For the second assignment in this course, you are required to write a 10-12 page essay
response to an ethics question selected by your professor. The question will focus on a
particular scenario chosen from a pool of case vignettes written by the MFT faculty. The
question and your response have three primary components:
Case Scenario This component will be a written description of a scenario involving an ethical
dilemma. This scenario will be a specific example of a clinical situation that you will use as the
focus of your essay. You can add information to the scenario to further refine the context of
your response if needed. Below is the scenario:
Case Scenario: The Great Gift
For the last six months you have been working with an 18-year-old male client named Brian who
was originally referred to you by a former client, Katie, who is a friend of Brians. Brian was
actively suicidal at the time, unbeknownst to anyone but Katie. She thought he had been acting odd
and stand-offish, but decided to visit him one night and found him drinking in his apartment with a
revolver on his pillow. He would not go to the emergency room, but did agree to go with Katie to
an initial appointment with you. With your help and a clear safety plan, Brian has made great
progress through therapy and has not had suicidal thoughts for the past three months. He is
enjoying school, works a part time job and reports that he feels that he can live a normal life
now. He openly expresses his gratitude to you for being there to help him in his time of crisis and
he is now ready to terminate your weekly sessions.
Around this same time, following a session with a different client, you meet an unexpected stranger
in your waiting room. The man introduces himself as Brians father and extends his hand in
greeting. After the cordial greeting, the father becomes somewhat emotional and thanks you, on
behalf of himself and his wife for saving our son. He reports that Brian had confided in them
the previous weekend that he had been suicidal in the recent past but that you had helped him to
recover and get his life back on track. After a brief conversation, the father points to a small box
on the table and mentions that he has brought you something to show his appreciation. You reach
for the box and try to politely decline, but he is adamant about the gift and opens the box to reveal a
set of keys. He asks you to join him briefly outside and as you step outside, he reveals a brand new,
fully loaded BMW sedan. He informs you that he is a BMW dealer and he cannot accept No as
an answer to his gift. He refers to the car as a small token of gratitude and mentions that
bringing our son back to us means everything and the car is a small thing in comparison. He
shakes your hand again and turns to leave indicating that he does not want to take any more of your time.
Broad Context For this component, you will be asked to provide a rich and integrative
description of the broad context regarding the topic of the ethics question. To do so, you will
be asked to provide a brief review of literature on the specific ethical topic as you frame it based
on the scenario, integrating content from at least 10 peer-reviewed articles. Whenever
possible, the articles that you select should come primarily from the MFT literature. Related
literature from other disciplines can be used, if needed.
Specific Response In light of the broad context for the selected ethical topic, your specific
response will be a detailed evaluative response to the specifics posed by the scenario. Based on
the case scenario, the broad context that you have written about, the AAMFT Code of ethics,
and your personal approach to ethics as a professional, you will be asked to make a decision,
describe how you arrived at that decision (your decision-making model) and explain how you
would respond to the proposed ethical dilemma. The final decision is less important than the
description of the process you engaged in to arrive at it.
Paper Length
The total paper must still be at least 10 pages in length and must not exceed 12 pages. There
is an expectation that the paper must be within 10-12 pages, but additional space is allowed if
you feel it is warranted and you can convince your professor of the need. The absolute
maximum length would be 15 pages. Be sure to incorporate information from scholarly, peer reviewed sources (10 minimum).
