CAMFT Ethical Codes Flashcards
CAMFT Cultural Sensitivity
MFT’s strive to identify and understand diverse cultural backgrounds of clients gaining knowledge, personal awareness, & developing sensitivity and skills pertaining to working with a diverse client pop.
CAMFT Professional Assistance
MFT’s seek appropriate prof assistance for personal problems/conflict that impair work or clinical judgement
CAMFT Responsibility to impaired colleagues
MFT’s are encouraged to assist colleagues who are impaired due to substance abuse, emotional problems, or mental illness.
CAMFT responsibility to respect confidence of colleagues
MFT’s respect the confidences of colleagues that are shared in prof relationships
Responsibility to Patients:
1.1 Non-discrimination
MFT’s do not condone or engage in discrimination, or refuse prof service to anyone on basis of race, gender, gender identity/expression, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic, or marital status. And MFT’S make reasonable effort to accommodate patients who have physical disabilities.
Responsibility to Patients: Historical and social prejudice
MFT’s are aware of and do not perpetuate historical and social prejudices when diagnosing and treating patients because may lead to misdiagnosis and pathologizing.
Responsibility to Patients: Dual relationship - definition
MFT’s are aware of their influential position; they avoid exploiting the trust and dependency of them. Therefore, they avoid dual relationships that would likely impair professional judgement/lead to exploitation.
DEFINITION: when a therapist and his/her patient engage in a separate and distinct relationship either simultaneously with the therapeutic relationship, or during a reasonable period of time following the termination of the therapeutic relationship. Not all are unethical, and some cannot be avoided. When a concurrent or subsequent dual relationship occurs, MFT’s take appropriate professional precautions to ensure that judgment is not impaired and that no exploitation occurs.
Responsibility to patients: Unethical dual relationships
UNETHICAL DUAL RELATIONSHIPS: acts that would result in unethical dual relationships include, but are not limited to, borrowing money from a patient, hiring a patient, engaging in a business venture with a patient, or engaging in a close personal relationship with a patient. Such acts with a patient’s spouse, partner or family member may also be considered unethical dual relationships.
Responsibilty to patients: Sexual Contact
SEXUAL CONTACT: Sexual intercourse, sexual contact or sexual intimacy with a patient, or a patient’s spouse or partner, or a patient’s immediate family member, during the therapeutic relationship, or during the two years following the termination of the therapeutic relationship, is unethical.
Should a MFT engage in sexual intimacy with a former patient or a patient’s spouse or partner, or immediate family member, following the two years after termination or last professional contact, shall consider the potential harm to or exploitation of the former patient or to the patient’s family.
Responsibility to Patient: Prior sexual relationship
MFT does not enter into a therapeutic relationship with a person with whom he/she has had a sexual relationship or with a partner or the immediate family member of a person with whom he/she has had a sexual relationship.
Responsibility to patient: Treatment disruption
MFT are aware of their professional and clinical responsibilities to provide consistent care to patients and maintain practices and procedures that assure undisrupted care.
may include, but are not limited to:
* providing contact information and specified procedures in case of emergency or therapist absence,
* conducting appropriate terminations,
* and providing for a professional will.
Responsibilty to patients: Termination
MFT use sound clinical judgment when terminating therapeutic relationships and do so in an appropriate manner.
Reasons for termination may include & not limited to:
*the patient is not benefiting from treatment;
*continuing treatment is not clinically appropriate;
*the therapist is unable to provide treatment due to the therapist’s *incapacity or extended absence,
* or in order to avoid an ethical conflict or problem.
Responsibility to patients: ABANDONMENT
MFT’S do not abandon or neglect patients in treatment. If a therapist is unable or unwilling to continue to provide professional services, the therapist will assist the patient in making clinically appropriate arrangements for continuation of treatment.
