hey Social Work tribe welcome back to the nasw code of ethics breakdown part nine so stay tuned okay so this is social workers ethical responsibility to colleagues 2.01 respect a social workers should treat colleagues with respect and should represent accurately and fairly the qualifications views and obligations of colleagues so you know just drain them with respect you know being you know fair and just overall a good team player uh B social workers should avoid unwarranted negative criticism of colleagues and verbal written and electronic communications with clients or with other professionals unwarranted negative criticism may include demeaning comments that refer to colleagues level of competence or to individuals attributes such as race ethnicity national uh origin color sex sexual orientation gender identity or expression age marital status political belief religion immigration status and mental or physical ability so essentially again 2.01 is about respect respect our colleagues and we don't want to talk behind our colleagues back and kind of downplay them essentially and also where it says right here going back to the first sentence of social workers should avoid the unwarranted negative criticism of colleagues and verbal written and electronic communication with clients or other professionals notice when they say with clients so if we're if we get a question on an exam that's speaking to you know a client is speaking you know negatively about a uh co-worker we don't want to just kind of side with them and like yeah that co-worker is really not that great and stuff like that yeah they're they're late often and we don't want to essentially throw them under the bus especially when we're only getting one side of the story one side of the perspective from the client we want to get that perspective from the colleague as well so again we don't want to just kind of just go with the colleague we can you know just kind of say all right you know thank you for bringing to our attention we'll discuss it with that colleague and get their perspective on it we don't just want to just throw our colleague under the bus see social workership cooperate with social work colleagues and with colleagues of other professions when such cooperation serves the well-being of clients so you know depending on what it is you know we're going to have to possibly work with other professionals right let's say you know the client is working with you know people that's handling you know case management related stuff or just other support other services so this is just really speaking to that collaboration piece of it 2.02 confidentiality social workers should respect confidential information shared by colleagues in the course of their professional relationships and transactions social workers should ensure that such colleagues understand social workers obligation to respect confidentiality and any exceptions related to it so essentially you know that's they're part of our team right and if we're sharing information yeah our colleague isn't our client but think about how we would feel if you know we're sharing information whether it's more on the personal end or even more in a professional end where you know they're just you know sharing some stuff where they may have been unsure of or you know just like whatever it may be and if they're you know telling our business to someone else you know respect our colleagues and then also uh the limitations of it right because depending on what it is just like with those clients or anyone for that matter um we do have limits on what we can keep confidential 2.03 interdisciplinary collaboration a social workers who are members of an interdisciplinary team should participate in and contribute to decisions that affect the well-being of clients by drawing on the perspectives values and experiences of the social work profession professional and ethical obligations of the interdisciplinary team as a whole and of its individual members should be clearly established so when we talk about the interdisciplinary team or the collaboration this is when you know we're working with other professionals kind of associated with different roles and we're collaborating together and in fact I have this uh right here um what is interdisciplinary collaboration interdisciplinary collaboration is also an important aspect of social work this occurs when a team of Specialists from different helping disciplines such as uh Psychiatry psychology counseling medicine and public health join the social worker to provide services to a client so again we're working together collaboratively with other professionals to serve the client B social workers for whom a team decision raises ethical concerns should attempt to resolve the disagreement through appropriate channels if the disagreement cannot be resolved social workers should pursue other avenues to address their concerns consistent with client well-being so when we're working a team it's natural that different perspectives different opinions will come up and what this is speaking to be that is of you want to resolve it in-house and if it gets to the point where um there's just no there's no meeting in the middle there's no outcome that's reached then pursue the proper appropriate channels whether that's going higher up in management and again depending on what it is it could be going to the board but you want to really try to resolve it in-house 2.04 uh disputes involving colleagues a social workers should not take advantage of a dispute between a colleague and an employer to obtain a position or otherwise Advance the social worker's own interests so again um they're part of our team we're part of the same profession and when it says social order should not take advantage of a dispute between a colleague and an employer where