Introduction

Ethics in health care are the principles adopted by practitioners within a particular discipline to translate the desire to serve into the profession’s evolving wisdom about how best to serve. Far more than a list of rules, ethics guide members of a profession on the lessons gleaned from the experience of those who came before them about: 1) how to maintain the most vital context for providing healing services; and 2) how best to navigate through the various kinds of challenges likely to arise when providing those services. By embracing the need to address the issue of ethics, a practitioner is also recognizing that offering health care services to the public is a public trust.

Because of the innovative nature of energy medicine and the sensitivities involved in working with subtle energies, energy medicine practitioners face ethical challenges that not only include but also go beyond the concerns of more traditional healing modalities. Representing oneself as an Eden Energy Medicine (EEM) practitioner is based on having attained specified credentials and also constitutes a commitment to comply with the EEM Ethics Code and to the procedures used by the EEM Peer Review Committee for insuring adherence to it. ³

The EEM Ethics Code is a brief statement of general principles designed to guide EEM practitioners toward the highest aspirations of their profession. The EEM Ethics Handbook provides specific guidelines for translating these aspirations into the complexities of an EEM practice. The Code is a public statement of the principles toward which all individuals listed as EEM practitioners agree to aspire. The Handbook is an educational document which provides practitioners with training and practical guidelines. It includes principles and case discussions. It is understood to be an evolving document, with periodic updates (overseen by the EEM Peer Review Committee) based upon the collective experiences of the EEM community. EEM practitioners are invited to propose changes, are informed of updates, and are expected to stay current with these updates.  

These general principles, and the subsequent statements regarding personal healing and development are designed to guide and inspire EEM practitioners toward the very highest ethical ideals of the profession—they do not in themselves represent obligations or a basis for imposing sanctions.

EEM Practitioners:

1. Hold as the highest priority for their professional activities the health and welfare of their clients, students, and others with whom they become professionally involved. All other statements in this document are elaborations upon this principle.

2. Are committed to maintaining a personal process of development of mind, body and spirit while actively engage in a professional practice.

3. Uphold EEM professional standards of conduct and accept appropriate responsibility for their behavior.

4. Seek to promote accuracy, honesty, and truthfulness in their communications and in the practice, teaching, science, and art of energy medicine.

5. Strive to keep their commitments and to avoid unwise, unrealistic, or unclear commitments.

6. Take reasonable⁴ precautions to ensure that their personal biases, the boundaries of their competence, impairments to their health and wellbeing, and the limitations of their expertise do not negatively impact the services they provide to their clients.

7. Respect the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of all people, and the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality, and self-determination.

8. Are committed to give all persons access to and benefit from the contributions of energy medicine, while retaining the right to maintain their personal safety at all times.

9. Are aware of, respect, and accommodate individual, cultural, and role differences, including those based on age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language, representational system, element, and socioeconomic status.

10. Contribute a portion of their professional time for little or no compensation or personal advantage.

11. Demonstrate a personal commitment to acting ethically; modeling ethical behavior, encouraging ethical behavior by students, supervisees, employees, and colleagues; and consulting with others concerning ethical problems.

PERSONAL HEALING AND DEVELOPMENT

Energy medicine is by nature a form of "holistic healing" in that energy interacts seamlessly with mind, body, and spirit. EEM practitioners recognize that holistic healing involves a way of relating to life as well as mastery of a particular set of concepts and techniques. With that consciousness, EEM practitioners are committed to their own ongoing healing and the wholesome development of body, mind, and spirit.

The more practitioners have evolved personally through activities that promote awareness, health, and healing, the more proficient they become as healers and the more likely they will be to behave competently, responsibly, and ethically with those entrusted to their care, with their colleagues, and with the wider community. In the same sense that health is more than the absence of illness, self-awareness involves a commitment to discover and go beyond one’s "blind spots," such as those rooted in unprocessed trauma or personal or professional insecurities that could have a negative impact on professional activities.

EEM practitioners are aware that their personal limitations can have direct impact on the quality of the service they provide to clients and students. They are equally aware that the skills they develop in their own quest for wholeness can contribute not only to their personal development, but to their professional development as well. The obligation to seek personal wholeness and awareness, because of its impact on the quality of service a practitioner is able to provide, is an essential, ongoing learning process.

