not sure how many words it will take to answer the vignette. 475 may be too many but its up to your judgement. if it takes more than 475 i can pay the difference.
Law and Ethics Case Vignette
You will be reading about a therapist and a client in a clinical setting. You are to analyze what is described in the vignette and determine if there are any legal or ethical violations. Once you identify those violations you will have to list those violations and the specific legal codes or ethical codes that clearly tell you something is illegal or unethical.
Here is a sample vignette: Cora Beltram is an LCSW with a new counseling practice. She has made an arrangement with a chiropractor in her building to pay him $10 for every client he refers to her practice.
In this sample practice vignette you are to decide if there is anything legally or ethically problematic with this vignette. One source that you must use is the NASW Code of Ethics. You can easily read through the pages and see if there is anything referencing paying for referrals.
If you go to the Code and look under Section 1.16 (c) you will see that it says “Social workers are prohibited from giving or receiving payment for a referral when no professional service is provided by the referring social worker.”. So you would cite exactly that in your vignette response. Now regarding the laws and regulations that pertain to paying for referrals, you could go to the BBS Statutes and Regulations Relating to the Practices of Professional Clinical Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapy, Educational Psychology and Clinical Social Work. In Chapter 14 you will find the material that pertains to clinical social workers. Look at the Business and Professions Code 4492.3 (p) for Unprofessional Conduct. It says “(p) Paying accepting, or soliciting any consideration, compensation, or remuneration, whether monetary or otherwise, for the referral of professional clients…..”In other words, it is both unethical and illegal to solicit or pay for referrals. So you need to cite this source of your opinion in a vignette and answer any other questions listed.
Here is the vignette that you are to respond to and will be graded. You may copy and paste these questions into a Word document and upload it into blackboard.
Angelica is a first year social work intern at one of the county’s community mental health
centers. She was very anxious about the population served at this mental health center and felt very insecure about meeting new clients. She got into the habit of having several alcoholic drinks at lunch each day to “take the edge off her feelings” which caused her to slur her words in addition to feeling quite sleepy. She kept all of these issues to herself and was very quiet in individual and group supervision since she thought nobody knew of her difficulties. Other interns were very aware of Angelica’s problems but did not say anything because they did not want to cause trouble.
She was assigned a weekly group for community members that had problems with isolation, loneliness, and financial difficulties. When she was orienting the group to the rules and the culture of group she told them that they were legally bound to keep the things that group members talked about in absolute confidence. She also refused to keep records regarding the group process but also any individual clients she saw saying that she was protecting their confidentiality by not having records on the services she provided. When she introduced herself to new clients, she called herself a Licensed Clinical Social Worker so that clients would have more confidence in her.
She went to a 2 hour seminar that introduced hypnosis as a treatment. When she returned to the mental health center, she created a flier inviting community members to a 10 week seminar stating that she was an expert in treating people with hypnosis.
What are three ethical issues or violations in this vignette and cite where you found it referenced in the Code of Ethics. 30 Pts
What is your opinion about the violations you listed above and why do you think this is a problem? 30 Pts
Using the BBS Statutes and Regulations text, cite specific Unprofessional Conduct Codes that you see in this vignette. Explain what the specific unprofessional code that you cite means to you. Make sure you are looking at Chapter 14 for Clinical Social Workers. 30 Pts
What is your opinion about the violations you have listed above and why do you think this is a problem? 30 Pts
If you were Angelica’s peer, would you have any ethical responsibility to address what you see happening with her? Explain your thinking about this and don’t forget to cite your source. 30 Pts
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