1. AAMFT’s Code of Ethics
Ana Ramos, Julio Davalos, Leticia Galindo, Alma Amaral
University of Phoenix
Ethics and Values
BSHS 355
Beatriz Zayas
January 2, 2014
2. Agenda
• Responsibility to Client
• Confidentiality
• Professional Competence and Integrity
• Responsibility to Students and Supervisees
• Responsibility to Research Participants
• Responsibility to the Profession
• Financial Arrangements
• Advertising
4. Responsibility to client
• Non discrimination
• Informed consent
• Multiple relationships
• Sexual intimacy with clients and
others and with former clients
and others
• Report of unethical conduct
• No furthering of own interests
• Client autonomy in decision
making
• Relationship beneficial to client
• Referrals
• Non-abandonment
• Written consent to record
• Relationship with third parties
• Electronic therapy
5. Confidentiality
• When practitioners are not allowed to disclose what they have learned
through the professional relationship
• Except when:
• When its mandatory
• When necessary if client is at harming themselves and others
• When therapist is a defendant
• Waiver has been obtained in writing
• Or court ordered
6. Professional Competence and Integrity
• Social workers must adhere to the ethical principles of integrity and
maintain a high level of professionalism, honesty, trust worthiness,
being respectful, and a sense of justice and fairness. We do this by
displaying a certain amount of sincerity and morals when working with
clients by maintaining a sense of integrity to our profession, values,
ethics, and principles.
7. Responsibility to Students and Supervisees
• When an approved supervisor agrees to mentor, the approved
supervisor assumes responsibility for overseeing the training,and also
Providing supervision, mentoring, evaluating the candidate progress,
and assisting in the candidate in making the final application for
designation.
8. Responsibility to Research Participants
• Researchers must make sure that they let their participants aware of all
procedures being done and follow all the rules within a university or
clinical setting. Furthermore, if the research project is done outside any
of those settings, regulations still need to be followed.
9. Responsibility to the Profession
• Couple and family therapists in ethical practice need measures of
accountability that meet professional standards
• Ex: Therapists are not allowed to see clients who are already seeing
another therapist, report malpractice, and give time to creating a better
society.
10. Financial Arrangements
• Before establishing a therapeutic relationship, the client and therapist
must be disclose all the financial arrangements. The client should be
informed if there is fees for cancelation of appointment.
• The process of use for collection agency if the clients failure to pay.
• The client must be informed if there is any change in fees, once the
service has begun.
11. Advertising
• Advertising has to be accurate representing the competence,
education, and experience in the advertise therapy.
• In case of any incorrect or false information the company has the
responsibility to correct the information.