EEM Practitioners:

1. Are committed to a lifelong process of personal development of mind, body, and spirit.

2. Strive to be aware of the effects of their own physical health, mental state, and ego needs on their ability to help those with whom they work and take appropriate steps to maximize their well-being in each area.

3. Have personally experienced the methods they offer others, using their own experiences with EEM as a laboratory for further informing themselves about the value and power of specific techniques. At the same time, they take care not to inaccurately project their experiences with a particular method onto others.

4. Know their limitations as individuals and as practitioners, setting their boundaries accordingly with those they serve, with colleagues, and within the larger community.

5. Open themselves to feedback offered by their students, clients, colleagues, and mentors.

6. Closely monitor their needs to be liked, to be admired, to achieve status, and to exercise power, as well as their sexual and romantic needs, and seek feedback, guidance, consultation, and supervision from friends, colleagues, mentors, supervisors, or other professionals to keep these needs from interfering with their effectiveness in the services they provide.

7. Examine the EEM Ethics Code in the context of any religious and spiritual beliefs, or other personal codes of conduct to be certain a commitment to the EEM Ethics Code is in harmony with those personal standards and beliefs.

In short, EEM practitioners are committed toward personal integrity and authenticity.

ETHICAL STANDARDS⁵

1. EEM practitioners provide balancing, teaching, supervision, consultation, and mentoring services only in areas where they have received education, training, supervised experience, or other study that qualifies them for providing those services. For instance, while a few classes in energy psychology might give the practitioner tools for teaching some basic emotional self-management techniques, it does not qualify the practitioner to provide psychotherapy. It is the responsibility of the practitioner to draw those lines professionally and appropriately.
2. EEM practitioners work within the legal framework of the locale in which they practice and obey all applicable local, regional, and national laws to the best of their understanding. They notify organizations that certify or license them of any felony convictions or ethics rulings against them.
3. EEM practitioners stay current in their fields of practice and undertake ongoing efforts to develop and maintain their competence through supervision, consultations, workshops, published works, electronic media, and continuing education courses.
4. EEM practitioners carefully consider the professional and financial implications of maintaining professional liability insurance.
5. EEM practitioners assess the body’s energies and energy systems and balance and influence those energies for the client’s benefit. They do not diagnose or treat illness unless they are simultaneously credentialed in a health discipline that allows them to do so.⁶
6. EEM practitioners offering Grid or Regression sessions strictly adhere to the guidelines at www.innersource.net/classes_training/pages_cl/basic_grid_adv_agreement_em.htm
7. The integration of other modalities into an EEM practice is allowed and encouraged, based on the EEM practitioner’s training in these modalities and best professional judgment.
8. When EEM practitioners provide services in emergency situations, they may use their best professional judgment in going beyond their usual scope of practice when health care practitioners who are more fully qualified to provide needed interventions are not available. Beyond appropriate follow-up, they discontinue these services, in a spirit of respect and co-operation, when the emergency has ended or more appropriate services are available.

B. INFORMED CONSENT

1. EEM practitioners utilize an "Informed Consent" form or other device to provide clear information to prospective clients about the logistics of their practice (including but not limited to length and frequency of sessions, fees, cancellation policies, the nature of assessment and care, etc.) and ensure that prospective clients understand and agree to these specifics before beginning EEM services.
2. EEM practitioners provide information to prospective clients about their background in both EEM and other modalities that may be used. This information should address the limitations of their training regarding issues such as the diagnosis and treatment of disease, the potential for side effects, and the fact that energy medicine is considered an unconventional approach.
3. In deciding whether to provide services to those already receiving health services elsewhere, EEM practitioners carefully consider the health care issues and the prospective client’s welfare. They discuss these issues with the client (or a legally authorized person on behalf of the client) in order to minimize the risk of confusion and conflict, consult with the other service providers when appropriate, and proceed with caution and sensitivity to the health care issues involved, in a spirit of respect and co-operation toward all parties involved.

