Ethics & Values
Human Services is a very unique program in that we are encouraged to spend time focusing on self-reflection and self-discovery. It was not something I expected walking into my first class, but from day one we have been encouraged, pushed even, to take a deep look at ourselves and discover who we are and how we can improve ourselves not only as students, but as people. An important part of discovering who we are is outlining our personal values and investigating how those values were shaped. Ethical principles are the guidelines we use to decide what is right and what is wrong, while values are the beliefs we have based on ethics. We discover what ethical principles and values shape who we are, how we make decisions, and how we interact with others.
Before entering this major, I had not thought much about what my ethics and values were, and it was a bit difficult to open that door. Over the last couple of years, I have spent a lot of time with communities that I previously had not, and it allowed me to truly discover what my own personal values and ethics are. I have been challenged immensely, through both my classes and my outside experiences. In my first quarter of Junior Core, John Korsmo told us that we cannot learn unless we are pushed outside of our comfort zone. This worried me at first, but throughout the rest of my time in this program, I pushed my limits further and further. During my time in Junior Core, I wrote a standpoint essay about marriage equality, and was challenged to share my paper with a classmate. This experience was scary, as I try my hardest not to offend people around me, but it taught me the value of sharing, and I got to practice being ethical in the way in which I was speaking to my classmate by being respectful to her opinions. My year in Junior Core with John Korsmo challenged me to look inward and discover what I personally believed, but I was also getting to know my classmates who had different experiences from my own, and therefore had different values and ethics. These challenges have opened my eyes to new ways of life and new values and ethics that I now hold close to my heart.
My values have come not only from my life experiences, but from those around me, my peers, my professors, and my clients during my time at Service Alternatives. Through my internship with Service Alternatives, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with developmentally delayed (DD) adults; I provided in-home care as an Independent Living Specialist. This was a demographic I had never worked with before, and I never thought I wanted to, but I saw the opportunity and I decided to go for it. It was extremely scary at first, knowing that I would be dealing with their medications, finances, and appointments. I still don’t do those things for myself; I rely on my parents for a lot, so the thought of doing it for my clients made me feel uncomfortable. Upon starting my internship, I quickly realized that I needed to step out of that bubble I had put myself in. Each client had a different set of disabilities, abilities, and interests, and surprisingly to me, each client had knowledge beyond what most people thought they did. My experience working with my clients and my fellow staff members taught me a lot about how we treat those around us who appear to be worse off than other, “normal,” people. My clients were not helpless at all, but rather they were treated as children throughout their life and were not able to build the skills they wanted to. My job was not only to take care of them, but more importantly, it was to teach them whatever it was they wanted to learn. I quickly discovered that my clients were more capable than even some of my fellow staff thought they were. My job then became to advocate for the clients so they could get what they wanted and what they needed. I learned how to empower my clients, and I saw what a huge difference it made in their lives. I spent most of my time with one client in particular; he was our only in-line-of-sight client, meaning we had to keep him in our sight 24/7 (unless he was sleeping), because he had a seizure disorder and would seize often. This client required a lot of attention, not because he needed it, just because he simply wanted it. Staff members would do everything for him, because he wanted them to and he knew he could get away with it. However, after watching him for a period of time, I decided to start teaching him how to do certain things on his own. One morning when I was making him breakfast, I called him over to help me. It was clear that he had never made his own breakfast before, so I decided to start small with eggs. I showed him how to crack the egg and put it in the pan. His face lit up immediately, and he began cracking eggs himself. Over the next month, I asked him to help me cook every meal, and every meal I could see him progressing in his cooking skills.
It was then that I decided to retire the term “developmentally disabled” and adopted the term “developmentally delayed”. In Human Services Professionals and Organizational Systems (HSP 402), I made a presentation on the history of housing for DD adults. I explained to my classmates that I was using the term developmentally delayed on purpose; “disabled” means “broken”, and my clients were certainly not broken. I prefer the term “delayed” fits them much better; my clients are still able to learn new skills and have new experiences, it just takes more time for them than for others. I saw this during my time at Service Alternatives, and I began to see the value in patience and persistence, but I also began to grow ethically. Although my clients may not be aware of the meaning of disabled versus delayed, they knew that they were people just like everybody else. I knew that too, and ethically I knew that they should be treated as much like everybody else as we could.
