For your professional ethics edification
Once a month the ACPE Professional Ethics Commission (PEC) posts a couple of statements from our Code of Professional Ethics for ACPE Members. Each posting is accompanied by a brief personal reflection from a commissioner of the PEC sharing some ways this person lives these commitments*. May’s statements are
3. In relation to ACPE members:
a. Continue professional education and growth, including participation in the meetings and affairs of ACPE.
b. Avoid using knowledge, position, or professional association to secure unfair personal advantage; do not knowingly permit their services to be used by others for purposes inconsistent with the ethical standards of ACPE; or use affiliation with ACPE for purposes that are not consistent with ACPE standards.
For May, Rev. Garrett Starmer, PsyD, ACPE Certified Educator, Gig Harbor, Washington, comments:
In late March, a group of 15 Cascadia CoP members met for three days and two nights at a Retreat Center on the banks of the beautiful Puget Sound, with its towering evergreens, flowering magnolias, lush ferns, an inviting grassy area, and the glimmering waters of the Puget Sound leading the eye to the majestic Olympic Mountains in the distance. For many, it was the first in-person gathering since the advent of Covid. It enabled, too, the meeting of new colleagues and CEC’s. Informal conversations over meals and between group times, walks, and the more formal sharing of our personal and professional lives, including doing an art project together and a fun evening of sharing more light-hearted experiences, offered life-giving reconnection, rejuvenation, and renewal.
Among the Cascadia CoP colleagues attending were those elected or appointed to leadership positions, including the Accreditation, Wellness, and Professional Ethics Commissions; and the Outcomes Workgroup, the Executive Search Committee, and ACPE Board. Within the group times, the leaders had the opportunity to share what was going on within their particular leadership group as well as to answer questions. Group times and informal times also facilitated sharing the challenges of the last few years: what people lost and gained, what people learned, how they made it through, etc. Laughing together was energizing, fun, and contagious! Sharing the pain, deaths, isolation, and crying together enabled soul support that was so needed.
People became even more focused on how beneficial in-person meeting is to our personal and professional lives. We agreed that in-person meeting is essential to providing the best spiritual care, education, collaboration, and colleagueship we can, while also being foundational to staying healthy spiritually, mentally, and emotionally!
The retreat underscored the wisdom and necessity of Standard 3.a. The retreat also reminded us of the importance of colleagues and honoring our colleagues, institutions, and students by being respectful, truthful, and congruent (Standard 3.b.).
*Every situation is unique, and any member should not act based solely on the comments in the article but to base action on an independent review of the ethical standards applicable to his/her situation.