Reference no: EM133157591

COM568 Ethical Issues and Practice - Excelsia College

Assessment - Decision Making Task

- Students will be given a case study (below) which will form the basis of assessment 2 where they will propose comprehensive resolutions for the case study's dilemmas.
- More specifically, students will prepare an ethical decision-making summary which will:

(i) Briefly identify the significant legal, ethical and professional dilemmas which arise in the case study;

(ii) using the steps of the EDM model (Miner-Bridges, 2006), propose possible resolutions (at least

2) for one (1) of the identified dilemmas in the case study with reference to the relevant Australian codes of ethics and/or Australian legislative requirements pertaining to counselling practice; and

(iii) discuss the benefits and the complications of each proposed solution

(iv) identify how their own current moral and ethical stance and accompanying set of values, influence their decision-making process in respect to the identified dilemmas.

Students utilise EDM (Miner-Bridges, 2006); and relevant Australian Codes of Ethics including AASW, PACFA and ACA which are publicly available Codes. Students may employ section headings to organise the content of their writing. Submitted work is via Turnitin.

Ethical Dilemma

You are a counsellor in private practice. Your client, Henry, is a man in his twenties seeking counselling concerning personal and professional issues. In particular, he is unhappy with his relationships with a number of staff at the secondary school in which he is a teacher. He has seen you several times to discuss his enjoyment of teaching and sport coaching on the one hand, but his frustration at not being able to find a life partner or to have consistently harmonious relationships with his colleagues.

You have a family, including a 13-year-old son, who plays weekly on Saturdays in a soccer team for his school. One Saturday, your son has made his own way to the game, and you arrive during the game to watch him play. Their team is losing quite badly, and you watch them approach their coach despondently at half-time. Much to your surprise, the coach turns out to be your client, Henry. You have only just seen him, and it appears that he has not seen you. More concerning is that Henry appears quite angry with the team's performance, and he singles out your son in particular for some pretty strong criticism in front of his team-mates. Your son looks particularly dejected after his coach's comments towards him. You are quite taken aback and you try not be seen at that time.

Later your son finishes the game and you hurriedly take him from the game and drive him home. In the car he asks why he had to leave so quickly and what the problem is. How do you respond to him? And do you raise this experience with Henry in your following sessions with him, and if so, how?

Assessment Criteria
- Correctly identifies and concisely articulates the significant ethical and legal issues within the case study.
- Appropriately assesses and proposes possible and appropriate resolutions to ethical dilemmas within guidelines provided by the EDM model.
- Demonstrates clear familiarity with, and appropriate application of, the relevant Ethical Codes and Australian legislative requirements to the case study material.
- Clearly and coherently identifies how their own current moral and ethical stance and accompanying set of values, influence their decision-making process and resolutions to the identified dilemmas.
- A clear, coherent summary responses that uses ideas and arguments effectively, demonstrating critical thought (i.e. arguments are well developed and presented), and evidencing comprehension and synthesis of ideas.

Attachment:- Decision Making Task.rar