FSW 116 - The New Reality of Ethics and Social Work: What we need to know

Course Description

The field of ethics and ethical decision-making and dilemmas is one of ambiguity and often little clarity. In fact, people often worry they do not know what an ethical dilemma is – let alone how to handle one.

This can be a challenge when a social worker is faced with decisions to be made, advice to be given, actions to be taken for the health and welfare of a client or client system. Following social work codes of ethics and values can be of some assistance but often does not give enough needed guidance. This has been further complicated lately by the experience all human beings have had with the pandemic.

How can we utilize the experience of the past almost 2 years to deepen our understanding of the role of ethics in our life and use this knowledge to improve our work? Join the conversation for an invigorating discussion in this half-day workshop.

Instructor

Kerry Bowman, PhD, is s Canadian bioethicist and conservationist. He is the clinical ethicist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital. He also holds academic appointments with the University of Toronto. He follows a broad range of bio-ethical issues, including many aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for Canada to be a global leader in pandemic response, the ethics of vaccine passports, and more.

Course Details

By completion of this event, participants will:

• Learn foundational information about what ethics really is and how it guides decision-making
• Understand how applying ethics to all elements of our work improves our practice and deepens our thinking
• Consider how the pandemic has significantly changed our view of ethics – pushing us further from individual free choice toward more collective decisions