Develop Code of Ethics/Professional Conduct
Psyche Center is an organization that provides mental health care services. The facility is located in Houston, Texas, United States. The organization employs a variety of employees to provide various mental health services. These include healthcare providers, psychotherapists, social workers, and counselors. The current code of ethics and professional conduct targets such professionals working in the organization. It specifies the standards of conduct, performance, and ethics expected of the workers.
Part 1: Conduct
How the members of a given profession or organization conduct themselves is important. It helps to determine the success of the organization, and achievement of its goals (Koocher et al., 2016; Stone et al., 2020). All the employees of this organization must maintain high standards of conduct in the following ways:
a.) Acting in the best interest of the service user
Every worker of the organization shall:
i.) promote the health and general wellbeing of a service user.
ii.) not abuse or harm the client.
iii.) not exploit and discriminate against the service user.
iv.) appreciate diversity and differences in cultural values.
b.) Maintaining high standards of personal behavior
i.) Any employee of the organization must conduct himself or herself in a way that increases public confidence in him or her.
ii.) The person should not be under the influence of any given substance when working.
iii.) He or she should not behave in a way that raises questions on the effectiveness of his or her professional practice.
iv.) The individual should also not use his or her professional position to enter into an inappropriate relationship with the client.
v.) The employee should as well respect the expertise and role of other professionals, and collaborate with them.
Part 2: Performance
For any organization to achieve its goals, it is important to think about the performance of its workers (Stone et al., 2020; Laas et al., 2022). In regard to this, the employees of the organization are required to maintain high standards of performance as follows:
a.) Complying with professional obligations for registration
i.) For one to serve in the organization, he or she must have undergone training that is relevant to his or her area of recruitment.
ii.) The person should be a registered member of a given professional body.
iii.) He or she must also have a valid practicing license.
b.) Maintaining professional standards of practice
i.) All the employees of the organization are required to work within the guidelines and regulations governing their practice.
ii.) They must update themselves about changes in practice guidelines.
iii.) Every employee is encouraged to participate in continuous professional development in order to ensure that his or her knowledge and skills are relevant to a given practice.
c.) Acting within the limits of one’s knowledge
Every employee:
i.) must practice only in the areas where he or she has relevant skills, knowledge, and competence.
ii.) shall refer the client to another colleague if the client’s problem is beyond his or her knowledge.
iii.) should ensure that he or she understands requests or referrals made by colleagues and other professionals.
iv.) must be able to justify any decision made within the scope of his or her practice.
d.) Ensuring protection of vulnerable populations
i.) In their practice, the employees of the organization should ensure that the rights of vulnerable populations are protected. These include children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people living with chronicle conditions.
ii.) All the employees must also be aware of the national legislations aimed at protecting vulnerable groups.
Part 3: Ethics
Ethics are important in any profession. They help to ensure that different professionals carry out their duties in an ethical manner (Koocher et al., 2016; Laas et al., 2022). All the employees of the organization are expected to maintain high stands of professional ethics as follows:
a.) Demonstrating ethical awareness
An employee of this organization:
i.) should demonstrate principles of honesty and integrity.
- ii) must adhere to this code of ethics and professional conduct.
b.) Respecting the dignity and rights of service users
i.) All employees must adhere to various ethical principles that help to guide their practices. These include the principles of autonomy, confidentiality, and informed consent among others.
ii.) They should respect the dignity and rights of the service users.
iii) The employees should as well demonstrate fairness and justice in their practice.
References:
Koocher, G. P., Keith-Spiegel, P., & Oxford University Press. (2016). Ethics in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions: Standards and Cases. New York: Oxford University Press.
Laas, K., Davis, M., & Hildt, E. (2022). Codes of Ethics and Ethical Guidelines: Emerging Technologies, Changing Fields. Cham: Springer.
Stone, K., Vicary, S., & Spencer-Lane, T. (2020). The Approved Mental Health Professional Practice Handbook. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
