2. Do not simply list the steps of the model; be sure to apply the model to the case and document and defend your courses of action and your final decision.
         3. Cite all appropriate professional standards and relevant laws. Regardless of the model chosen, you need to clearly identify, describe, and evaluate what ethical codes and laws were violated. Be specific—use mental health statutes and specific ethical codes that apply.
      2. Discuss in detail what actions you would take as you proceed through the steps of your chosen ethical decision-making model; each of the steps should take at least a paragraph (or more) to address.
   2. Summarize what risk management strategies you would have taken once you found out your peer was engaged in a sexual relationship with your shared site supervisor.
3. Summarize ethical research and evaluate your behavior.
   1. Evaluate how you would ensure your own professional behavior in the future. Determine a risk management strategy for managing good ethical practice. This discussion does not have to be relevant to the case but more so regarding how you plan to manage your professional ethics in the future. Please consider:
      1. Evaluation of counselor competence
      2. Strategies for obtaining supervision or consultation
      3. Use of ethical decision-making models
      4. Continued education or training on ethics

Your final product will be in a Microsoft Word paper and be approximately 8–10 pages in length. Utilize approximately six to eight sources from professional literature in your research. Professional literature may include the Argosy University online library resources; relevant textbooks; peer-reviewed journal articles; and websites created by professional organizations, agencies, or institutions (.edu or .gov). Your deliverables should be written in a clear, concise, and organized manner; demonstrate ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; and display accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation. APA style must be used.

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