Hey, hey, welcome back Social Work Tribe. In today's video, we're going to be breaking down the NASW Code of Ethics. This is important because the NASW Code of Ethics, this is our blueprint, our guidebook, our playbook to the profession of social work as a whole.
So stay tuned. Okay, so when it comes to the NASW Code of Ethics, right on the homepage for it of read the Code of Ethics. Again, this is our blueprint, our guide.
on how to navigate some of these challenging situations that may come up. And on the exam, this literally tells us how to navigate through some of these difficult situations, because without this guide, we will literally pick an answer that sounds good or in real life. And when we're practicing social work, right, we'll do something that may sound good.
But this guide right here guides us and shows us what to do during, you know. certain situations where these dilemmas may pop up. So without further ado, let's jump into it. So right off the bat, again, read the Code of Ethics. The NASW Code of Ethics is a set of standards that guide the professional conduct of social workers.
The 2021 update includes language that addresses the importance of professional self-care. Moreover, revisions to cultural competence standard provide more explicit guidance to social workers. All social workers should review the new text and affirm.
their commitment to abide by the code of ethics, also available in Spanish. So again, really important, definitely important for us to read, make sure we're up to date with everything, all the changes, and notice how they're putting an emphasis on self-care, especially within recent time, within these recent years, and the work that we do as a whole is really important. The first section, Preamble, summarizes the social work profession's mission and core values.
The second section, Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics provides an overview of the code's main functions and a brief guide for dealing with ethical issues or dilemmas in social work practice. So think about on the exam where they places you, the social worker, in a scenario and it's like, wait a second, how do I navigate this situation, right? Whether we're in a school setting, hospital setting, outpatient setting, whatever setting we're in, whatever the details are, the factors of that question. How do we, the social worker, respond to it first, next, best, most, right? So this is why it's really important that we have an understanding of this because it's really, again, going to guide us through answering the questions.
The third section, ethical principles, presents broad ethical principles based on social work's core values that inform social work practice. The final section, ethical standards, includes specific ethical standards. to guide social workers conduct and to provide a basis for adjudication.
So again, this is our guidebook, our playbook, and I'm going to sound like a broken record. Definitely read through this because it's really going to help us read through the preamble, read through the purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics over here and the ethical principles. And when we get to the ethical standards, the following ethical standards are relevant to the professional activities of.
all social workers. So again, regardless of the setting, these standards concern one social workers, ethical responsibilities to clients, two social workers, ethical responsibilities to colleagues, three social workers, ethical responsibilities and practice settings for social workers, ethical responsibilities as professionals, five social workers, ethical responsibilities to the social work profession, uh, and six social workers, ethical responsibilities to the broader society. You know, I, I'll just say, you know, In a sense, it's kind of like everyone's our client. Everyone's not our client, but it's like everyone's our client when you think of it in terms of, you know, advocating for vulnerable populations and things of that nature.
But again, within a context, especially when we're approaching this exam, we want to read this entire thing as a whole because, you know, we're a part of the social work profession. But these six right here, they're really going to give us the guide, the blueprint on how to. approach these situations that not only may come up in real life, but that may come up on the exam.
And jumping back into it, some of the standards that follow are enforceable guidelines for professional conduct, and some are aspirational. The extent to which each standard is enforceable is a matter of professional judgment to be exercised by those responsible for reviewing alleged violations of ethical standards. So again, it's saying, you know, some of them is like, yes, like this is. laid out how it is. I've been other ones, again, depending on the context, it can be kind of challenging, but regardless, this is our blueprint.
This is our guidebook. We are going to jump into this. So, uh, stay tuned when we click on number one, they really broke it down for us and categorized it.
And when taking the exam, again, this answers for us, you know, what should we do in those situations? And Right off the bat, if someone said, hey, Ray, where should I start, you know, when studying for, you know, these licensure exams or even entering the social work profession as a whole, read the NASW Code of Ethics. And this is going to be part of a series where some of the wording can be a little confusing. And it's like, wait a second, what does this mean?
