Week 6 integration question

Week 6:
Practice/micro: When is a client’s right to self-determination not the priority?

If they are at harm to their self or others. The NASW Code of Ethics says “Social workers may limit clients' right to self-determination when, in the social workers' professional judgment, clients' actions or potential actions pose a serious, foreseeable, and imminent risk to themselves or others” (NASW, 2007, 1.02). If a client informs me they are planning to hurt another person, or themselves, it is my duty and job to step in and intervene to ensure it does not happen, regardless of the client’s right to self-determination.

National Association of Social Workers. (2007). Code of Ethics, 1.02. Retrieved January 6, 2007 from http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp