self reflection paper

Guidelines for Self-Reflection Papers

The papers should reflect understanding of the readings and your clear position of the issues. The paper should be typed and double-spaced, carefully proofread, and should give evidence of considerable thought/outside reading, and must show a development of your positions in a coherent, logical, and organized way.  Please include references/citations with your paper. This paper must be submitted as ONE Microsoft Word document.

Paper #1
(Chapters 1-6)

Consider yourself as a future counselor as you write your paper. The first paper focuses on:

1.      Ethical decision-making process with an emphasis on self-awareness and analysis of the various Codes of Ethics.

2.      Analysis of your values with implications for counseling practice, including role of cultural values in counseling.

3.      Parts 1 and 2 of Ethics in Action CD-ROM.

4.      Issues and Ethics text, Chapters 1 to 6. The central theme of questions #4 to #8 deal with value issues. For these questions your task is to examine ways your values might affect your counseling practice, either positively or negatively.  Use Chapter 3 of Issues and Ethics text (Values) as the core chapter, and also Part II of the Ethics in Action CD-ROM (Part II on values).  Focus on ways that your values would influence the manner in which you think about ethical issues and how you would resolve an ethical dilemma.

Begin each new essay on a separate page, number the question, and use the title at the top of your page, which is given in bold print below. Each essay is to be limited to two double-spaced pages.  Use page numbers.

n  1.  Steps in Making Ethical Decisions. (See Chapter 1, pages 18-22; and Part 1 of Ethics in Action CD-ROM).  Select any ONE of the cases below and demonstrate the steps you would take in dealing ethically with the situation if you were presented with the ethical dilemma involved in the case.
[Alternative: You can create your own case or ethical dilemma if you prefer]

Select one of the following: 1a (Teen Pregnancy) or 1b (The Divorce) or 1c (Promiscuous one) or 1d (The Affair)

n  1a. Teen Pregnancy
(See Ethics in Action CD-ROM, Part 1).  Put yourself in the place of Suzanne’s counselor.  Address how you’d deal with the ethical, legal, and clinical issues involved in this case if YOU were Suzanne’s counselor.    

n  1b. The Divorce
(See Ethics in Action CD-ROM, Part 2).  Put yourself in the place of Gary’s supervisor.  If you were supervising Gary, what points would you most want him to consider? What are the ethical issues involved in this vignette?

n  1c. The Promiscuous One
(See Ethics in Action CD-ROM, Part 2).  Assume you are Suzanne’s counselor.  What ethical and clinical issues would you consider in working with her? Explain clearly how your values are likely to influence your interventions?

n  1d. The Affair
(See Ethics in Action CD-ROM, Part 2).  Assume you are Natalie’s counselor. What issues would you consider in working with Natalie?  What are the ethical and clinical issues involved in this vignette? How would your values influence your interventions?

n  2.  Countertransference
Identify one form of countertransference you might struggle with and address how you would deal with this in an ethical and effective manner.
(See text Chapter 2)

n  3. Dealing with a Value Conflict
(See Chapter 3 and Ethics in Action CD-ROM).  Identify one specific value that you are likely to push, or an area where you expect to struggle because of a value conflict with a given client. Or, identify one of your core values and show how this value could either enhance or inhibit the effectiveness of counseling. Demonstrate how you might proceed to lessen the chances that you would impose your values on this client. How might you resolve a value conflict and use referral as a last option?

n  4. Ethics in Multicultural Practice.  
(See Chapter 4). Raise what you consider to be one of the most significant questions regarding the ethical aspects of multicultural practice—and then address your question.

n  5. Informed Consent
(See Chapter 5, pages 149-163).  After reading the material in the text on informed consent and reviewing the samples given, develop your own informed consent document that you would present to your clients.

n  6. Malpractice.
(See Chapter 5, pages 180-190).  Identify some of the ways you will go about decreasing the chances of getting involved in a malpractice suit.  Focus on your attitudes and actions that are likely to prevent you from malpractice actions. What guidance do the various codes of ethics provide for you in lessening a malpractice action?

n  7. Select one of the following: 7a (Confidentiality) or 7b (Duty to Warn) and to Protect.

—             7a. Confidentiality
[See Chapter 6; see also Codes of Ethics in the Helping Professions for various codes dealing with confidentiality and privacy]. After reviewing Chapter 6 and all the major ethics codes on confidentiality, raise one question that most interests you and address this questions.

