Coun 501 Ethical Decision Making Model
Coun 501 Ethical Decision Making Model
Coun 501 Ethical Decision Making Model
Amy J. Sayler
September 3, 2020
2
In reviewing the different ethical decision making models, I found myself drawn to a
number of them. I liked aspects of many of the models, but I kept coming back to the straight
forward completeness of the Practitioner's Ethical Decision Making Model issued by the
American Counseling Association’s Center for Counseling, Policy and Research (Forester-Miller
& Davis, 2016). This model has no ambiguity. It presents concrete steps with deeper
fundamental aspects to consider at each step. This model ensures that all of the aspects
associated with an ethical decision are covered: who is the issue related to, what ethical, legal or
professional codes are applicable, what the implications of this issue are in terms of the
and an emphasis on diversity and/or cultural considerations. The model requires a complete
assessment of all possible actions, a consultation with colleagues, and a full review of all
possible consequences and outcomes for all parties involved. Then, when the best action or
actions have been been chosen, the model requires further assessment of the action to ensure
there are no new ethical considerations, the action is fair and something the counselor would be
comfortable sharing with the public, and the counselor is confident that they would recommend
the same action to another counselor in the same situation. (I found these ideas: justice, publicity
and universality, to be highly appropriate and logical.) Once the action has been implemented,
the model requires follow up to ensure the action ended up having the desired outcome and there
were no unintended consequences. The process outlined in this model is thorough and straight
forward, and if all steps are followed, I feel a counselor would be well equipped to make a
References
Forester-Miller, H., & Davis, T. E. (2016). Practitioner’s guide to ethical decision making
http://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/ethics/practioner’s-guide-to-
ethical-decision-making.pdf