1. EEM practitioners engage each client in mutually creating an appropriate plan of care, which may include engaging other health care professionals.
2. EEM clients are encouraged to be pro-active about their own health needs and to take responsibility for their health care choices.
3. EEM practitioners may attempt to encourage, but they do not attempt to pressure or coerce a client into any action or belief, even if the practitioner believes such act or belief would serve the best interests of the client.
4. While it is appropriate to encourage hope and convey confidence in EEM methods, EEM practitioners do so without overstating the power of the methods, or implying that a method which has helped some people with a particular health issue will help all people with that issue, and with a sensitivity to not foster guilt in clients who are not responding as hoped.
5. EEM practitioners elicit each client’s expectations about EEM, and their goals in using EEM, restating them to the client for clarity and agreement and discussing any unrealistic expectations, before providing services. Expectations are reevaluated throughout the professional relationship at times deemed appropriate by the practitioner or at any time at the client’s request.
6. EEM practitioners recognize the pitfalls of being overly attached to the outcomes of the services they provide. "Trying too hard," "micro-managing" a client, or becoming overly invested may have a paradoxical effect. This is one of the dilemmas that should be considered before providing health care services to family or friends.
7. EEM practitioners exercise the right to refuse to accept into their care any person seeking their services when they judge this to not be in the best interests of the client, or a threat to their personal safety.
8. EEM practitioners consult with, refer to, or cooperate with other professionals and institutions to the extent needed to serve the best interests of their clients. In particular, they understand the boundaries and limitations of their services and make referrals accordingly. They are clear with clients about whether or not they have personal knowledge of the skills of a particular practitioner, and encourage clients to interview perspective practitioners before committing themselves to that practitioner’s care.
9. EEM practitioners provide a safe, clean, welcoming, supportive, and comfortable environment for their services that is conducive to healing.
10. EEM practitioners recognize and articulate what is healthy and right in the person’s energies as well as identifying areas requiring attention.
11. EEM practitioners may use "energy testing" and other non-traditional ways of assessing the flow within a client’s energy system. They understand, however, the limitations and subjective nature of such methods, as described in Chapter 2 of Energy Medicine and at www.innersource.net/energy_medicine_faq/energy_medicine_QA_ask_body.htm. EEM practitioners realize that energy testing is intended to test energy and is not to be used to replace physical diagnostic tests or to prove or disprove beliefs or memories. EEM practitioners are particularly cautious about energy testing potential customers on products they are selling.
12. EEM shall always be administered in a caring, considerate manner, with respect for the client’s preferences and capacities. The client shall be informed about the procedure and its purpose and given an explicit choice about whether to proceed or to have alternative methods applied. If they proceed, agreement is reached in advance how the client will communicate to the practitioner the desire to stop the procedure. The practitioner will immediately respect this signal.
13. EEM practitioners are sensitive to a client’s feelings about being touched and discuss those feelings as appropriate. If a procedure requires making contact or putting pressure in the areas of a client’s genitals, breasts, buttocks, navel, or throat, the practitioner is particularly alert to the client’s sensitivities and offers alternative methods if appropriate, such as asking clients to use their own hands for making the direct contact.
14. If limitations to services can be anticipated because of financial hardship, the related issues are discussed with the recipient of services as early as is feasible. EEM practitioners do not maintain a client relationship solely for financial reasons, but they may terminate a relationship if the client is unable or unwilling to pay for such services. Prior to any termination of services, to the extent practicable, the practitioner assists the client in making plans and locating resources for ongoing health care.
15. If conflicts occur regarding EEM practitioners’ ethical obligations (such as the above, where a client is no longer able to pay for services comes into conflict with the practitioner’s commitment to the client’s welfare), EEM practitioners attempt to resolve these conflicts in a responsible fashion that avoids or minimizes harm.
16. EEM practitioners may choose to barter⁷ for services only if this arrangement will not interfere with the quality of the services being provided and if the resulting arrangement is not exploitative to either party.
17. EEM practitioners may recommend nutritional supplements, technological devices, or other healing aids only when they have adequate and appropriate knowledge to responsibly make such recommendations.
18. EEM practitioners terminate a client relationship when it becomes reasonably clear that the client no longer needs or is benefiting from the continued service.
19. EEM practitioners who reach an interpersonal impasse with a client, or an impasse in the healing services they are providing, may seek supervision, suggest bringing a consultant into a session, refer the client to another practitioner, or suggest terminating their services.
20. EEM practitioners shall terminate a client relationship if they feel their physical safety is at risk.
21. EEM practitioners who are in an ongoing relationship providing EEM services make reasonable⁸ efforts to plan for facilitating services in the event that their services are interrupted by factors such as their illness, relocation, retirement, or by the client’s relocation or financial limitations.
22. Responsibilities of the EEM practitioner following termination of services include continuing to maintain confidentiality, and sharing client information with other professionals as requested by the client. If the client requests that such information be forwarded, it may not be withheld for any reason, including non-payment of fees.

