Instructor:

 

Alesha Perkins is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Virginia and North Carolina and a Certified Case Manager. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and her Master of Social Work from the University of Central Florida. Alesha has over 18 years of experience in the social work field with vast knowledge in medical social work, child protective services, case management, mental health and substance abuse counseling. Ten years ago she began her instructional career providing ethics trainings to dialysis providers, and since then has created and facilitated numerous trainings for mental health and medical professionals. She is an advocate for eliminating mental health disparities and provides education to promote mental health awareness in minority communities. Alesha has worked several years as a Clinical Director for a mental health agency. She currently is a Program Manager for a health insurance provider, an instructor for Perkins Medical Services which is family-owned, and provides clinical supervision. 

 

Alesha Perkins Teaches Social Workers How to “Do the Right Thing” in New Course

After Alesha Perkins, CCM, MSW, LCSW, experienced an unethical incident at work, she decided to view the situation not as a failure but as “a learning lesson that shaped my career, how I view ethics, and its importance.”  

She discusses the incident in NASW Virginia’s new virtual course, “Do the Right Thing,” which she will teach November 6 from 9 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Perkins approaches the class with an eye toward practical application, starting with her first question: “Why do you do what you do?”—a query to help social workers “identify the driving force behind the decisions they make.” She hopes attendees “will take away the importance of putting the client in the forefront when making decisions, keeping in mind the impact it will have on the client, looking at the bigger picture, and setting aside their own personal beliefs or views.”

The course also covers how to use the NASW Code of Ethics for practical decision making and debunks common misconceptions. “It’s important to always review the NASW Code of Ethics when faced with an ethical dilemma, since it is a guide to follow, and without referencing it, your actions may not be aligned with [it], which means you may be in violation,” she says. “In my experience, people sometimes skip this step and have either forgotten or are making decisions swiftly without doing their research.

“Some ethical dilemmas have gray areas,” she acknowledges, “and the Code of Ethics may not provide a clear-cut answer, but that is when it is important to rely on other resources such ethical decision-making models that I also discuss in this course.” 

Perkins developed a strong desire to train others about professional ethics while working 10 years ago for an End-Stage Renal Disease Network that oversaw Medicare-certified dialysis clinics in three states. Perkins handled all patient complaints, most of them pertaining staff unprofessionalism and ethics.

“I would provide mandatory trainings to dialysis staff in areas where we received the most complaints, and I titled it ‘Do the Right Thing!’ It’s a simple concept, but people struggle with this in general,” she says. For instance, her trainings revealed that staff sometimes searched for shortcuts or were not as diligent in their jobs due to being overworked, unappreciated, underskilled, or complacent—all of which significantly impacted the quality of care provided to their patients. 

Later, as clinical director for a mental health agency working mostly with qualified mental health professionals, staff sometimes asked her questions about ethics, boundaries, conflicts of interest, and more. Often, they were unaware their actions were unethical.

In response, Perkins began training staff accordingly. Once QMHPs were required to register under the Virginia Board of Counseling and to have ethics CEUs, she extended the trainings to all mental health staff, and her courses have included QMHPs, social workers, nurses, and nurse practitioners.

In light of recent radical changes in social work due to COVID-19, Perkins considers the code more important than ever due to increased use of virtual services.

“As social workers, we have to ensure we are protecting the confidentiality of our clients,” she states, adding that she’ll cover some pandemic-related ethics dilemmas in the course. “It’s important to make sure that our agencies' policies are aligned with our ethics, that we are using virtual systems that are HIPAA-compliant, that our clients' records are being protected, etc.”

With decades of experience under her belt, Perkins is pleased that attitudes of social workers toward the social work ethics have evolved and gained in importance.

“I’m seeing that mental health is being more openly talked about, which helps decrease the stigma. My social work supervisees who are working towards licensure often bring up questions or cases pertaining to ethics,” she says. “They’re more aware of ethical dilemmas and are quick to ask questions to make sure they are doing what is right.

“They’ve even discussed colleagues whom they may have felt acted unethically and how to handle these types of situations. They have a desire to want to protect the social work profession and their soon-to-be clinical license because they know that, especially during these times, we are much needed.”