Training

CODE OF ETHICS

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INTRODUCTION

This Code of Ethics supersedes and nullifies any prior agreements, written or verbal, made between Hellerwork International and any individual and/or Practitioner. It may be amended as necessary with a majority vote of the HWI Board of Directors.

The purpose of the Code of Ethics is to establish and maintain professional standards of conduct for Hellerwork Practitioners, which will effectively inform and protect Practitioners, clients, colleagues and others.

Ethical standards comprise such values as integrity, competence, confidentiality and responsibility. The Practitioner shall bring mindfulness to their work and recognize and acknowledge that personal choices and actions can result in conflict and/or harm, however unintended. These choices or actions have consequences and/or repercussions. Therefore, the Practitioner, in assenting to this Code of Ethics, accepts their personal and professional responsibility to clients, colleagues, HWI, and society. This Code of Ethics expresses ethical principles and provides guidelines for the practise of HELLERWORK. Although the code cannot resolve all ethical issues, it does provide a framework for addressing ethical and practise-related conflicts should they arise.

THE NATURE OF HELLERWORK

HELLERWORK is based on the assumption that every person is innately healthy. HELLERWORK educates and empowers individuals through bodywork, dialogue, and movement awareness. HELLERWORK is a system of somatic education and structural integration and bodywork which is based on the inseparability of body, mind and spirit.

MATTERS OF ETHICAL CONCERN

1. Responsibility to the client.
2. Responsibility to colleagues and the profession.
3. Responsibility to self.
4. Responsibility to research and publication.

1. RESPONSIBILITY TO THE CLIENT

• The Practitioner shall respect the client’s right to privacy and preserve the confidentiality of information obtained in the course of professional service. Confidential information shall be shared with others only with the informed consent of the client.

• The Practitioner shall always fill out a client intake form and keep accurate records of their sessions with clients. The client is to be provided with adequate information about the nature of HELLERWORK.

• The Practitioner shall recognise the dignity of the person and avoid discrimination on the basis of race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, social class, age, disability, religion or political beliefs.

• The Practitioner shall not impose their opinions, prejudices, or personal preferences of any kind on the client.

• The Practitioner shall maintain an appropriately private and clean office space, free from interruptions and distractions. This environment and setting shall be one where the client can safely experience both physical and emotional release.
CODE OF ETHICS
Continued

1. RESPONSIBILITY TO THE CLIENT Continued

• The Practitioner has the right to refuse services to the client if the process of HELLERWORK is contraindicated. This contraindication may be a medical, mental or emotional one, and includes, but is not limited to: the client being under the influence of any substance (legal, illicit, or prescribed or not) that may diminish or impair their judgement, their ability to accurately report physical experience (i.e. discomfort), or their ability to fully participate in the session.

• The Practitioner shall, under no circumstance, offer their services when under the influence of alcohol, illicit drugs, or medication (prescribed or not), which may impair or diminish their judgement and/or ability to fully participate in a session.

• The Practitioner shall acknowledge the limits of their competence, and respectful of their own health, well-being and self esteem, refer the client to others when this proves necessary or desirable.

• The Practitioner is responsible for maintaining appropriate boundaries with the client. No interaction between practitioner and client which is soliciting of or engaging in sexual behaviour is ever a valid form of therapy or assistance.

2. RESPONSIBILITY TO COLLEAGUES & THE PROFESSION

• The Practitioner has a responsibility to relate to colleagues with integrity, respect, courtesy, fairness and good faith.

• The Practitioner shall refrain from making unfounded statements that may damage the reputation of their Hellerwork colleagues, or the reputation of other modalities, or their Practitioners.

• The Practitioner shall promote co-operation with colleagues to further professional interests and concerns.

• The Practitioner is expected to respect professional confidences about the clients of colleagues.

• The Practitioner shall advise anyone having knowledge regarding inappropriate or unethical conduct by another practitioner, to submit a written complaint to the Ethics Committee of the Hellerwork International Board of Directors.

• The Practitioner shall not solicit the clients of other colleagues, nor attempt to obtain clients by inflated or misleading claims, nor by self-laudatory statements, nor by statements that imply the one Practitioner has skills that are superior to those of another Practitioner.

• The Practitioner is expected to follow professional business etiquette and practise.

• The Practitioner will not sign or issue a certificate, report or similar document that contains false information.

• The Practitioner shall not endorse equipment or manufactured goods of any kind.

3. RESPONSIBILITY TO SELF

• The Practitioner shall ensure that their skills and knowledge are kept up to date. They shall maintain a critical response to new knowledge.

• The Practitioner is expected to take responsibility for their own emotional, mental and physical health. The Practitioner shall acknowledge that there are limits to the service they can provide, and for their own protection and that of clients, the Practitioner shall decide whether they can take on any particular client. Respect for their own health and self esteem shall be maintained.

4. RESPONSIBILITY TO RESEARCH & PUBLICATION

• The Practitioner shall submit their research proposals done in the name of HELLERWORK to the Hellerwork International Board of Directors for review.

• The Practitioner shall ensure that any research activities carried out by them (or by others under their supervision) meet the appropriate scientific standards of competency and sensitivity to the welfare and dignity of participants.

• The Practitioner is expected to be accurate and objective in reporting data or information. Their public comments as Hellerwork Practitioners shall be restricted to areas of practise in which they have appropriate knowledge. When reporting research findings, the Practitioner has a responsibility to include relevant details of research findings that may modify or cast doubt upon the interpretation of the evidence provided.

• The Practitioner shall obtain the informed consent of participants except in situations where an exception can be justified by the research methodology.

• Informed consent means agreement to participate in the research, or agreement by those authorised to represent the interests of any person judged to be incapable of giving informed consent.

Informed Consent includes, but is not limited to:

• Being informed of the purpose, nature and procedures of the research;

• Being informed of any research procedures that might have harmful effects on them or any other test subjects (i.e. persons, animals, or the environment)

• Being informed of the right to withdraw from a research project at any stage, and if they have been paid to participate, the conditions of withdrawal;

• Being informed of the right to know the use to which the data may be put and of the outcome of the study.

• The Practitioner is expected to take reasonable steps to correct any misleading or incorrect reports related to their work, and not to make excessive or exaggerated claims for their research findings of professional activities.

• In any publication the Practitioner shall accurately acknowledge sources of information and ideas, and give appropriate credit to contributions made by individuals and organisations.

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