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Describe and analyze a situation you witnessed or directly experienced involving an ethical
dilemma during your practicum. What was your assessment of the situation, how did you
respond, what was your decision-making process in determining your response and what
were the consequences of the response? Based on the ethical dilemma you described above,
discuss any conflicts you experienced between your personal values and the NASW Code of
Ethics (please make sure you protect the confidentiality of specific individuals/agencies in
your response).
I am placed at Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC) and I share an office with

another student from the social work program. We have a door to our office and each of us has

our own cubicle within it, but this still has posed an ethical dilemma. We each have our own

schedules and meet with students periodically. The week we began meeting with students is

when I first became hyper-aware of how the student’s confidentiality is at risk. If we are both

meeting with students at the same time, the other student could hear what my student is telling

me and therefore breach confidentiality.

The National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics discusses the importance of

confidentiality in Standard 1.07 Privacy and Confidentiality (2017). However, we were told by

our supervisors that this office has been used by many people over the years. With our

colleagues and supervisors there to guide and teach us, it made it very difficult to know what to

do. It did not feel like I was going to be “respect[ing the] clients' right to privacy” (National

Association of Social Workers, 2017). If I was doing that, I would not put them in a space that

allows other students to hear their stories. However, I also am here to learn from my supervisors

and colleagues, not to question how they may practice. Especially since many of my colleagues

are not social workers, I personally wanted to ensure I was respecting their professions while still

upholding my own.

I decided to bring this dilemma up with the other field student in my office to see if we

could come up with our own compromise to then discuss with our supervisor. We ended up
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coming to the conclusion that we would share when we schedule student meetings in order to

avoid confidentiality issues by only having one student present at a time. This allowed us to keep

the space given to us, prevented us from bringing issues up with BRCC as a whole, and allowed

us to stick to the NASW code of ethics as well as our personal values. However, in order to make

sure I was using it as a learning experience, I then discussed our decision with my supervisor.

She agreed that it is important to keep student’s information confidential and I learned that she

has been bringing the issue of confidentiality up with the Success Advisors ever since she joined

BRCC. According to her experience, things have improved and she hopes that this is no longer

something to be questioned in years to come.

However, my other colleagues have not understood in the same way my supervisor had.

Sometimes they will make appointments for us if they are meeting with a student who could

benefit from meeting with one of us. The issue with this is that they do not know both of our

schedules because we are not in the official appointment system. Therefore, we are still at a

slight risk of us having meetings at the same time. When I realized this, I immediately began

trying to think of a backup office space that I could use. I ended up asking our Disability

Services coordinator if I could meet with students in her testing rooms. She has two and is rarely

using both at the same time. She completely understood and we decided I would always give her

24-hour notice and so far I have only needed this once.

By thinking through other possible outcomes that our space and schedule could create,

we were able to ensure students will be in a confident and respectful space. I was also able to still

use the offices provided and use it as a learning experience that I discussed at my supervisory

meetings.
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References

National Association of Social Workers. (2017). ​Code of Ethics.​ Retrieved from

https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English