Unit rationale, description and aim
Best practice in mental health requires professionals to reflect on and develop understanding of their practice and to make sound ethical decisions in complex contexts. Reflective and ethical practice are identified as core components of contemporary professional mental health practice across a range of professional standards and guidance documents.
In this unit, students examine the principles underpinning personal and professional development and reflective practice in order to support higher-order critical thinking for professional practice. Emphasis is placed on the role of self-awareness in monitoring practice and in understanding the ways personal, professional, and organisational values and principles shape decision-making. Students engage with contemporary opinion and research on ethical practice in mental health, including issues of power and professional boundaries, cultural safety, and practitioner wellbeing. Reflective practice is examined as both a foundation for ethical decision-making and a safeguard against bias, informed by relevant ethical frameworks and professional standards.
The aim of this unit is for students to develop an in-depth understanding of reflective and ethical practice and to apply these principles within their own practice settings.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Explain principles and models underpinning reflect...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically reflect on self-awareness, values, and ...
Learning Outcome 02
Apply ethical frameworks and relevant professional...
Learning Outcome 03
Develop a sustainable reflective and ethical pract...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
Therapeutic communication and self-awareness within interpersonal relationships
- Therapeutic communication
- Self-awareness and self-acceptance in professional and interpersonal contexts
- Trust, professional boundaries and appropriate self-disclosure
- Strength, hope and resilience-informed approaches to practice
Emotional intelligence and emotional literacy in practice
- Interpersonal and therapeutic relationships
- Recognising and responding to emotions in self and others to support ethical and effective practice
- Links between emotional literacy, values, bias and decision-making
- Ethical imperatives and considerations in emotionally complex practice
Professional and personal development and reflective practice
- Principles and models of reflective practice
- Understanding and critically examining emotional responses in practice
- Monitoring, evaluation, and learning from practice experiences
- Implications of reflective practice for professional reasoning, judgement and practice
- Critical analysis of professional boundaries & relationships
- Reflective practice as a safeguard against bias
Professional ethics and ethical decision-making in mental health practice
- Ethical frameworks and ethical reasoning in complex practice situations
- Professional standards, codes, and responsibilities relevant to mental health practice
- Professional reasoning in ethically complex situations
- Power, professional boundaries, and accountable practice
- Cultural safety and cultural humility
- Ethical practice, professional wellbeing, and sustainable practice
Assessment strategy and rationale
To pass this unit, students must attempt and submit both assessment tasks, demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome, and obtain a minimum mark of 50%.
The assessment strategy is designed to support progressive development of foundational knowledge, reflective capability and ethical reasoning in mental health practice. Assessment 1 focuses on critical reflection on a practice-based event involving an ethical issue or ethical tension. Through structured reflection, students examine assumptions, values and professional responsibilities and apply an ethical framework and relevant professional standards to justify an ethical decision (LO1, LO2, LO3). Assessment 2 builds on this foundation through an ePortfolio that evidences ongoing engagement with reflective practice and the integration of learning across the unit. Students curate artefacts from their practice context and use these to develop a personal philosophy of reflective and ethical practice, demonstrating application to sustained professional judgement, wellbeing and safe practice (LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4).
Overview of assessments
Assessment 1: Critical Practice Example and Refle...
Assessment 1: Critical Practice Example and Reflection
Students will critically analyse a positive or negative practice event from their work setting that involves an ethical issue or ethical tension relevant to mental health practice. Students will use structured reflective practice to examine their assumptions, values and professional responsibilities, and apply a relevant ethical framework and professional standard(s) to justify an ethical decision and identify implications for safe and effective practice.
50%
Assessment 2: ePortfolio Students will cr...
Assessment 2: ePortfolio
Students will create an ePortfolio detailing their developing understanding and application of the theoretical and practical aspects of undertaking reflective and ethical practice. Students will include artefacts to demonstrate their involvement in one mode of reflective practice. These artefacts will be used to underpin the writing of a personal philosophy of reflective and ethical practice.
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Learning and teaching strategies utilised in this unit will support students in meeting the aim and achieving the learning outcomes relevant to this unit, as well as to the broader course learning outcomes. This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge reflective and ethical practice. Delivered as fully online, asynchronous learning allows students to learn at their own pace within the parameters of the teaching term. Weekly modules are structured around an inquiry cycle (engage, explore, apply and reflect) that guides students from key concepts and evidence to analysis of authentic scenarios. Learning is further supported through facilitated asynchronous discussion forums, weekly online drop-in sessions, and an online assessment session for each assessment task with the unit's online facilitator. The discussion forums provide students with activities that encourage students to critically discuss concepts, share practice-based examples (including from their own professional contexts), and provide constructive peer feedback. These activities are designed to build a learning community and deepen critical reflection in a supported online environment. Students receive regular and timely feedback on their learning, which includes information on their progress.