National Association of Social Workers

ARISE Mentors and the NASW

Although ARISE Mentors is not a member of the NASW, we as an Medicaid Agency do all we can to live by the NASW Code of Ethics as it pertains to the clientele we work with. We encourage everyone that has the privilege of working with individuals who experience intellectual/developmental disabilities to become very familiar with the standards and ethics adopted by the NASW.

Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics

Professional ethics are at the core of social work. The profession has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The NASW Code of Ethics sets forth these values, principles, and standards to guide social workers’ conduct. The Code is relevant to all social workers and social work students, regardless of their professional functions, the settings in which they work, or the populations they serve.

The NASW Code of Ethics serves six purposes:

1. The Code identifies core values on which social work’s mission is based.
2. The Code summarizes broad ethical principles that reflect the profession’s core values and establishes a set of specific ethical standards that should be used to guide social work practice.
3. The Code is designed to help social workers identify relevant considerations when professional obligations conflict or ethical uncertainties arise.
4. The Code provides ethical standards to which the general public can hold the social work profession accountable.
5. The Code socializes practitioners new to the field to social work’s mission, values, ethical principles, and ethical standards, and encourages all social workers to engage in self-care, ongoing education, and other activities to ensure their commitment to those same core features of the profession.
6. The Code articulates standards that the social work profession itself can use to assess whether social workers have engaged in unethical conduct. NASW has formal procedures to adjudicate ethics complaints filed against its members.* In subscribing to this Code, social workers are required to cooperate in its implementation, participate in NASW adjudication proceedings, and abide by any NASW disciplinary rulings or sanctions based on it.

You can go to the NASW Website and read in detail all aspects of the code of ethics.  Click this link to be taken directly to the NASW Code of Ethics.

What are the specific Code of Ethics?

Listed below are the links to each of the 6 NASW Ethical Standards:

1. Social Workers’ Ethical Responsibilities to Clients-NASW Code of Ethics: Ethical Standards

2. Social Workers’ Ethical Responsibilities to Colleagues-NASW Code of Ethics: Ethical Standards

3. Social Workers’ Ethical Responsibilities in Practice Settings-NASW Code of Ethics: Ethical Standards

4. Social Workers’ Ethical Responsibilities as Professionals-NASW Code of Ethics: Ethical Standards

5. Social Workers’ Ethical Responsibilities to the Social Work Profession-NASW Code of Ethics: Ethical Standards

6. Social Workers’ Ethical Responsibilities to the Broader Society