AAMFT Code Of Ethics Case Study

Maintaining ethical integrity in professional practice as a marriage and family therapist
Following and Knowing the AAMFT Code of Ethics I believe that it is not enough to just know and follow the AAMFT Code of Ethics. After reading the AAMFT Code of Ethics, I found that they are just the basics of what a LMFT should follow as guidelines for their interactions with regards to their client’s wellbeing. Yes, knowing how to be ethical and maintaining credentials is important as well, but it is also key to understanding how to apply each of the codes within the AAMFT Code of Ethics into therapeutic approaches when helping clients in therapy settings. The standards that the AAMFT Code of Ethics sets in place for ethical practices a standard for

For Marriage and Family Therapists, there are different reasons why a family may attend therapy and each of the family members may have a different view on the issues that are present within the family system. What is unique about Marriage and Family Therapy is that family therapy is conducted with more than one person. When the client is more than one individual in a therapeutic relationship, it needs to be made clear in the beginning the ethical and confidentiality guidelines that will be followed. In order for each of the clients to feel safe and comfortable sharing, while also complying with regulations, it will have to be noted the information on different diagnoses charts, medical information and maintain ethical billing practices when seeing a family system that includes more than one client. An example of ethical billing would be if you see two people that are a couple, for one session, you only bill for that one session once, for the amount of time they were in the session. It is important to track the time the couple comes in and when they leave therapy. If an individual comes in high, drunk, or under the influence of another substance, depending on the situation and how much risk they pose to themselves or others, a therapist may have to involve the appropriate authorizes to avoid drunk driving, or to have that individual call someone else to come pick them up that is sober. It needs to be documented in the first sessions when the intake of the clients occur, that they sign forms indicating that if they come into a session under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they agree that a cab or responsible sober individual will pick them up within a 45 minute time frame and they will not get into their vehicle so that they do not leave the site of the session impaired. The individuals in the session need to be sober in order to make progress, other than using the correct