ABSTRACT
Non-suicidal self-injury in children and adolescents is an area that causes anxiety on various levels for parents, school guidance counselors, teachers, loved ones, and practitioners. There are many ethical concerns for schools and agencies in regard to reporting requirements when working with children and early adolescents engaging in NSSI. There are also confidentiality and safety considerations that need to be addressed. Procedures for evaluating risk and challenges with risk assessments will be addressed, especially concerning suicide risk. The ethical implications for various professionals differ by setting and professional code of ethics. Various codes of ethics will be addressed throughout, along with ethical decision-making models to help practitioners determine the best course of action. The impact and ethical implications for these professionals in various settings will be addressed, along with reporting considerations..
Ethical concerns present in the case examples will be highlighted and examined from an ethical and legal framework in order to make the optimal decisions for treatment outcome.
