🚀 go-pugleaf

Scenario #3:
An academic colleague had one of her students come in to chat about
some minor problems with a required assignment in the unit. As the
conversation progressed, the student (without prompting) began to
introduce very personal material and became agitated and upset. It
required all the academic's skill and support and 2 hours to calm the
student. The academic, also a trained clinician, realised the person
has some serious issues. This student is planning to apply for a
graduate program in clinical psychology (which requires a lot of
client contact). The student has excellent marks and will likely be
accepted on academic merit.  It is assumed that the student could
handle the selection interview without displaying any pathology.
However, the ethical dilemma is that the academic concerned does not
feel that the student is stable enough to work with clients.

Key Issues:
1)  The student is disturbed and needs help. The academic has a duty
of care to this student.
2)  The student could be harmful to clients - the academic is
ethically bound to prevent this.
3)  Can the academic breach confidentiality, considering that there
is not necessarily any immediate danger to the student's possible
clients?

Action:
1) Generally, staff are nominated by applicants to write letters of
reference.  If I were the staff member I would talk with the student
about the clinical issue and how they feel I should handle it. I
would explain to the student that his/her application would be
enormously strengthened if I can say the problem is being treated
successfully.  Of course a student can always decide not to cite me
as a referee following this conversation.

Rationale:
This allows the student to know exactly what the staff members
concerns are. The staff member would be informing the selection panel
of the problem and also allowing the student to see the extent of the
problem. This also is an avenue to suggest possible treatment.


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