CASE STUDY: JAMIE Erin Dailey

Chelsea Benevides
 ETHICAL CASE SCENARIO: JAMIE
“You are currently working with a student, Jaime, who was referred to you based on failing
grades. You and Jaime have met multiple times and in the last meeting it was mentioned that
Jaime was “feeling like cutting again.” You had no knowledge that there was a previous
history of cutting and begin to ask questions about this history. You learn that Jaime’s parents
were aware of their child’s history of cutting and that Jaime had seen a therapist but was no
longer seeing one. Jaime’s parents believed that the cutting “phase” was over and no longer
spoke on the subject. Currently, Jaime is overwhelmed with school and is having problems with
a current group of friends. In fact, there have been a few incidents within one particular class
where Jaime hints of behavior bordering on bullying. Jaime hesitates to give you any details.
There is a Student Study Team (SST) scheduled for Jaime’s parents, teachers, and administrator
for next week. You will be asked to speak about what is going on with Jaime. What do you
plan on saying and how would you handle this situation?”
ETHICAL DECISION MAKING MODEL

•Identify problem
•Apply ACSA Code of Ethics
•Determine nature and dimensions of dilemma
•Generate potential courses of action
•Consider potential consequences of all options
•Evaluate selected course of action
•Implement course of action

Holly Forester-Miller and Thomas David, (1996)

IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM
Jamie:
•Failing grades
•Previous self-harm history (we had no prior knowledge)
•Overwhelmed with school
•Bullying behavior
•Parents terminated prior therapy
•Hesitant to speak with us about her underlying issues
APPLY THE ACA AND ASCA CODE OF ETHICS
We chose codes related to:
• Foreseeable harm and our duty to report
• Acting in loco parentis to protect Jamie
• Reporting to appropriate authorities/parents/administration
• Advocate to ensure Jamie’s safety
• Breaching confidentiality in regards to her self harm
DETERMINE THE NATURE AND DIMENSIONS OF THE DILEMMA

• Beneficence: Counselor’s responsibility to contribute to welfare of the client (do

good, be proactive, and prevent harm when possible)*
• Nonmaleficence: Not causing harm to others. Above all, do no harm.
**Most critical**

Forester-Miller, H. Rubenstein, R.L. (1992). Group Counseling: Ethics and Professional Issues. In D. Capuzzi &
D.R. Gross (Eds.) Introduction to Group Counseling (307-323). Denver, Co: Love Publishing Co.
GENERATE POTENTIAL COURSES OF ACTION
1) Ask Jamie if she has a plan to end her life
2) Ask Jamie proceeding questions
3) Schedule an SST meeting & refer her parents to an outside therapist
4) Schedule weekly meetings with Jamie
5) Implement parent information night regarding self-harm
CONSIDER POTENTIAL CONSEQUENCES OF ALL OPTIONS AND
DETERMINE COURSES OF ACTION
1) Jamie could be closed off and dismissive with answering our questions
2) “ ”
3) Jamie’s parents can refuse to send her back to therapy
4) Techniques may not be helpful due to possibility of her not being comfortable
5) Jamie’s parents could not attend the parent night
EVALUATE COURSES OF ACTION
• Test of justice

•Test of publicity

•Test of universality
IMPLEMENT COURSES OF ACTION
“It is important to realize that different professionals may implement different
courses of action in the same situation. There is rarely one right answer to a
complex ethical dilemma”
(Forester-Miller & Davis, 1996).
• Jamie stated she did not have plans and did not want to end her life
• During SST meeting, her parents agreed that outside therapy was needed for Jamie and will
contact one of our offered therapists
• Jamie was willing to cooperate with our weekly meetings and is open to doing a journaling
technique
• Parent information night: Overall turnout of parents was a success to make Jamie’s parents feel at
ease about suggested topic
**We chose to implement all of our courses of action because they all held such high importance in
sequencing in order to assist Jamie in the safest way possible**
EXAMPLE

Cheo Website

Cheo (2010, July). What you need to know about helping children and youth with self-harm behaviors
information for parents and caregivers. Retrieved from
www.cheo.on.ca/uploads/Self%20Harm/Self-Harm.pdf
REFERENCES
Cheo (2010, July). What you need to know about helping children and youth with self-harm behaviors
information for parents and caregivers. Retrieved from
www.cheo.on.ca/uploads/Self%20Harm/Self-Harm.pdf

Forester-Miller, H. Rubenstein, R.L. (1992). Group Counseling: Ethics and Professional

Issues. In D. Capuzzi & D.R. Gross (Eds.) Introduction to Group Counseling (307- 323). Denver, Co: Love
Publishing Co.

Forester-Miller, H., & Davis, T. (1996). A practitioner’s guide to ethical decision making.
Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.