My first real life experience with being aware of my cultural background was when I traveled to Guatemala over spring break for a mission trip. This was my first time abroad, and it was not until I got there that I started to fear being in another country. I had never experienced being a minority before, and my values and ethics did not seem to match those of the majority population. Our mission team stood out everywhere we went, and as we walked through crowded streets, we could hear murmurs of “gringos” floating around. We were the white, educated, Americans, who came to help them. The majority of my life has been spent in Washington, where I have privileges I did not think of before experiencing life in Guatemala. It’s easy when you’re home to think that the world only goes as far as you can see, and as far as you can see looks perfect, but the reality is that the world is bigger than we can see. I suddenly became aware of how unnecessarily complex life in America is, and I began to value belongings significantly less. Understanding the basics of human rights is far more valuable in helping everyone reach their full potential. My experience in Guatemala was eye opening, and it made me excited to come back to school and the Human Services program. As a shy and quiet person, I had never valued human relationships so much. Of course we learn throughout our classes how important it is to build report with our clients, but I did not take it to heart until my trip to Guatemala. Coming back to WWU, I began to value humanity significantly more; I decided then that the number one thing I value in life is love, and a little bit of care can go a long ways.
My one other experience with culture shock was when I visited Black Mesa, Arizona. I went with a mission team and was extremely excited to be visiting a Navajo reservation, although I was also afraid that they would not want us there given the history of Native Americans and white people. I was completely overwhelmed when we arrived and were greeted with open arms by the community. Our team was extremely appreciated in this community, and we were able to live alongside the natives for a week. Life on the mesa was drastically different from life at Western Washington University. Time was not a concept on the mesa, and I began to value clocks less and less. I learned the value of community, and time ceased to control my life. In Human Services Professionals and Personal Systems I wrote This I Believe where I wrote about my time on the mesa. I began to see life as a big picture instead of looking at it hour by hour. Time had been a dark cloud over my head at all times; I always thought “if there was just more time in the day…” and was always focused on what I did not have time to accomplish. Life on the mesa taught me that to-do lists are not important. Although we were there to tile a floor and build a guest house at the revival church, I learned that the more important task was to be part of a community and to support and love one another. With this in mind, I was able to spend more time building relationships and less time stressing about things that did not matter.
While on the Mesa, I had a chance to look at my ethics as well. I was not sure how to interact with people from this culture, especially given our history. However, in my time with the Mesa people, I learned that no matter who you are and where you come from, every person you interact with should be treated as any other human being you may come to interact with. In an ethical sense, this comes down to being respectful, encouraging, empowering, and kind to everyone. This sounds simple, but in practice, it may be one of the hardest ethics to uphold that I have come across yet. It was especially challenged in Program Planning where I had to work with a group to evaluate a program. Not only did I have professional ethics to abide by, but also the personal ethics described above. In the realm of professional ethics, I believe that there are many components: honesty, integrity, accountability, confidentiality, objectivity, and respectfulness. For this assignment in particular, I had to remain respectful, accountable, and keep a sense of objectivity. This was easy in a sense that I was working with an organization that helped me stay on track. However, the challenging part came when working with a group of my peers. Differing ideas and personalities caused arguments and stress levels to rise. In this situation, it was difficult to keep a level head and to remember the professional and personal ethics. The assignment was completed, but barely, and relationships were stressed in the process. Reflecting on this experience has taught me the value of personal care, which makes it easier to stick to ethics regarding teamwork.
Within my first quarter of this program, I wrote a paper titled Why Help for my Human Services Professionals and Personal Systems class. The question in this assignment was: why did you choose to join the Human Services program? I looked back on my life and all the events that lead to me coming to Western and choosing the program, and I discovered things about myself I was not fully aware of. I am a caregiver at heart; I spend my time trying to support and care for those around me, because I place high value on simplicity, patience, and respect. In our society, we get easily overwhelmed and stressed. People get stretched beyond their limits and feel as if there’s no solution. I discovered through this assignment (and it has been reinforced through my internships), that my passion is for helping people restore a sense of simplicity in their lives.
In Human Services Professionals and Personal Systems, we created a personal landscape presentation where we examined how the different systems in our life have shaped who we are at different points in our life. We focused on systems from small to large (Mesosystem, Microsystem, Exosystem, and Macrosystem) as well as the theories of Chaos Theory and Authenticity. I was forced to think about how my values and ethics have been shaped, and although that presentation was put together over a year ago, I still think back to it as my values and ethics change and build on one another. When I first put together my Landscape Portfolio, I worried about making sure I outlined all that I could; I wanted the readers to get the full picture of who I was. Now, over a year later, I realize how greatly ethics and values change over time. I am not the same person I was last year, and I will change yet again over the next year. My experiences change my perspectives and help my ethics and values grow and become more defined.
