LASA 2: Ethical Profile Paper

Directions:

You are to write an ethical profile paper that recognizes the formative influence of your family, heroes, and personal style on you as an ethical professional. This paper will provide a profile of you in regards to your ethical and professional practice. You will be required to include information on who you are as an ethical professional, how this course has shaped your unique ethical decision-making style, and the areas in which you feel still need further development.
Include the following four sections in your paper:

Ethical Autobiography: First, explain how you think through and determine what is "right" and "wrong" (personally and professionally) in your own daily life. Second, identify four examples of ethical behaviors and explain how your cultural heritage has shaped your values. Third, describe the nature of the four ethical behaviors you see in yourself.

Professional/Ethical Hero: First, identify an ethical "hero," an individual that has most impressed you and serves as your role model because of their professional/ethical presence (i.e., sensitivity, appropriate boundaries, and respect for privacy, ethical commitment, and ethical courage). Elaborate on his or her ethical characteristics. Discuss how this person can (or does) serve as a role model for others in the helping profession. Second, describe how this "hero" has influenced your value system. Click here to read an article on ethical hero.

Ethical Decision-Making Style: This section will articulate your implicit style in terms of ethical decision making. Although there are specific models that help facilitate ethical decision making, everyone has his or her own unique style. Taking into consideration the ethical decision-making models presented in this course, identify the style that reflects your early and ongoing experiences with moral values and issues that has been influenced and shaped by your parents, relatives, peers, and valued adults in your life, such as a teacher or coach. Use what you have written from your autobiography to supplement this discussion. In summary, explain your implicit ethical decision-making style, including how this course and your cultural heritage have served as influential factors.

Professional and Ethical Development: Ethical development is, for most, a career-long process. In the last section of your paper, please identify at least two areas discussed in this module/course where you feel you would benefit from more development. Lastly, suggest ways in which you can acquire your further development.