Congratulations!
You have just got a job
at a youth supported
accommodation
service (called YAS).
Your co-workers are friendly and seem to have good
relationships with their clients.
Dave, who has been working at YAS for ages, has
been really helpful.
Your clients
John has lived at your service
for a few weeks and attends
the local school. He enjoys
bringing his friend home to
study one afternoon a week.
While John is at school, an
official letter from his school
arrives in the mail. You’re
worried that John could be
in trouble and want to help.
What will you do?
a) Open the letter to see if you can help.
b) Ask Dave what he thinks about opening the letter.
c) Give John the letter when he returns home from school.
When you open the letter,
you find John’s school
report. Mostly he’s doing
okay, but he’s failing Maths
and clearly struggling.
What will you do?
a) Put the report back in the envelope and give it to John
later.
b) Discuss John’s Maths results with Dave.
c) Tell John you are concerned about his Maths results.
d) Ring and discuss the results with the school counsellor.
The school counsellor agrees
that John needs help with
Maths and suggests
tutoring.
What will you do?
a)
b)
c)
Tell John you have read his school report and discussed with the
school counsellor, who is also concerned about his Maths results.
Then suggest tutoring.
Tell John when he returns from school, that you’ve scheduled
tutoring for his the following day.
Ask Dave what he thinks about what the counsellor suggested.
You tell John that you’ve read
his school report and that he
needs help with Maths. You
suggest tutoring. he seems
upset.
What’s gone wrong? John is
upset because :
a)
b)
c)
he doesn’t want extra homework.
he prefers to study with his friend.
he doesn’t think it’s right that you’ve opened his mail and read his
report.
DAVE:
“I know you care about what happens to our
clients but you’ve got to respect John’s
privacy. Opening his mail is a big no-no.
Respecting privacy is one of our basic human
rights. Besides which it breaches our code of
conduct on confidentiality in a big way.
I think you should talk to the boss about how
to deal with this breach of confidentiality.
John has every right to complain.”
What are human rights?
Agencies have written policies and procedures about how staff ensure client
rights to confidentiality are maintained. This might include guidelines about
what information can be shared and with whom, a process for seeking client
approval to share information and appropriate information storage systems.
Try again
DAVE:
“I know you care about what happens to
our clients but you’ve got to respect
John’s privacy. For starters, opening his
mail is a big no-no. Respecting privacy is
one of our basic human rights. Besides
which it breaches our code of conduct on
confidentiality in a big way.
John’s confidentiality was also
breached—you can’t share information
like that with the school counsellor
without his consent.
I think you should talk to the boss about
how to deal with this breach of
confidentiality. John has every right to
complain.”
Try again
You tell John that you’ve read
his school report and that he
needs help with Maths. You
suggest tutoring. He seems
upset.
What do you think has gone
wrong?
a)
b)
c)
John doesn’t want extra homework.
John prefers to study with his friend.
John objects to you opening his mail and reading his report.
“I’m not against homework!
Believe it or not, I kind of
like studying - with my
friends.”
Try again
“Yeah, I like studying with
my friends. So what?
That’s not the problem.”
Try again
“I’m p****ed off that you’ve
opened my mail. You
shouldn’t have talked about
me behind my back.”
What now?
John:
“Hey, it’s probably my school
report. School said they were
going to send it a few days ago.
Do you want to have a look?”
What will you do?
a) Read the report to see if John needs help.
b) Read it and tell John you’re going to talk with Dave about
it.
c) Ask John to read it and ask what he thinks about his
school report.
DAVE:
“I know you care about what happens
to our clients but you’ve got to
respect John’s confidentiality. I
wouldn’t share information like that
with my co-workers.”
Try again
DAVE:
“You know what?
I’d ask John what he thinks about his
school report. Get him to think about
it. Ask him what support he needs.
That way you respect his privacy and
his right to make his own decisions.”
Try again
DAVE:
“It’s great to have you as a co-worker.
I reckon John appreciates you
respecting his privacy and his rights.
Welcome on-board!”