ABSTRACT
In the fi rst series of interviews recorded for the study, participants responded to hypothetical scenarios outlining several possible helping situations in which a bordered professional would be in the position of deciding whether to “tell” about her own experience of a relevant issue. These scenarios were constructed with the desire to provide openings for discussion of ethical positions or practice suggestions without the need for personal disclosure by the speaker. Each of them was designed to attend to a superfi cially different social condition (the content of the disclosure) and also to address the need to think about some of the larger issues involved in any decision to selfdisclose. Some of the issues that were built into the vignette questions were these:
Safety: Who is “safe” enough to tell the story? Who is “safe” enough to hear it? Why not stay silent? Identifi cation, risk, and rescue. Who is the story for? Politicizing/contextualizing experience. The ethics of speaking for others: Exploitation or empowerment? When is speaking out rhetorical? Moral authority of witnessing.