that's really getting manipulative and kind of using that situation or those situations to kind of give us the Boost in the professional realm or anything and we don't want to do that be social workers should not exploit clients in disputes with colleagues or engage clients in any inappropriate discussion of conflicts between social workers and their colleagues so for this almost think about like parents where they get like their children involved right where it's like wait a second wait a second and of course clients aren't our children but it's you know two professionals right or it could be more and why are we bringing in the clients right leave it at the door where they're professionals we want to maintain that appropriate boundaries not bringing in clients people like well didn't you say this and this and this and like try to triangulate things and all is no no handle between professionals not bringing in clients 2.05 consultation a social workers should seek the advice and counsel of colleagues whenever such consultation is in the best interest of clients so imagine you know we get a question and exam of when should you seek consultation from a colleague right and it says here again with a social workers should seek the advice and counsel of colleagues whenever such consultation is in the best interest of clients and then B social workers should keep themselves informed about colleagues areas of expertise and competencies social workers should seek consultation only from colleagues who have demonstrated knowledge expertise and competence related to the subject of the consultation so we're not going to know everything right and we're going to have some colleagues that you know have knowledge experience expertise in different Avenues than we do and we want to consult with them so that we can hear from someone that specializes in that field to better serve the client so that's when we will want to consult with a colleague and see when Consulting with colleagues about clients social workers should disclose the least amount of information necessary to achieve the purpose of the consultation so I always say when in doubt generalize it out right so for example let's say we're working with a client and we're really unfamiliar with you know anger management techniques or things of that nature right whatever it may be and we have a colleague that we know specializes in that we don't when we're Consulting with the with the colleague we don't have to give our clients whole background story and or even drop a name or anything like that we can just simply ask the colleague again when in doubt generalize it out hey I have a client um they're not responding to these techniques and I know you specialize in working with uh teenagers or you know whatever it may be um as far as anger issues go with the skills and everything what are your suggestions and they can help give us the proper feedback and guidance and notice how we didn't have to give them the whole background story or even their name for that matter so again when in doubt generalize it out and we always want to protect our clients confidentiality because above all we have the client's best interests at heart 2.06 sexual relationships a social workers who function as supervisors or Educators should and not engage in sexual activities or contact including verbal written electronical or physical contact with supervisees students trainees or other colleagues over whom they exercise professional Authority so again this is really to protect any exploitation and again it's a manipulation abuse of power because when they say here social workers who function as supervisors again Authority or Educators again Authority should not do so no um sleeping with professors and and you know your managers and and things of that nature because there's a power Dynamic difference B social workers should avoid engaging in the sexual relationships with colleagues when there is a potential for a conflict of interest social workers who become involved in or anticipate becoming involved in sexual relationships with a colleague have a duty to transfer professional responsibilities when necessary to avoid a conflict of interest so hey can one social or professional become sexually involved date get into a relationship with another social work professional yes but just like with anything you want to make sure that it's not impacting um your quality of work it's not impacting the clients that you serve and again the power Dynamic right if both of you essentially have the same title it's okay but if there's that power Dynamic where one's a manager and one it doesn't have the same title like they're lower than a manager then that's just a no-go that can create a conflict of interest because let's say you know it's a promotion time right where now the person in a relationship with the the manager now there's a natural bias there and even if that person is the the the the the great A1 candidate it still has that bias that uh that form of like almost like a nepotism type of thing right because of the relationship and it creates in that case like that boundary confusion and like the so we just want to be mindful of that 2.07 sexual harassment social workers should not sexually harass supervisees students trainees or colleagues sexual harassment include sexual advances sexual solicitation requests for sexual favors and other verbal written electronic or physical contact of a sexual nature just know just no 2.08 impairment of colleagues so if we get a question like this one exam what do we do if we notice a colleague comes in impaired and let's see what 2.08 impairment colleague says a social workers who have direct knowledge of a social work colleague's impairment that is due to personal problems psychosocial distress substance abuse or mental