7.2 Understanding Professional Ethics
The code of ethical standards for the National Organization for Human Services (NOHS) was established as guidelines for those who study, practice, or receive services from the profession. The standards embraced by the profession promote fundamental values including “respecting the dignity and welfare of all people; promoting self-determination; honoring cultural diversity; advocating for social justice; and acting with integrity, honesty, genuineness, and objectivity” (NOHS, 2015, para. 2). The standards give human service workers guidelines that should frame our decisions when working in the field. The Human Services ethical standards are not laws, but they provide a professional framework that we can apply to our work. These standards are written and organized to guide Human Services workers in a variety of areas and assist in addressing situations they are likely to encounter in their professional roles.
Interns, as well as professionals, should be familiar with the code of ethics and strive to adhere to it. When ethical dilemmas arise, this code will be the guiding force to solve the issue at hand.
Ethics and the Law
Ethics are the rules of conduct. Often, they are recognized as the best practices based on the underlying principles of a given profession. Ethics are not laws, which are actual regulations one must comply with because they are established by an authority with judicial responsibility and the power of enforcement. In the most basic sense, ethics are principles, and laws are requirements.
At many internship sites, one may see dedicated people working in ways that are consistent with a code of ethics that they take seriously. Typically, their mission is to ensure that people are treated fairly, equally, and respectfully. It is easy to understand how ethics and laws, such as licensing laws, protect clients as they help ensure clients receive reasonable treatment. However, it is almost equally important to realize that ethics and laws also protect the workers. They provide rules that may be helpful in guiding us through difficult or risky professional situations.
As new circumstances in human services emerge, they are examined by professional organizations and courts, sometimes resulting in revised or new codes of conduct, laws, and regulations. Understanding these issues ensures the clients’ safety and keeps a worker out of future legal trouble. Staying up to date and adhering to the standards of practice might be the only defense from a lawsuit.
Most professions will offer classes or continuing education that focus on existing ethics and laws, particularly those that require credentialing. Students should ask instructors and supervisors about the practices that apply to their profession and their placement site, as well as what the laws are and why they are in place. Moreover, the instructors and supervisors should advise students on handling ethical issues when students encounter them.
Professional Versus Personal Ethics
In addition to having a thorough understanding of the ethical code in your profession and the facility in which you work, it is important to become aware of and develop your own personal code of ethics. There may be professional situations in your internship in which your personal ethical principles might be challenged or come into play, often quite unexpectedly. The more you know about what you believe and value in advance, the better prepared you may be when this time arises.
Consequently, self-awareness is helpful in these situations. After all, people are rarely simple, and a client’s behavior may evoke conscious or unconscious feelings or reactions based on your experiences and background. Though this process is mostly an introspective one, it is often helpful to discuss these issues with others, such as your colleagues, instructor, and supervisor. Taking the time to develop a clear and reasonably articulate ethical foundation will help you face challenging situations in the future and often will provide a sense of direction.
Having a firm grasp of your personal beliefs may also be of value when making rapid decisions, such as in a critical relational moment or when dealing with a crisis. Maybe you are a social worker at your local agency, and someone you dislike walks through the door looking for help. Perhaps you are interning with county corrections and are assigned a client who is someone you grew up with but have not seen in years. Maybe you are a case manager driving a client to their medication appointment, and you think you smell marijuana coming out of the apartment when the individual opens the door. Perhaps your next client is accused of child, spousal, or elder abuse. All these situations are examples that are likely to stir up conscious and unconscious reactions that challenge your ability to conduct yourself in a professional manner. The more you know about your personal values and ethics, the better able you will be to conduct yourself in accordance with your professional ethics and obligations without being overly judgmental or jumping to premature conclusions.
As professionals working in the human services field, our professional ethics take precedence over our personal ones. Professional ethics give us the ability to make ethical decisions that maintain consistent expectations. Professional ethics also provide clear guidelines for handling the consequences of inappropriate behavior. Ultimately, the National Organization for Human Services’ code of ethical standards should be the foundation of your decisions. If there is a conflict between your personal ethics and those of the profession, you need to seek guidance from your supervisor before you move ahead. When we find ourselves confronting a clash between our own ethics and values and those of the field (or the agency), it is extremely important that we pause and seek guidance from our supervisor and instructor before acting on the issue.
Case Study: When Personal and Professional Ethics Collide
Stella’s first human services internship was with a small, community-based organization that provided services to teen parents. They sought this placement because their professional background was in research at large public organizations. They were hoping to get experience in a less bureaucratic and hopefully more flexible environment. What she found out was that their own personal code of ethics was actually more rigid and bureaucratic than they had been aware of. Here is an example of this conflict.
Stella accompanied their supervisor in dropping off Thanksgiving boxes to some pregnant and parenting clients. The boxes contained a turkey and all the usual side dishes. At the home of a young mom who had just had twins, they were instructed to take the food into the kitchen—where they encountered two other turkeys and accompanying boxes of supplies. Stella felt upset when they saw this and felt that the agency was being “used” by the client since they clearly already had two Thanksgiving boxes from other agencies. When Stella asked their supervisor about it, he chuckled at the question, clearly unfazed by the situation. He said, “Who knows how much they have to eat on a daily basis? If they have the opportunity to stock up on food for other days, what could be wrong with that?” It made Stella stop and consider their own attitude about what was “right” and “fair.” Stella realized that they were not the “turkey police,” and as an intern, their job was to help clients access services, not judge their choices. As Stella became a more seasoned worker, they understood that the holidays are often the only time of year when food is widely accessible for those who need it, and taking advantage of that to stock up is an appropriate and smart response for a parent of young children.