—             7b. Duty to Warn and to Protect.  [See Chapter 6, pages 208-228].  Assume you are counseling a client that you have serious concerns about with respect to either danger to self (suicidal person) or danger to other (violent person).  Create a brief scenario and identify the salient legal, ethical, and clinical issues.  Assuming that you would seek consultation, what would you ask of the consult? Discuss what you would do (giving your rationale) in the scenario you present.

n  8. All Answer This Question
Not to be graded.  Self-Evaluation.

—             How would you evaluate yourself as a learner in this class to date? What are your strengths?  Areas needing work?  How much are you investing of yourself?  How do you assess your participation in class?

Suggestions for Your Self-Reflection Papers

n  To write high quality papers, it will help to show evidence that you have read the relevant material in the main textbook and that you have done the reading on each issue in question—and that you have viewed several times the Ethics in Action CD-ROM.

n  You are to develop your own position and back up these views with supporting evidence (either through your observations and experiences, or through key ideas in the readings). These are to be thoughtful and reflective papers, not merely summary of information papers!

n  Take a specific position, show why you take such a position, and then develop your viewpoints by giving reasons for the statements you make. Be creative in the way you approach this assignment.

n  The paper should be done in personal style and should reflect your study, review, and thought on given ethical and professional issues.  In both papers, do not write in global, abstract, and impersonal ways. Avoid writing about counselors in general or about counseling practice in general.  Write about you as a future counselor and about concrete issues that you have convictions about. 

n  You should know that you are not graded on your viewpoints and thoughts as such.  Instead, your grade is a function of your ability to clearly, concisely, and fully express your ideas. I am looking for depth of thinking, originality, critical evaluation, the ability to apply key ideas and themes to practical situations, independent judgment, organization, and insights into issues.  Let your papers demonstrate that you are doing the reading and reflecting necessary to produce a quality paper.

Suggestions for Writing and Criteria for Grading

n  1. Quality writing skills
Write directly and informally, yet write in Standard English.  I encourage you to use personal examples and to support your points with these examples when appropriate.  Make sure your essays reflect university-level writing skills.  Use complete sentences, develop your paragraphs, check your spelling, and put together a paper that reflects quality.  You might ask someone to proofread your paper.  It is essential that you keep strictly within the established page limitations.

n  2. Development of a theme
Look for a central theme or central message in each essay.  Make an outline, and check to see that each point in your outline pertains to your central message.

—             Create a short title for each section of your paper that conveys your basic idea.

—             State your message concisely in your opening paragraph in each of the three sections.

—             Have a solid and impactful concluding paragraph in each of the three sections.

—             The theme should be clear, concise, and specific -- rather than global and generalized.  Do not write in a general and abstract manner, or else your essays will lose a clear focus.

—             Develop your thoughts fully, concretely, and logically rather than rambling or being vague and wordy.

—             In terms of form and organization, your paper should flow well, and your points should relate to one another.  The reader should not have to struggle to discover your intended meaning.

—             Give reasons for your views rather than making unsupported statements. In taking a position, provide reasons for your position.

—             Cover a few issues or ideas well and in depth, rather than spreading yourself too thin.  For each section of the paper, narrow down your ideas so that you can convey your main theme effectively.

n  3. Use of examples
In developing your ideas, use clear examples to illustrate your point.  Draw upon personal examples, use cases, and apply ethical principles to practical work settings.  Tie your examples into the point you are making, but avoid giving too many details or getting lost in the personal example.

n  4. Creativity and depth of thinking
Write a paper that reflects your own uniqueness and ideas rather than merely giving a summary of the material in the book.

—             Do not make your papers mere summaries; rather focus on a clear position that you take on a specific question or issue.

—             Approach the material in an original way.

—             Focus on a particular issue or topic that you find personally significant.  Since you have choice in what aspect to focus on, select an aspect of a problem that will allow you to express your beliefs.

—             Show depth in expanding on your thoughts.

n  5. Integration and application
Your papers should emphasize an application of ethical principles and ethical reasoning to counseling practice.

—             Demonstrate that you know the material or the issues involved through an integration of the codes and the readings, accurate understanding of readings, critical evaluation of videos and readings, and ability to apply both readings and videos to practical situations.

—             Apply your ideas to specific populations that you expect to work with—both in counseling and non-counseling situations.  You may want to apply parts of your paper to teaching, working with the elderly, working in corrections, working with adolescents, etc.  Make your paper a personal and meaningful experience by showing how you would apply ethical reasoning to dealing with ethical dilemmas.

—             In writing about ethical issues, be sure to zero in on a specific message. Read what the question is asking and write directly to that specific question. What do you most want to convey?

—             In writing about a case, be sure to show that you can apply ethical principles and your knowledge of the ethics codes in discussing a case given in the Issues and Ethics book and the Ethics in Action CD-ROM.