D. CONFIDENTIALITY

1. The client (or the client’s legal guardian or conservator) is the only person who has the right to determine who has access to information about the EEM services, including the very question of whether a person is receiving such services from the practitioner.

   Exception: When disclosure of information is required to prevent clear and imminent danger to the client or to others.

   Exception: If the EEM practitioner is a defendant in a civil, criminal, or disciplinary action arising from the client relationship, information about that relationship may be disclosed as part of the proceeding.

   Exception: EEM practitioners who seek consultation or supervisory services from other EEM practitioners agree that information about their competency may be disclosed to designated Innersource staff for the purpose of evaluating the practitioner’s readiness to enter advanced training or to be listed for referral.

2. EEM practitioners who work with children or with more than one member of the same family (including "significant others") establish with the relevant parties at the outset (or when new family members begin to receive services from the practitioner) the kinds of information that may be shared, and with whom, and the kinds of information that may not be shared by the practitioner.
3. When consulting with colleagues, EEM practitioners do not disclose confidential information that reasonably could lead to the identification of a client with whom they have a confidential relationship unless they have obtained the prior consent of the person or the disclosure cannot be avoided. Informed consent forms may include a stipulation that the practitioner can seek supervision or consultation about the client.
4. Before recording the voices or images of individuals to whom they provide services, EEM practitioners obtain permission from all such persons or their legal representatives.
5. EEM practitioners do not disclose in their writings, lectures, or other public media, personally identifiable information concerning their clients, students, research participants, or other recipients of their services that they obtained during the course of their work, unless 1) they take reasonable steps to disguise the recipient of service, 2) the recipient has consented in writing or in the recorded session, or 3) there is legal authorization for doing so.

