ABSTRACT
Ethics codes typically can be found on professional organizations’ websites under ethics or legal and ethics. Be mindful of the date of the publication so that you are certain you have the latest draft. At this writing, the latest AAMFT ethics code went into effect July 1, 2012 (cf. https://www.aamft.org). Ethics codes are based on five fundamental ethical principles (cf. Kitchener, 2000 ): autonomy (the right of clients to make decisions for themselves), beneficence (the obligation to be helpful), nonmaleficence (the obligation to do no harm), fidelity (to keep promises), and justice (to act fairly). These principles are held within ethical theory and the interested reader is encouraged to read relevant books and articles. Further, there may be differences between personal and professional ethics that would be good for supervisors and trainees to discuss. A debate exists about ethics as a set of professional behaviors (codified duties and proscriptions) versus aspirational endeavors. We touch on aspects of this debate in this chapter.
