I DESIRE MERCY, NOT SACRIFICE: USING MATTHEW 9 TO TEACH SOCIAL WORK ETHICS

Stephen N Baldridge

Abilene Christian University

IN THE BEGINNING . . . .

STEP 1: THE SERMON

What does this have to do with social work? What are some of the things we do as social

workers (students) that “make us better social workers?”

STEP 2: THE CONVERSATION

To be a social worker, do you have go be a “good person?”

As social workers, what do we owe people in general, not just our clients?

What is it about people that make us want to help them?

Given all of these things . . . what is the point of the code of ethics? Obligation, or something else?

STEP 3: THE CODE

If people are the #1 priority, how do we treat them? Divide into groups Each group creates 2-3 guidelines to follow when

dealing with clients if we truly care for them as humans, not just clients.

Be specific, think of details

STEP 3: THE CODE (CONT . . .)

STEP 4: THE ACTUAL CODE

Go through the NASW Code of Ethics Compare and contrast

STEP 5: THE DILEMMAS

What could trip you up? Facebook Disagreements? Christianity

Ethical dilemmas “Uncommon” dilemmas

What would you do?

STUDENT PERCEPTIONS

After class, please rate your understanding of: What the NASW Code of Ethics is: 9.30 Purpose of the Code of Ethics: 9.20

Rate the usefulness of the activities: The sermon: 9.33 What Would You Do videos: 9.63

STUDENT PERCEPTIONS

What was the most useful/meaningful part of class? “The examples and videos really helped me in

understanding the behaviors of our society, in seeing how most people react in certain circumstances and what we need to do in order to change the way of thinking.”

“Creating our own ethics” “Going through scenarios that could lead to

ethical dilemmas, which would lead us to think about our own biases and how our bias could conflict with the code of ethics.”

“The sermon I think was the best way to understand how we should be treating people.”

STUDENT PERCEPTIONS

What would you change/what did you not like about the class? “ask students to go through the code of ethics,

find something that goes against their values or that they don't understand and discuss what they would do if faced with such a situation as a social worker.”

“Building our own code of ethics”

WHAT’S THE POINT?