1. EEM practitioners take reasonable precautions to ensure that their personal biases, the boundaries of their competence, and the limitations of their expertise do not negatively impact the services they provide to their clients.
2. EEM practitioners clarify professional roles and obligations and seek to manage conflicts of interest to avoid exploitation or harm.
3. EEM practitioners recognize that clear, compassionate communication is integral to providing the highest level of service possible and act accordingly.
4. EEM may open issues that are private, delicate, or embarrassing. EEM practitioners are prepared to articulate these issues when they emerge and discuss them in a frank, professional, and respectful manner, while at the same time acknowledging the client’s right not to discuss the issue.
5. EEM practitioners recognize that in dealing directly with their client’s energy systems, at times the subtle nature of those energy systems and their sometimes intangible perception can create boundary issues that don’t arise in other disciplines. EEM practitioners always maintain appropriate boundaries, acknowledge that the client always has authority over their process and that their body’s inner wisdom directs the rebalancing process. They resist the temptation to aggrandize themselves with their clients, or to create unnecessary drama or glamour related to their abilities to perceive or work with the energies.
6. EEM practitioners do not use their abilities to work with energy to wield power over another person, to manipulate another person, or to create an unequal relationship with another person. This includes, but is not limited to, abilities associated with intuition or other intangible means of assessment.
7. EEM practitioners strive for "energetic integrity"—a state of stability and resilience that allows them to remain calm, active, or reflective, as the situation dictates, in the face of unexpected events. Specifically, they keep their own energy systems strong and resilient and utilize methods that make them less vulnerable to being negatively impacted by the energies of their clients.
8. If an EEM practitioner is unable to maintain energetic integrity due to illness, stress, or other factors, or if personal problems are likely to interfere with competently performing a professional activity, the practitioner seriously considers canceling or postponing the activity.
9. EEM practitioners do not provide services under the influence of any medication, drug, other substance, or state of mind that might impair their work.
10. EEM practitioners are sensitive to differences in power between the practitioner and the client and do not exploit such differences during or after the professional relationship for the benefit or personal gratification of the practitioner.
11. EEM practitioners obtain explicit or clearly implied permission prior to engaging in "distant" or "remote" or "surrogate" or "non-local" assessment or healing, and they perform such services having carefully considered the issues raised at www.energymed.org/hbank/handouts/consider_distance_healing.htm
12. EEM practitioners treat colleagues with dignity, respect, and courtesy; talk about colleagues in respectful ways; credit colleagues for their contributions and innovations; and show respect for the teachings, teachers, and practitioners before them.
13. EEM practitioners refrain from entering into a dual relationship if the dual relationship⁹ could reasonably be expected to impair the practitioner’s objectivity, competence, or effectiveness in the delivery of healing or educational services, or otherwise risks exploitation or harm to the person with whom the professional relationship exists.
14. Dual relationships that would not reasonably be expected to cause impairment or risk exploitation or harm are not unethical. However, it is the practitioner’s responsibility to insure that each party is aware of issues related to shifting between the client-practitioner setting and the social setting of the personal relationship. These issues should be discussed with the client and take precedence in decisions about the dual relationship.
15. If an EEM practitioner finds that, due to unforeseen factors, a potentially harmful dual relationship has arisen, the practitioner takes reasonable steps to resolve it with due regard for the best interests of the affected person and maximal compliance with the EEM Ethics Code.
16. When EEM practitioners are required by law, institutional policy, or extraordinary circumstances to serve in more than one role in judicial or administrative proceedings, they clarify role expectations and the extent of confidentiality as early as possible.
17. Dual relationships that are never acceptable are ones in which a practitioner develops any kind of romantic or sexual relationship with any client while EEM services are being provided.
18. EEM practitioners do not engage in sexual relations with a former client for at least two years after termination of the client relationship, and only then after a good faith determination through appropriate supervision that there is no exploitation of, or harm to the former client [this point is currently under discussion by the PRC].
19. In their work-related activities, EEM practitioners model respect and tolerance and do not engage in harassment or demeaning behavior toward others or unfair discrimination based on age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, or socioeconomic status. EEM practitioners do, however, reserve the right to refuse service to anyone the practitioner feels may compromise their safety.
20. EEM practitioners do not engage in sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is sexual solicitation, physical advances, energetic advances, or verbal or nonverbal conduct that is sexual in nature, that occurs in connection with the practitioner’s professional role or activities, and that either 1) is unwelcome, offensive, or creates an objectionable interpersonal atmosphere and the practitioner has been informed of this; 2) sufficiently severe or intense to be considered abusive to a reasonable person in the context; or 3) unnecessarily or inappropriately provocative under the guise of evaluating a health concern or providing services. Sexual harassment can consist of a single severe act or of persistent multiple acts of less intensity. This principle applies in all professional settings, from the consulting room to the classroom and Certification Program.

F. RECORD-KEEPING

EEM Practitioners:

1. Document having acquired informed consent from all clients.
2. Use their own professional judgment on the kinds of intake information, assessments, interventions, and session-by-session outcomes they record and maintain in the client’s file.
3. Store client records in a safe and secure place, maintain such records for at least four years following the termination of services, and dispose of client records in a secure manner.
4. Do not alter records. Additions that correct earlier information should be dated.
5. Ensure that any staff member who has access to client records is educated to do so only under strictly controlled circumstances and to uphold confidentiality at all times.
6. Adhere to the principle that any client records to be used for research purposes may only be used with the client’s written consent or with pertinent identifying personal information removed or adequately disguised.
7. Maintain session records, if they are licensed in an allied profession, in the manner required by that particular profession.

