My Colleague post.

Ethical and Legal Considerations for Addiction Treatment: Alex Chen

What are 2 ethical standards from Principle I of the NAADAC/NCC Code of Ethics that you think are relevant to treatment planning? Explain why.

The 2 standards that I chose were the following:

1. 1.1 Client Welfare: Addiction professionals shall accept their responsibility to ensure the safety and welfare of their clients and shall act for the good of each client while exercising respect, sensitivity, and compassion. Providers shall treat each client with dignity, honor, and respect, and act in the best interest of each client (NAADAC, 2021).

The reason why I chose this standard to adhere to while creating a treatment plan is that it is the first thing that an addiction professional should keep in mind when creating a treatment plan. In Alex's case, I chose this standard because of his age. Since he is a minor, there are going to be several people involved when deciding the best treatment for him. So, it is going to be under the addiction professional's control to decide what the best interest will be for the child and which treatment plan will suit him best.

1. 1.6 Discrimination: Addiction professionals shall not practice, condone, facilitate, or collaborate with any form of discrimination against any client on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, religious or spiritual beliefs, age, gender identification, national origin, sexual orientation or expression, marital status, political affiliation, physical or mental handicap, health condition, housing status, military status, or economic status (NAADAC, 2021).

The reason why I chose this standard when determining Alex's treatment plan is that his biopsychosocial assessment covers several areas that are considered discriminatory in nature. He speaks of hate crimes. He's gay and his housing status is questionable. When creating his treatment plan, I'm going to have to take all these things into consideration so as not to offend him in any way and to ensure that I have his best interest in mind at all times.

What steps would you take to obtain informed consent and maintain confidentiality when creating a treatment plan for the service user?

When it comes to the consent and confidentiality of minors, laws vary from state to state. "In some states, a minor's parents or legal guardians may have a right to access information about the minor's addiction treatment. In other states, a minor may have to provide written consent in order for the addiction professional to disclose any information to the minor's parents or legal guardians. It is important to inform both the parents and the minor of the limits of confidentiality (Walden University, n.d.).

References

NAADAC. (2021). Code of Ethics. Naadac.org; NAADAC. https://www.naadac.org/code-of-ethicsLinks to an external site.

Walden University. (n.d.). Treatment Planning: Informed Consent and Confidentiality. https://waldenu.instructure.com/courses/74740/pages/week-6-learning-resources?module_item_id=2197027

• Respond to my colleague post above.
• Explain how a different ethical standard applies to the case they selected. Support your response with the NAADAC/NCC code of ethics.
• Suggest another step they could take to obtain informed consent and maintain confidentiality when creating a treatment plan for the service user.