health difficulties and that interferes with practice Effectiveness should consult with that colleague when feasible and assist the colleague in taking remedial action so let's say we get a question such as um I'm Zen intoxicated or they're just uh really going through it right we don't want to just immediately run to our supervisor run to the board or anything like that talk to them talk to them show our colleagues that Grace just like we would like to be shown that Grace and see if again remedial actions can be taken where sometimes again we're human too sometimes you know they just life happens and we want to make sure that they're taking the appropriate steps um to addressing whatever that situation is and then uh be going into the other side of it social workers who believe that a social work colleagues impairment interferes with practice Effectiveness and that the colleague has not taken adequate steps to address the impairment should take action through appropriate channels established by employers agencies nasw Licensing and Regulatory bodies and other professional organizations so again talk with the colleague we always want to talk with them first right see if we can help them provide assistance steer them in the right direction get that support and if it's an ongoing thing then again the appropriate channels of is it's speaking what management is it again depending on what it is going to the board and everything but we always want to speak with the colleagues first 2.09 and competence of colleagues a social workers who have direct knowledge of Social Work colleagues and competence should consult with that colleague when feasible and assist the colleague in taking remedial action so again not just run into management of the board or anything like that you know we want to speak with the first see what's going on and get a clear understanding and get their perspective B social workers who believe that a social work colleague is incompetent and has not taken adequate steps to address the incompetence should take action through appropriate channels established by employers agencies nasw Licensing and Regulatory bodies and other professional organizations so again if there if if we notice a social work is incompetent in an area and they're providing services to clients but they're incompetent in that area that's a problem clients best interest at heart were serving the clients we don't want to be providing a service that we're incompetent in an area we're incompetent in right so wherever those proper channels may be as far as like the education getting the the true experience and learning right um but if a social worker a colleague is not doing that especially after we had that conversation with it brought it to their attention and is impacting the client then again escalating the situation whether it be management going to the board Etc and 2.10 unethical conduct of colleagues a social workers should take adequate measures to discourage prevent Expose and correct the unethical conduct of colleagues including unethical conduct using technology so again we want to if we see it going on or the potential of going on we want to discourage it kind of like hey don't do that like the snow like kind of help shift them back in the appropriate Direction B social workers should be knowledgeable about established policies and procedures for handling concerns about colleagues unethical Behavior social workers should be familiar with national state and local procedures for handling ethics complaints these include policies and procedures created by nasw Licensing and Regulatory bodies employers agencies and other professional organizations so this is saying we should have a level of uh understanding familiarity with how to address these issues and of course it's going to vary depending on exactly what ethical issue it may be right and again if we work for organization agency they have policies within their policy book of how to proceed and how to address these things and going through their appropriate channels see social workers who believe that a colleague has acted unethically should seek resolution uh by discussing their concerns with the colleague when feasible and when such discussion is likely to be productive so again depending on what it is we don't want to just run to management run to the board or anything like that talk with the colleague give them that Grace get their perspective of what's going on just like we will want that Grace to hear our perspective and you know see what's going on and as I stated here it could have a productive outcome d when necessary social workers who believe that a colleague has acted unethically should take action through appropriate formal channels such as contacting a state licensing board or regulatory body the nasw national Ethics Committee or other professional ethics committees so again depending on what it is it may need to be escalated to that level and E social workers should defend and assist colleagues who are unjustly charged with unethical conduct so you know again they're part of our profession right they are they're part of our team of social work we we want to defend them we don't want just like oh well you know you've been accused of that well I guess you're just on your own it's like treat others how we would like to be treated and you know we're a social work team so we definitely want to have our colleagues back and defend in a system during these unjustly charges against them okay Social Work tribe thank you for watching that was the nesw code of ethics breakdown part nine of this year Aries and there's more to come so stay tuned as always don't forget to like comment subscribe and again tell a social work friend because we don't want to be licensed by ourselves all right try I'll see you next video