1. Proprietary
1.1. Explanatory statement: Practitioners are competent to provide psychological services that benefit clients and not harm them. This is done by understanding relevant rules, continuing professional development and foreseeing the consequences that their well being and professional decisions may have on clients. The psychologist's self interest is secondary to the welfare of clients, the public, and the standing of the profession.
1.1.1. Competence
1.1.1.1. Professional competence
1.1.1.1.1. B.1.2 (a) Kayla works as a child psychologist therefore offering a psychological service which includes the arena of perinatal loss after undertaking some reading and online professional development suggests that she may be practicing outside of her limits of competence, as it seems unlikely that she has received the sufficient competency threshold for this service.
1.1.1.1.2. B.1.2 (b) The inclusion of perinatal loss in Kayla’s domain of child psychology following her own miscarriage suggests that she may be offering the service based on her own personal experience, in place of sufficient and current professional training and as a measure of her own self interest in reaction to the lack of support she received following her own loss.
1.1.1.1.3. B.1.2 (e) There is a concern that Kayla’s experience of perinatal loss may impact on her provision of a professionally competent service to clients in the same situation, due to issues of emotional overidentification, if she has failed to deal with her own grief due to the lack of available services.
1.1.1.1.4. B.1.3 There is a risk of professional isolation as the only psychologist in town which may impede Kayla’s undertaking of professional supervision and while internet-based supervision may provide a solution, there is no evidence to indicate Kayla is accessing this form of supervision.
1.1.1.2. Professional functioning
1.1.1.2.1. The explanatory statement regarding the principle of propriety highlights the need for psychologists to be aware of the possible effects of their own mental health on their professional abilities. It does not appear that Kayla has taken as much care as required to ensure her own grief will not negatively impact the services she intends to provide her clients.
1.1.2. Professional responsibility
1.1.2.1. Kayla must abide by section B.3. to ensure she is aware of and establishes proper professional boundaries with clients. This is a serious concern living and working in a small town where she would frequently interact with clients outside of the professional space.
2. Respect
2.1. Explanatory statement: Respect for the rights (legal and moral) and dignity of people and peoples, including the right to autonomy and justice. Additionally this includes privacy, confidentiality, integrity, and acknowledging the power held as a psychologist.
2.1.1. Informed consent
2.1.1.1. A.3.3(j) Consent is to be informed by "providing any other relevant information". Regarding informed consent, it may be relevant for Kayla to provide information related to her personal experience with grief, particularly if she has not sought advice.
3. Integrity
3.1. Explanatory statement: Psychologists have good character and acknowledge and exercise appropriately their position of trust and power. They are honest, aware of their biases, limits to objectivity and avoid conflicts of interest and explotiation.
3.1.1. Communication
3.1.1.1. In concert with the principle of propriety, perhaps her recent misscaraige hampers her capacity to remain objective, especially in the face of stimulus related to her own trauma such as providing help to other women struggling with similar issues. In other words, clients will trust she is capable (as advertised), however her current misscarraige may hinder her objectivity.
3.1.1.2. Kayla's advert claims that she has “experience in the area”. This could be interpreted as having professional experience helping others with issues relating to perinatal loss. As Kayla has life experience due to her own miscarriage only, her claim could be missleading in breach of ethical standard C.2.3.a. This could also be viewed as a misrepresentation of her professional capacity. Kayla is required to amend any such miss representation, assuming that she is, or becomes aware of, such an occurrence (as per C.2.5).
3.1.1.3. Kayla's advert states that she is “uniquely well placed to work in the area of perinatal loss”. This could be viewed as implying superiority over other psychologists, breaching ethical standard C.2.3.f
3.1.2. Conflict of interest
3.1.2.1. Due to the nature of small towns, there is a strong likelihood Kayla is involved in multiple relationships. As section C.3.1 advises, if not managed correctly, this could impair her competence and effectiveness and subsequently harm her clients.