Responsibility to the Public and Society
According to NOHS, the ethical responsibility of the human services worker to the public and safety should be to provide services without discrimination and to be knowledgeable about the cultural diversity of their community. They are also expected to know local, state, and federal laws to prevent conflict with ethical guidelines or client rights. There are also standards around social justice and awareness that political issues and social issues impact specific populations differently.
Human service professionals are expected to uphold the values of their profession with integrity, honesty, genuineness, and objectivity, as well as being guided by ethical behavior that honors cultural diversity and self-determination of the community they serve. Human service workers have a responsibility to identify clients’ needs and to act as advocates for social justice, seeking to eliminate social oppression. This means that addressing inequity and oppression are part of our professional ethics, not just a personal decision.
This means that not only is it good practice to use an equity lens, but it is indeed part of our professional ethics. Using an equity lens can provide a way of looking at and acting on issues of justice to ensure that outcomes in the conditions of well-being are improved for marginalized groups, lifting outcomes for all. This can be challenging in several ways. Advocacy and political involvement may be outside your own personal comfort zone. You may have to figure out how you can support these ethical guidelines in a manner that feels comfortable and true for you. This also may include reconsidering our own history and questioning some of the standards that you may bring with you due to your experience. For example, in the previous story “When Professional and Personal Ethics Collide,” the worker was forced to reexamine her own attitudes about people who access services and also reconsider her own privilege of having never been food insecure.
Ethical codes and licensing laws are intended to protect the client, the practitioner, and the agency by ensuring that clients receive the best treatment within a set of behavioral boundaries. Sometimes, the ethics of two professions or agencies may conflict. For example, Catholic Charities offers behavioral and mental health services that do not include abortion, while Planned Parenthood provides women’s wellness programs that emphasize choice. If you find that the views of an agency conflict with yours, it is important to think seriously about those conflicts, perhaps even reevaluate the selection of that site if the conflicts seem to be insurmountable. In general, if you agree to be an intern at a site, you have also agreed to act in ways that do not contradict its prevailing values and standards unless they are illegal. If you decide you cannot do that, then you should discuss the problem with your supervisor. If a compromise is not possible, then the ethical path for all concerned may be for you to consider another type of agency.
Sometimes, the problem may not be that clear. There may also be difficulty if the agency you are interning with has a history of ignoring social justice issues. You may find yourself in conflict with the policies and/or procedures in place. Interns are often considered without much power in the structural hierarchy of the agency, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t advocate for change or indeed, create change. I have had several students who spent time during their internships translating agency forms and lists into a language other than English. Another student helped write a grant that would allow the organization to extend their services to more rural clients. When you observe an issue that needs addressing, think also about ways you can solve the problem. You are more likely to be heard if you bring a solution as well as the problem.
Understanding Professional Ethics Licenses and Attributions
“Understanding Professional Ethics” is adapted from Succeeding at Your Internship: A Handbook Written for and with Students by Christopher J. Mruk and John C. Moor, Bowling Green State University Libraries. This work is licensed under CC BY NC SA 4.0.
“When Personal and Professional Ethics Collide” by Yvonne Smith is licensed under CC-BY 4.0.
“Responsibility to the Public and Society” by Yvonne Smith is licensed under CC-BY 4.0.
the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc. that may or may not intersect with each other.
the rules a country, state, or other governing body sets, maintains, and enforces. Violations of laws are illegal and can be punished by fines, probation, or incarceration. In the United States, there is a hierarchical structure for authority: federal, state, county, and local.
Ethics are a code of morals or a philosophy that guides an individual’s behaviors and actions. Ethics also include a set of standards or code of conduct set forth by a company or profession.
situations in which you are faced with unclear choices about how to handle a situation with a client. This may be a difference between your ethical guidelines and another’s, a conflict between your personal and professional ethics, or a clash between two competing ethical standards.
the rules a governing body sets, maintains, and enforces. Violations may result in fines and loss of licensure or certifications.
A credit class in which students apply theory to practice by using what you have learned in coursework in a real-world setting with a supervisor/mentor who is invested in your growth and development (often also referred to as fieldwork or practicum).
the collection of behavior standards adopted by a profession or agency
the social act of placing severe restrictions on an individual group, or institution.
a difference in the distribution or allocation of a resource between groups.
a way of looking at and acting on issues of justice to ensure that outcomes in the conditions of well-being are improved for marginalized groups, lifting outcomes for all.
the quality of being fair and impartial and providing equitable access to different perspectives and resources to all students.
the concept that minority groups do not generally benefit equally from opportunities afforded to the dominant group.
the ability to determine our own safe zones to our emotions. Keeping separate needs, desires, thoughts, and feelings from those of others. In the human services context, boundaries most often refer to keeping our needs and wants separate from those of our clients.