Case Study

This assessment task will assess the following learning outcomes:
have some knowledge of the ethical theories that form the basis of professional social work practice.
have considered the relationship between ethical principles, professional codes, and personal values.
have examined the organisational and legal contexts of social work and their implications for practice.
understand the processes of ethical reasoning and ethical judgment.
have some idea of particular ethical issues in practice.

Case Scenario

You work as a mental health/drug and alcohol social worker in a small community centre which offers a range of services to the local community. Other services include child and family counselling and sexual assault/domestic violence counselling.

You have been providing services to Paul Jones, a local farmer aged 63 years, for the last 3 months. Paul presented with acute suicidal ideation, which has now resolved. At the time of referral, he had recently commenced anti-depressant medication and was subsequently diagnosed with depression by a visiting psychiatrist. Triggers for his low mood were identified as the prolonged drought and the recent death of his elderly father with whom he reported having a close relationship. You believe you have developed a good therapeutic alliance and Paul has disclosed a problem with gambling and with your support and that of his GP has been able to dramatically reduce his gambling over the past 6 weeks. Paul would like to continue counselling but due to issues with recruitment and funding, your service can only offer a limited number of sessions. There are few options for ongoing psychological support in the local community. At the last two sessions you and Paul have discussed completing counselling in a few weeks.

Today you have been approached by Miranda Smith, the sexual assault/domestic violence counsellor who informs you that she commenced counselling with Louise Jones, Paul’s wife approximately 6 weeks ago. Louise is aged 59 years and was a victim of sexual assault when she was a child. The recent Royal Commission has triggered her memories of the assault and she sought counselling in relation to the abuse. She has not told anyone else about the abuse and has not told her husband she is seeking support. Louise is aware that he has sought help from the community centre for depression.

In the last session, Louise disclosed to her counsellor that she is a victim of ongoing domestic violence by her husband Paul. The violence is psychological, physical and very occasionally, sexual. She has never sought medical help for her injuries, although she has threatened Paul that she could do this. Louise has stated clearly that she will not leave her marriage, she has too much invested in the property, having used her family inheritance to build a house on Paul’s land. She states, “after all, I have put up with it for this long.” Due to the drought the couple of very limited savings and are struggling financially.

Miranda is very worried for Louise’s safety because Paul has access to weapons on the property and they continue to argue about Paul’s gambling. Louise reports that things have been a fair bit better since Paul started going to counselling. She is adamant that the violence is Paul’s problem, which he needs to address. Miranda pleads with you to continue providing a counselling service to Paul.

Paul and Louse live on a farm near a small rural community. The town has very few services and, in fact, these are confined to those offered by the community health centre. However, the various services have separate managers and are operated very much as stand-alone services, maintaining their own records and other data.

Services at the centre do share a common code of ethics in which confidentiality and the importance of duty of care are paramount.

Task

Analyse this situation and include in your discussion the following:

• analyse the impact of the professional and organisational environment on this situation,

• identify which principles and sections from the AASW Code of Ethics are most relevant to the situation,

• discuss how you would approach this situation using your own values, the values of the organisation and the AASW Code of Ethics. How might the code of ethics be used to resolve the dilemma in this situation?

• discuss how your personal values relate to the professional values expressed in the code in relation to this situation. What differences exist between your own values and those of the code? Which did you act on?

• having reflected on the situation, would you have acted differently before undertaking studies in ethics? Do you think the situation would have had a different outcome? Justify your answer with reference to the AASW Code of Ethics.

Marking criteria and standards

(1) You need to demonstrate that you understand personal, organisational and social work values and the ethical dilemmas encountered in practice, showing that you know what each one means and what it refers to and includes.
(2) You need to apply the principles contained in the code of ethics to the case in a thoughtful, careful way, clearly showing how – in your view – the right balance is to be struck between the demands of the different values, and why this is the right balance; and showing how, therefore, the dilemma should be resolved.
(3) You need to present your essay in a well organised discussion written in good clear English.
(4) You need to provide a minimum of 6 ‘reliable’ references (sources).