Creating A Climate of Ethical Choices in the Bereavement Profession
Overview
This micro-certificate program will introduce the foundations of ethical thinking and will review the different perspectives and rationale for ethical decision-making in the bereavement sector setting.
Participants will be introduced to ethical theories, personal ethics, professional codes of ethics and ethical considerations for the bereavement professional. You will explore how to think critically and apply general ethical principles to situations through recorded presentations and case studies.
This content will provide participants with the basis for developing ethical guidelines for practice which will enable them to evaluate their own professional expertise and limitations and inform their ongoing professional development planning.
There are seven sessions in this course. Each session is available individually and qualifies for 1 hour of continuing education credit in category A. The series is available as package at a reduce rate.
Upon completion of all seven sessions, candidates wishing to receive the "Bereavement Sector Ethics Certification" micro-credential must complete the certification exam for an additional fee.
Presenter 
Jane Ann has written two Professional Ethics Textbooks, The Right Choice: Making Ethical Decisions on the Job and Ethics in Action: Making Ethical Decisions in Your Daily Life used in colleges across Canada. She has taught professional ethics at the college level for over a decade, as well as teaching corporate ethics through Conestoga College's corporate training department for many years. She has spoken and offered workshops at numerous conferences across North America and Internationally as well as offering hands-on workshops. Jane Ann has her degree in Adult Education, as well as a B.A. and M.A. in English and Communications.
The ancient Greeks called ethics “the practical philosophy” because of its immediate relevance in our everyday lives. In this introductory workshop we will discuss why it is important to talk about ethics, where our notions of right and wrong come from, and how we develop greater moral understanding, with a focus on the unique nature of the bereavement professional.
Session 2 – Ethical Theory: Religion and Reason (1 hour recording)
Why should I “do the right thing”? What’s in it for me? And who’s to judge what is right or wrong anyway? Aren’t right and wrong relative? Ethical theorists have been grappling with these questions for centuries and their answers may surprise you. In this session we’ll explore the early Western theories and what they have to say about personal and professional behaviour, with examples that focus on the bereavement profession.
Session 3 - Conference Presentation: Voices From the Past; Messages For the Present
Humans have been debating ethical behaviour since the first group decided to share a cave. A lot has changed, but the question, "How should we behave toward each other?" is still vitally important. In this session we will examine Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics, a model that defines to this day ethical business and leadership practices, and how to put it into action in the bereavement profession. We will discuss questions such as, what are my obligations to my employees/employer and what are my obligations to my clients? Is it my business to make money or to help people, and how can I ethically do both? We will also examine Social Contract Theory and the question, “How do I balance my individual rights and personal gain against my obligations to society and to others?”
(This session will include Aristotle’s virtue ethics and ethical business model, still the standard used today, and social contract theory, which explores where our obligations to our society and our individual rights meet.)
Session 4 – Ethical Theory: Principles and Consequences (1 hour recording)
How do I know whether what’s good for my business is also good for my clients? How do I juggle what’s beneficial for me against what’s beneficial for others? How do I determine whether my business practices are substantively fair to all my employees despite their different needs,
abilities and circumstances? This session will include principle-based ethics and consequence-based ethics, how they differ and how they can be used together to create responsible, caring business practices. We will also discuss feminist ethics and substantive fairness versus equal treatment.
Session 5 – Resolving Ethical issues – Part 1 (1 hour recording)
What do I do when following an ethical principle I believe in is likely to produce a negative consequence for my employee/employer or for a client? What’s the difference between a rationalization and a good, ethical reason to set aside a principle? In this session we will look at the three different types of ethical problems, and how to recognize them. We will do an in-depth examination of the first two types and how they can be resolved. Examples will be taken from the bereavement sector.
Session 6 – Resolving Ethical Dilemmas – Part 2 (1 hour recording)
What do I do if there is no one right course of action? If I genuinely don’t know what the ethical thing to do in this situation is? Whatever I do, someone will be harmed, or some important principle will be broken. How do I know what the best course of action is when there is no perfect answer? In this section we will discuss how to find the most right or least wrong action, and how to come up with a solution to an ethical dilemma that you can live with and can justify. A step-by-step resolution model will be demonstrated using examples taken from the bereavement sector.
Session 7 – Putting it all together: Creating an Ethical Business Action Plan (1 hour recording)
How do I actively create a climate of ethical behaviour and practices in my workplace? How can I demonstrate the importance of ethics as a leader in my industry and bring everyone in my workplace up to the level of being consciously ethical? In this session we will discuss creating an action plan for individuals and for businesses, that will include how to write a personal or professional code of ethics, achieving buy-in from colleagues and employees, incorporating ethical resolution strategies and maintaining a consciously ethical culture.