What does this mean? So, again, this is going to be part of a series as part one to really breaking it down. So stay tuned. OK, so social workers ethical responsibility to clients. According to NASW Code of Ethics, Ethical Standards 1.01, commitment to clients.
Social workers'primary responsibility is to promote the well-being of clients. In general, clients'interests are primary. However, social workers'responsibility to the larger society or specific legal obligations may, on limited occasions, supersede the loyalty owed clients, and clients should be so advised. Example includes when a social worker is required by law to report that a client has abused a child or has threatened to harm self or others. So right off the bat is saying clients are our priority.
Their best interests are our priority. The only time where, you know, is limited in that capacity is safety concerns. Like when we're mandated reporters, when legal things come up where if we're getting, you know. requested to give a client's records over by a judge or court ordered, you know, outside of things of that nature, clients are our main priority. And when we jump to 1.02 of self-determination, social workers respect and promote the right of clients to self-determination and assist clients in their efforts to identify and clarify their goals.
Social workers may limit clients'right to self-determination when in the social worker's professional judgment. Clients'actions or potential actions pose a serious, foreseeable, and imminent risk to themselves or others. So in short, what is self-determination? Self-determination in short is allowing the clients to make decisions for themselves.
Yes, even if the decision that they want to make for themselves may not be the best, right? As social workers, we want to empower them to be able to make the decision for themselves, right? We can't, you know, force them and make them do things, you know, even if it would be beneficial for them.
They are allowed to make their own decisions. Again, safety concerns aside, right? Different. This is saying they're allowed to make their own decisions, even if certain consequences will come for that. We just want to make sure that they're making an informed decision.
We want to make sure that they're aware of all the pros and the cons, the consequences. that come with their decision-making. And if they say, yep, yep, I'm aware, all of that stuff, then they're allowed to do that, right?
Even if, you know, we would say like, even if we know it would be better if they kind of made other decisions, we want to empower them with the information and for them to make that decision on their own. If we did that, we did our role as social work professionals, right? But we don't want to force them and persuade them. to make a decision. It's for them to make.
And again, for self-determination, social workers respect and promote the right of clients to self-determination, essentially making their own decisions and assist clients in their efforts to identify and clarify their goals. So again, empowering them with information. It's like, what do we want to get out of this situation?
And as we go through the exam, we want to keep those things in mind. We always have the client's best interest at heart at the top. And we want to make sure that we're empowering them with most information possible for them to make an informed decision. But once they have all of that, it is their decision to make.
We don't want to persuade or try and, you know, get them to do something. It is up to them. Again, safety concerns and all that aside. Safety above all, right? When it comes to safety, confidentiality goes out the window and, you know, all of that, right?
But all of that stuff aside. They're allowed to make their own decision. And I also have a practice question.
If you go to my YouTube channel, click on the playlist. One of the practice questions actually is related to self-determination where it can be kind of tricky where it's like, hmm. But when we know this information, we keep this in our mind.
When we see these type of questions pop up on the exam that's speaking to self-determination, we can say, oh, wait a second. This is speaking to self-determination. And. Because it's speaking to self-determination, even if it's not saying the words self-determination, we know according to the NASW Code of Ethics, this is how we proceed.
This is how we approach that situation, both in real life and on the exam to get the right answer. And again, go through those practice questions. Like I always say, two practice questions a day helps keep the anxiety at bay.
And, you know, see for ourselves and see how we're approaching it. And again, this is part of a series and this is part one. As we continue to go through and break down the NASW code of ethics. All right, guys, stay tuned because, again, we're really going to be breaking this down. Don't forget to tell a social work friend to tell a social work friend because, you know, we don't want to be licensed by ourselves.
This is our tribe and we're really going to continue to break this down. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, and I'll see you next video.