Assignment: Addressing Ethical Issues

Helping professionals often face difficult decisions in their work that may have ethical ramifications. Ethical dilemmas span all areas of your professional practice from confidentiality and privacy to cultural considerations. For this Assignment, you concentrate on cultural considerations that may pose challenges to ethical practice. (Culture is broadly defined here as the behaviors, traditions, and/or beliefs of any subgroup.)  After analyzing the case study, consider how you might address the issues present using your professional practice code of ethics.

Case Study #2

Nicole and Julia explain to you that their relationship has felt strained lately and that they fear they are heading for a breakup. The couple explain to you that they have been in a long-term, non-monogamous relationship, but that lately, Nicole has expressed desire to change this practice. Julia feels that Nicole is “changing the rules halfway through the game” and that her sexual relationships with others are of no consequence to how she feels about Nicole. Their current relationship practice conflicts with your own personal opinion about the role of monogamy in relationships, and thus you feel conflicted about how to handle the situation.

The Assignment 

• Describe the ethical issue(s) present in it.
• Explain how you would address each of these issues.
• Justify your response using the appropriate professional Code of Ethics.