Before entering this major, I had not thought much about what my ethics and values were, and it was a bit difficult to open that door. Over the last couple of years, I have spent a lot of time with communities that I previously had not, and it allowed me to truly discover what my own personal values and ethics are. I have been challenged immensely, through both my classes and my outside experiences. In my first quarter of Junior Core, John Korsmo told us that we cannot learn unless we are pushed outside of our comfort zone. This worried me at first, but throughout the rest of my time in this program, I pushed my limits further and further. During my time in Junior Core, I wrote a standpoint essay about marriage equality, and was challenged to share my paper with a classmate. This experience was scary, as I try my hardest not to offend people around me, but it taught me the value of sharing, and I got to practice being ethical in the way in which I was speaking to my classmate by being respectful to her opinions. My year in Junior Core with John Korsmo challenged me to look inward and discover what I personally believed, but I was also getting to know my classmates who had different experiences from my own, and therefore had different values and ethics. These challenges have opened my eyes to new ways of life and new values and ethics that I now hold close to my heart.
My values have come not only from my life experiences, but from those around me, my peers, my professors, and my clients during my time at Service Alternatives. Through my internship with Service Alternatives, I had the wonderful opportunity to work with developmentally delayed (DD) adults; I provided in-home care as an Independent Living Specialist. This was a demographic I had never worked with before, and I never thought I wanted to, but I saw the opportunity and I decided to go for it. It was extremely scary at first, knowing that I would be dealing with their medications, finances, and appointments. I still don’t do those things for myself; I rely on my parents for a lot, so the thought of doing it for my clients made me feel uncomfortable. Upon starting my internship, I quickly realized that I needed to step out of that bubble I had put myself in. Each client had a different set of disabilities, abilities, and interests, and surprisingly to me, each client had knowledge beyond what most people thought they did. My experience working with my clients and my fellow staff members taught me a lot about how we treat those around us who appear to be worse off than other, “normal,” people. My clients were not helpless at all, but rather they were treated as children throughout their life and were not able to build the skills they wanted to. My job was not only to take care of them, but more importantly, it was to teach them whatever it was they wanted to learn. I quickly discovered that my clients were more capable than even some of my fellow staff thought they were. My job then became to advocate for the clients so they could get what they wanted and what they needed. I learned how to empower my clients, and I saw what a huge difference it made in their lives. I spent most of my time with one client in particular; he was our only in-line-of-sight client, meaning we had to keep him in our sight 24/7 (unless he was sleeping), because he had a seizure disorder and would seize often. This client required a lot of attention, not because he needed it, just because he simply wanted it. Staff members would do everything for him, because he wanted them to and he knew he could get away with it. However, after watching him for a period of time, I decided to start teaching him how to do certain things on his own. One morning when I was making him breakfast, I called him over to help me. It was clear that he had never made his own breakfast before, so I decided to start small with eggs. I showed him how to crack the egg and put it in the pan. His face lit up immediately, and he began cracking eggs himself. Over the next month, I asked him to help me cook every meal, and every meal I could see him progressing in his cooking skills.
It was then that I decided to retire the term “developmentally disabled” and adopted the term “developmentally delayed”. In Human Services Professionals and Organizational Systems (HSP 402), I made a presentation on the history of housing for DD adults. I explained to my classmates that I was using the term developmentally delayed on purpose; “disabled” means “broken”, and my clients were certainly not broken. I prefer the term “delayed” fits them much better; my clients are still able to learn new skills and have new experiences, it just takes more time for them than for others. I saw this during my time at Service Alternatives, and I began to see the value in patience and persistence, but I also began to grow ethically. Although my clients may not be aware of the meaning of disabled versus delayed, they knew that they were people just like everybody else. I knew that too, and ethically I knew that they should be treated as much like everybody else as we could.
