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Using the Law |
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| Posted by: | Andrew B. Israel |
| Title/Position: | Associate Professor of Social Work |
| School/Organization: | New Mexico Highlands University |
| Sent to listserv of: | SPSP, SESP, SPSSI |
| Date posted: | September 29th, 2011 |
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Colleagues:
I teach social work courses in law and ethics and also served as associate dean of New Mexico Highlands University School of Social Work between 2005 and 2010. I have long been frustrated with the way in which ethical decision making is taught to students in the mental health professions, including psychology, social work and counseling. It seems that many educators share my frustration and strive to find new and creative ways of teaching ethics and ethical decision making. In my own law and ethics courses I have tried to introduce students to everyday mental health practice decision making by aiming to accomplish the following:
(1) Presenting law and ethics as interrelated fields rather than distinct and unrelated disciplines;
(2) Avoiding a reliance on ethical codes as a first source of reference for decision making to the exclusion of all other sources -- including law -- for tackling practice problems in the field and workplace;
(3) Teaching law and ethics with a simple, direct and multidisciplinary spirit that recognizes the interrelatedness of mental health professions and offers students and practitioners a practical system for addressing everyday practice dilemmas.
In view of the foregoing, I felt compelled to write a book that attempts to introduce a methodology for teaching legal and ethical decision making in a unified manner. The result is my book, Using the Law: Practical Decision Making in Mental Health, published by Lyceum Books this year. I would like to introduce everyone to my book and encourage your consideration of book adoption for courses in which ethics, law, and social work practice decision making are key components. For that purpose, I invite everyone to visit the following link to Lyceum's Web Page featuring Using the Law:
http://lyceumbooks.com/UsingTheLaw.htm
Lyceum will be glad to accept orders for desk copies of the book. I am of course delighted to respond to questions concerning the book's contents. I'd also like to share part of a book review published recently in the Summer, 2011 edition of the New Social Worker:
"Although an abundance of inquiries on ethics have recently emerged, Andrew Israel’s new text offers significant contributions to the professional knowledge base. Relevant to students and practitioners, this accessible book is unique in that it presents common legal principles and approaches to reasoning that are intentionally useful within a variety of mental health professions and practice settings. Whereas discussions of various codes of ethics enhance the book’s portability—with appendices that include a review of standards from major mental health professions—Israel has crafted a law-based model for ethical decision-making that is easily adaptable across disciplines. Additionally, the book’s recognition of the multitude of factors that affect professionals’ actions—such as quality of training, personal values, agency protocol, professional responsibilities, community norms, regional differences, and diverse cultural experiences—offers a flexible approach to decision-making that simultaneously upholds the importance of practices informed by legal principles."
I would also like to thank everyone for the strong interest shown in my website,
http://www.mentalhealthlaw.us/
and I encourage visitors to visit the mental health law blog and post legal/ethical dilemmas they wish to discuss.
Thanks, everyone.
Andrew Israel, MSW, JD
Associate Professor
New Mexico Highlands University
School of Social Work
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