The Four Most Common Areas in Which Peer Support Specialists (And Others Working in Healthcare) Get into Trouble in Terms of Ethics

Every certified Peer Support Specialist must agree to follow their state ethical guidelines.  These guidelines vary between states, but typically involve a number of principals, most of which sound like common sense.  It is easy to assume that you won’t have any problems avoiding ethical challenges in your work – but that is an illusion.  Working with clients is complex and you are likely to face situations in which you could find yourself unsure of what the right ethical action is.

 I would encourage you to focus your time and attention on the most common areas in which healthcare workers get into trouble. Based on the reports of legal professionals regarding healthcare workers, the most common ethical concerns in your work include the following.

1.      Are you as a Peer operating outside your role or area of competence and training? You may want to be helpful in different ways, but there are rules that define the ways in which you as a Peer Support Specialist can be helpful to your clients and what is considered outside your role and/or your training. Our clients’ welfare has to be the priority, and so we don’t want any healthcare worker providing services that don’t fit their license or their training.

 2.      Does the client understand the nature of the service you are providing, including what they can expect and what services you will not provide? This can be particularly challenging for Peer Support Specialists, as clients often don’t understand your role and training. They may ask you for help that is outside your role, and you may feel the temptation to provide it.  Don’t do it. The very person asking you for help may be the person lodging a complaint against you for providing advice or guidance that that you are not supposed to provide.

 3.      Is there a dual relationship between you as a Peer and the client, that leads that client to have a misunderstanding or creates a conflict of interest? Again, this is particularly common for Peer Support Specialists, who often have prior relationships with professionals and/or clients. You want to be able to state clearly what your legal relationship is to any client and any possible areas of dual relationship. If there is some area of confusion, you want to be able to point out what you’ve done to clarify this for the client.

 4.      Do any of your actions represent a breach of a client’s confidentiality? Healthcare privacy has become a very important issue, and clients will want to know that you’ve protected information you’ve learned about them. Casual conversations between colleagues and friends can create temptations to share client information in a way that breaks privacy and gets you into trouble. For Peer Support Specialists, clients may also want you to keep information private from the other people on your clinical team, and you’ll have to be careful that you fully understand what information is private and from whom, and that you educate your clients when necessary.

Everyone who provides services to clients in a healthcare setting has to abide by ethical guidelines.  At times, these guidelines may feel like a distraction but they are designed to ensure that we are all acting in the client’s best interest and in a way that ensures the community can trust us to be responsible in our work.   Take pride in being knowledgeable and conscientious when it comes to ethics and your clients.  It reflects your care and respect for them and for your role as a Peer.