Section four - Ethical considerations
The Social Response Cycle resource

Previously, we recognised that enterprise and therapy can seem as unlikely a match as a square hole and a round peg.听

We considered the overlap between the two professional frames and the missing pieces needed for a good fit to be possible. In Section听one听we focused this examination on the personal attributes, skills and attitudes needed for each professional frame.听

In this section, we'll review the ethical tensions that can arise when we try to work across the domains of therapy and entrepreneurism. We'll refer to the 麻豆原创 Ethical Framework听and try to identify if there are any gaps in the framework for therapists working as entrepreneurs.

This short section will refer to the ethical issues interwoven into previous sections. It's not intended to provide an exhaustive list of possible ethical tensions but to offer a starting point and an orientation for thinking about and resolving them.听

Here Beverley describes how overriding tension between therapy and entrepreneurism is the tension between our clients鈥� inner and outer worlds.

Download the transcript for Ethical tensions (Word file)

Examples of ethical tensions

Here are some听examples of ethical tensions听in social action projects not covered by many current ethical guidelines:

• The balance between care for workers and the care for clients 鈥� who are the ultimate beneficiaries?
• Working with people whose social contexts (their outer worlds) seem hopeless. How do we deal with our sense of inadequacy in the light of current social injustices? How do we respond ethically to the desire 鈥渢o be human鈥� in the face of insufficient support systems?
• How do we take social action and remain accountable?
• What is the ethical responsibility of a social action project to form an organisational culture which results in compassion satisfaction rather than compassion fatigue?
• How are resources and their management an ethical issue? Saying Yes is sometimes easier than saying No, but is it fair? What is the ethical approach to resource distribution and management? How do you make the resources work in the fairest way possible for the maximum number of people?
• What is the project鈥檚 ethical responsibility in terms of funding? Is it alright for a project to raise some funds and to allow the funds to run out without having a strategy of sustainable funding which is actioned, well before the money comes to an end?

The family therapist John Byng-Hall referred to the consequences of family roles being upended as 鈥渋ronic鈥� (2008). The consequences of upended and ruptured boundaries in social action projects can also be ironic. They include:

• A project gets in the way and ironically make things more difficult for a beneficiary to access adequate information and support.
• Actions are taken based on subjective views, beliefs, needs 鈥� whether someone or something is deemed worthy.
• A project tries to Rescue, becomes perceived as the Persecutor and feels like the Victim in the Drama Triangle (Karpman, 1986).
• Immediate and individual needs are addressed but potentially to the detriment of the collective/community.
• Every problem is treated like a crisis.
• The project loses a sense of accountability
• Fairness and equity may be impacted negatively.

Here we explore the decision-making processes of deciding to work with a particular group.

Read the following passage and consider the questions.

• which part of the 麻豆原创 Ethical Framework听is听being听illustrated听here?
• how do you think the 麻豆原创 Ethical Framework听applies to this decision?
• there are many aspects of the Framework which could have influenced the decision taken in this extract.听The principle of 鈥�Non-maleficence: a commitment to avoiding harm to the client鈥� is certainly one that stands out.听Are there any ethical issues here that are not covered by the 麻豆原创 Ethical Framework?

Here is a case example and possible solution to help you explore the ethical considerations in relation to the Social Response Cycle.

Consider the following questions in relation to the case study, examining the scenario from an ethical perspective.

You may wish to pause the video between questions to think about your response.