Your Ethic Muscles: What Shape Are They In? Fit or Flabby?

This past fall I taught an ethics course to the masters students in a counseling and career development program. We had wonderful conversation and debate about different ethical issues like: how to handle confidentiality in tricky situations, what to do when clients want to negotiate boundaries, when and why to self-disclose some level of personal information to client, and what to do when a colleague is unethical.

As the semester came to a close, I asked the students how they would maintain their ethical capacity-or another way to ask it is, "How will you keep your ethical muscles in shape? And what will be the signs of needing more exercise and strength training?" They had wonderful ideas.

The following are 3 keys to stay in good "ethical shape":

Professional ethical network/accountability-Do we have a network or group of professionals that we meet with, with some regularity to process ethical concerns and to be accountable (as well as challenged)? On more than one occasion I have stated with my students the need to have someone in their professional circle that sees ethical issues through a different lens. Having this type of professional colleague helps us steer clear from group think. A network of ethical colleagues that we choose to be accountable to helps us keep our ethical muscles in good shape.

Professional Ethics Code-When was the last time we really looked at or read the professional ethics code? Is a copy of the code handy for speedy reference or somewhere in a bottom drawer or an internet link that's no longer operable? As someone who has the privilege to teach ethics to masters level counselors, I am always surprised at something new I learn each time I read the professional code. Having the code handy for reference (and using it) is a key to staying in ethical shape.

Professional literature-What was the last piece of professional literature we read that challenged our current thinking on an ethical issue? We may still have our same point of view but we are able to better articulate the reasons for this view and the opposing view because of staying up on the topic. When I first started teaching the ethics course to masters level students I thought I needed to teach them in a way that would help them see the issue clearly. Really this was "indoctrination" on my part. I was less concerned about helping them reason well and more concerned about them seeing the issue from my lens. As I have grown in my own professional ethical identity, I see the real goal of good instruction/teaching in professional ethics is helping students develop an appreciation for ethics and ethical reasoning through knowledge of the profession and themselves as ethical professionals.

What "key" would you add to staying in ethical shape?