My first real life experience with being aware of my cultural background was when I traveled to Guatemala over spring break for a mission trip. This was my first time abroad, and it was not until I got there that I started to fear being in another country. I had never experienced being a minority before, and my values and ethics did not seem to match those of the majority population. Our mission team stood out everywhere we went, and as we walked through crowded streets, we could hear murmurs of “gringos” floating around. We were the white, educated, Americans, who came to help them. The majority of my life has been spent in Washington, where I have privileges I did not think of before experiencing life in Guatemala. It’s easy when you’re home to think that the world only goes as far as you can see, and as far as you can see looks perfect, but the reality is that the world is bigger than we can see. I suddenly became aware of how unnecessarily complex life in America is, and I began to value belongings significantly less. Understanding the basics of human rights is far more valuable in helping everyone reach their full potential. My experience in Guatemala was eye opening, and it made me excited to come back to school and the Human Services program. As a shy and quiet person, I had never valued human relationships so much. Of course we learn throughout our classes how important it is to build report with our clients, but I did not take it to heart until my trip to Guatemala. Coming back to WWU, I began to value humanity significantly more; I decided then that the number one thing I value in life is love, and a little bit of care can go a long ways.
My one other experience with culture shock was when I visited Black Mesa, Arizona. I went with a mission team and was extremely excited to be visiting a Navajo reservation, although I was also afraid that they would not want us there given the history of Native Americans and white people. I was completely overwhelmed when we arrived and were greeted with open arms by the community. Our team was extremely appreciated in this community, and we were able to live alongside the natives for a week. Life on the mesa was drastically different from life at Western Washington University. Time was not a concept on the mesa, and I began to value clocks less and less. I learned the value of community, and time ceased to control my life. In Human Services Professionals and Personal Systems I wrote This I Believe where I wrote about my time on the mesa. I began to see life as a big picture instead of looking at it hour by hour. Time had been a dark cloud over my head at all times; I always thought “if there was just more time in the day…” and was always focused on what I did not have time to accomplish. Life on the mesa taught me that to-do lists are not important. Although we were there to tile a floor and build a guest house at the revival church, I learned that the more important task was to be part of a community and to support and love one another. With this in mind, I was able to spend more time building relationships and less time stressing about things that did not matter.
While on the Mesa, I had a chance to look at my ethics as well. I was not sure how to interact with people from this culture, especially given our history. However, in my time with the Mesa people, I learned that no matter who you are and where you come from, every person you interact with should be treated as any other human being you may come to interact with. In an ethical sense, this comes down to being respectful, encouraging, empowering, and kind to everyone. This sounds simple, but in practice, it may be one of the hardest ethics to uphold that I have come across yet. It was especially challenged in Program Planning where I had to work with a group to evaluate a program. Not only did I have professional ethics to abide by, but also the personal ethics described above. In the realm of professional ethics, I believe that there are many components: honesty, integrity, accountability, confidentiality, objectivity, and respectfulness. For this assignment in particular, I had to remain respectful, accountable, and keep a sense of objectivity. This was easy in a sense that I was working with an organization that helped me stay on track. However, the challenging part came when working with a group of my peers. Differing ideas and personalities caused arguments and stress levels to rise. In this situation, it was difficult to keep a level head and to remember the professional and personal ethics. The assignment was completed, but barely, and relationships were stressed in the process. Reflecting on this experience has taught me the value of personal care, which makes it easier to stick to ethics regarding teamwork.
Within my first quarter of this program, I wrote a paper titled Why Help for my Human Services Professionals and Personal Systems class. The question in this assignment was: why did you choose to join the Human Services program? I looked back on my life and all the events that lead to me coming to Western and choosing the program, and I discovered things about myself I was not fully aware of. I am a caregiver at heart; I spend my time trying to support and care for those around me, because I place high value on simplicity, patience, and respect. In our society, we get easily overwhelmed and stressed. People get stretched beyond their limits and feel as if there’s no solution. I discovered through this assignment (and it has been reinforced through my internships), that my passion is for helping people restore a sense of simplicity in their lives.
In Human Services Professionals and Personal Systems, we created a personal landscape presentation where we examined how the different systems in our life have shaped who we are at different points in our life. We focused on systems from small to large (Mesosystem, Microsystem, Exosystem, and Macrosystem) as well as the theories of Chaos Theory and Authenticity. I was forced to think about how my values and ethics have been shaped, and although that presentation was put together over a year ago, I still think back to it as my values and ethics change and build on one another. When I first put together my Landscape Portfolio, I worried about making sure I outlined all that I could; I wanted the readers to get the full picture of who I was. Now, over a year later, I realize how greatly ethics and values change over time. I am not the same person I was last year, and I will change yet again over the next year. My experiences change my perspectives and help my ethics and values grow and become more defined.