Walden University Blog Entry Discussions Responses
Respond to the blog post of three colleagues in one or more of the following ways:Share an insight from having read your colleague’s posting.Offer and support an opinion.Validate an idea in your colleague’s post with your own experience.Jannnie—Potential challenges could occur during field education with regard to confidentiality. Maintaining confidentiality is part of a social worker’s ethical practice. Therefore, social workers must respect and protect client’s confidentiality to the best of his/her ability. Social workers should not share client’s information other than information regarding neglect/abuse, when danger to self or others, or imminent risk to self (Saxon, C., Jacinto, G. A., & Dziegielewski, S. F., 2006). Wulff, D. P., St George, S. A., & Besthorn, F. H. (2011) tells us that the practice of confidentiality protects as well as isolates in clinical work. When faced with an ethical dilemma, the situation could easily become centered around the need for the social worker to be “safe” or cautious and focus on their own professional security regardless of any costs to the clients (Wulff, D. P., St George, S. A., & Besthorn, F. H., 2011). Being able to be in tune with your own values is important to the process as Saxon, C., Jacinto, G. A., & Dziegielewski, S. F. (2006) stated that social workers’ ethical decision-making is often guided by their own personal values and life experiences.Some agency policies and/or mandates can also interfere with confidentiality. Saxon, C., Jacinto, G. A., & Dziegielewski, S. F. (2006) shares how contractually, managed care organization procedures could create ethical dilemmas based on information the managed care organization requires which may impact therapist-client confidentiality, as well as electronic data in their agency software places client’s information at risk of breach of confidentiality. Wulff, D. P., St George, S. A., & Besthorn, F. H. (2011) stated that confidentiality could serve to limit the work with families as well as interfere with the family’s growth potential.When communicating with clients, it may prove a challenge when the client becomes aware of personal affiliations and locate the social worker on social media sites (NASW, 2017). When there must be a disclosure of confidential information necessary to prevent imminent harm to the client or others, this may also prove to be a challenge as it will have to be communicated to the client. Also, during COVID-19, clients are not going in-office for sessions. Clients participating in virtual therapy can become lax and not have appropriate surroundings for sessions (driving, in a store/shopping, handling their children) or unable to have appropriate surroundings for sessions (overcrowding, abusive relationship and partner/spouse is nearby). This all could present challenges in effective communication with the client.Saxon, C., Jacinto, G. A., & Dziegielewski, S. F. (2006). Self-determination and confidentiality: The ambiguous nature of decision-making in social work practice. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 13(4), 55–72.Wulff, D. P., St George, S. A., & Besthorn, F. H. (2011). Revisiting confidentiality: Observations from family therapy practice. Journal of Family Therapy, 33(2), 199–214.Lachandra—An explanation of potential challenges in adhering to confidentiality in your field education experienceSome potential challenges in adhering to confidentiality during my field education experience can be making sure that I do not disclose any information about not just clients but also other staff members that works within the organization that I am currently interning for. I live in a rural area in Georgia, the organization currently services eleven counties that are close together to each other. It is common for everybody to know each other. It is also common to see clients and staff members outside of the organization examples, grocery stores, church, school functions, malls and pretty much anywhere an individual may go. It can be challenging to not disclose information that employee had mentioned to not just me but probably to others such as they could have told another staff member personal information about themselves for examples “ that their child needs to have surgery” and then someone may go and tell someone else that that employee child needs to have surgery. The staff that told someone else may think nothing of it but when it gets back to the person whose son needs to have surgery that it is getting around the office this can make that individual upset that their personal business is getting around the office. Staff needs to keep other staff personal information confidential the same way they would do their clients information.A description of agency policies or mandates with regard to confidentialityThe agency policies and/or mandates with regard to confidentiality are as follows never discuss a client in the hallway, never use client’s name in the email, fax cover sheet. Verify there is consent before discussing a client’s information with anyone other than the client. Be aware of who is around your surroundings when talking on the phone. Paper records must be stored in a secure location. Abide by HIPAA law and be compliant with HIPPA. Never talk to the media.An explanation of potential challenges in communicating with clients within your agencyA potential challenge when communicating with clients in the agency I am interning with is to always make sure I am communicating with respect and respectfully by being cautious of my tone of voice, body language, gestures, facial expressions, and always dress professionally. I say this because sometimes clients and other staff members can take any form of communication and take it as being offensive when I know that is not my intention. When working with clients that suffer from mental health this can be challenging because sometimes it is hard to decipher what they are thinking at any moment while interacting with them.LaTonja—An explanation of potential challenges in adhering to confidentiality in your field education experienceOne potential challenge in adhering to confidentiality in my field experience is ensuring privacy and confidentiality in virtual settings. In traditional face-to-face sessions, the clients are in a private environment to protect communication and sensitive information. In virtual settings, a therapist cannot control a client’s environment and must trust the client to speak in a private location. However, I would ask the client to move to a private location, put on headphones, or solicit verbal consent for individuals in their background to be present for our session.A description of agency policies or mandates with regard to confidentialityAt my agency, all members must receive their HIPAA training certificate to ensure privacy and confidentiality competence. Furthermore, If I were to sit in on a session, I must receive the client’s consent before joining.An explanation of potential challenges in communicating with clients within your agencyPotential challenges in communicating with clients within my agency are the lack of rapport with existing clients. As a new intern, some clients may feel uncomfortable sharing sensitive information with me and choose not to open communication. Because the client has a right to confidentiality, my goals are to build a rapport with them to develop a trusting therapeutic alliance.