Ethical Considerations of Grief for the Mental Health Helping Professional

As helping professionals, we encounter grief in every aspect of our work, even if we are not aware. Grief affects how our clients interact with their lives and their world. In order to provide the best care possible, it is essential that those in the helping professions view each encounter through a grief-informed lens while also considering ethical implications of practice.

This presentation will help participants understand grief through discussion of common misconceptions about grief, identifying physical and emotional symptoms associated with grief, and exploring positive and negative responses to grieving clients; as well as understanding compassion fatigue and vicarious grief and ways to minimize their effects on the helping professional through self-care.

Drawing from the codes of ethics of various disciplines, including social work, clinical addiction specialization, marriage and family therapy, psychology, and clinical mental health counseling, this presentation highlights ethical principles that should be considered and practiced by helping professionals. More specifically, concepts of self-determination, fidelity, cultural and religious/spiritual awareness, and self-awareness are interwoven throughout the presentation to highlight the standards by which we agree to practice.