Lifeblood Case Study

The lifeblood of any organization is its clients. The client, the organization, and the supervisee all need the assurance that the supervisor will act with integrity. It is imperative that clinical supervisors act with the utmost integrity. A therapist’s success is dependent on the trust that people have in his or her ethical standards. If integrity is missing, the client/therapist relationship will not be effective. According to Trull & Carter (2004),

“Although some ethicists believe the key to morality is character development, an equal number would argue that the secret to correct conduct is how one does ethics. In fact, both “being good” (character) and “doing good” (conduct) are necessary. The two elements are interdependent. Like the bow and the violin, they work together to produce the harmonious music that we call moral vision—a lifestyle of “living good.” The best word to describe the minister’s moral life is integrity, a term that is the theme of this book and the “integrating” element

They must act with utmost integrity to safeguard their reputation and their careers. After reviewing each of the three ethical issues which were related to real-life situations, it is important for the supervisor to remain professional at all times, and to be aware of his or her feelings and make the necessary adjustments if unhealthy feelings should arise. Some of the steps that a supervisor can take to ensure ethical standards are to have a clear understanding of ethical codes and standards, if unethical feelings persist, have the supervisee transferred to another supervisor, avoid nepotism at all cost to ensure fair and equitable treatment of others. The scenarios that were introduced show that it is easy to cross ethical boundaries but there are severe consequences when those lines are