apply ethical decision-making to a true-to-life scenario in social work practice.

The goal of this activity is to simulate how a change in circumstance or information can affect your ethical decision-making process—and in that way mirror common situations in actual practice.

Review the NASW Code of Ethics.

Review the Ethical Decision-Making Tree.

Review the scenarios below and choose one to respond to for this Discussion.

Scenario 1

You are in the first weeks of your internship, and you hear the employees discussing a client in the hallway. They are using terms like “junkie,” “loser,” and “hopeless.” How do you handle this situation?

Scenario 2

You are terminating with a client, and the client asks if they can take a picture of the two of you together to post on their social media page. They want to say how great you were. What are some considerations before responding to their request?

Scenario 3

You are doing an intake on a new client, and they tell you that they recognize you from your church. You do not know “specifically” who they are—but they do seem familiar. How do you respond to this?