G. PUBLIC STATEMENTS¹⁰ AND ADVERTISING

1. EEM practitioners assist clients, students, and the general public in developing informed judgments concerning the role of energy medicine in choices that impact their health and optimal functioning.
2. Public statements, whether intended for informational or advertising purposes, always have an educational impact and should be evaluated for this impact before they are released.
3. EEM practitioners use clear, accessible language in their advertisements, and their advertisements are honest, dignified, and representative of services that can be delivered.
4. EEM practitioners do not make false, deceptive, or fraudulent statements concerning 1) their training, experience, or competence; 2) their academic degrees; 3) their credentials; 4) their institutional or association affiliations; 5) their services; 6) the scientific or clinical basis for, or results or degree of success of, their services; 7) their fees; or 8) their publications or research findings.
5. EEM practitioners avoid public statements that use sensationalism or that prey on fears and anxieties.
6. EEM practitioners who engage others to create or place public statements that promote their professional practice, products, or activities retain professional responsibility for such statements.
7. EEM practitioners do not compensate employees of press, radio, television, or other communication media in return for publicity in a news item.
8. EEM practitioners associated with the development or promotion of products disclose any vested interest when recommending such products to clients or students and ensure that such products are presented in a factual and professional manner.
9. A paid advertisement relating to an EEM practitioner’s activities or products must be identified or clearly recognizable as such.
10. To the degree to which they exercise control, EEM practitioners responsible for announcements, catalogs, brochures, or advertisements describing workshops, seminars, or other educational programs ensure that they accurately describe the audience for which the program is intended, the educational objectives, the presenters, and the fees involved.
11. When EEM practitioners provide public advice or comment via radio, television, print, or internet, they take precautions to ensure that statements are based on their professional knowledge, training, or experience and are clear that a professional relationship has not been established with the recipient.
12. If EEM practitioners learn of the misuse or misrepresentation of their work, they take reasonable steps to correct or minimize the misuse or misrepresentation.

1. EEM practitioners responsible for educational programs or presentations take reasonable steps to ensure that the programs are designed to provide the appropriate knowledge and proper experiences, and to fulfill the goals of the presentation or program. This may require that the practitioner has acquired experience or training in curriculum design and presentation methods.
2. EEM practitioners responsible for educational programs or presentations take reasonable steps to ensure the ready availability of accurate descriptions of the program content, goals, benefits, costs, prerequisites, and any special requirements that must be met for satisfactory completion of the program.
3. EEM presenters anticipate the capabilities and limitations of those they teach and structure their presentations to accommodate these capabilities and limitations.
4. EEM presenters credit those whose methods, theories, research, or other contributions are being taught, or credit healing approaches they have drawn from whose lineage acknowledges such contributors.
5. EEM presenters encourage students to be open to learning the methods and concepts that are being presented and strongly emphasize the proper guidelines for their use.
6. EEM presenters, for the sake of protecting the public, develop methods to evaluate the proficiency of those they train prior to any formal certification they may choose to offer in methods they teach outside formal EEM training programs.
7. EEM presenters prioritize the welfare of volunteers for demonstrations above the presentation itself, taking reasonable steps to ensure that volunteers who are selected for demonstrations will not be harmed by the demonstration.
8. EEM presenters provide follow-up for any immediate distress that arises during or as a consequence of a demonstration and to offer an appropriate referral. They do not charge for such follow-up in this circumstance.
9. If a more serious health issue is uncovered during a demonstration, or if what is uncovered goes beyond the scope of the demonstration, the presenter is not obligated to provide ongoing services to resolve that issue. The presenter's obligation is limited to providing immediate first aid, as described above, and referral suggestions.
10. EEM presenters who show video or audio tapes of their work are responsible for acquiring the informed consent of those being portrayed.
11. EEM presenters do not provide demonstrations, live or on video, that may be exploitive.
12. EEM presenters engaged in formal supervision of EEM students establish a timely and specific process for providing feedback to those they supervise, and information regarding this process is provided to the student at the beginning of supervision.
13. EEM practitioners do not form new sexual or romantic relationships with students in their classes and do not engage in sexual or romantic relationships with those they supervise or for whom they have evaluative responsibilities during the time they are engaged in this teaching or supervisory role.

I. THE RESOLUTION OF ETHICAL ISSUES¹¹

1. When EEM practitioners believe there may have been an ethical violation by another EEM practitioner, they attempt to resolve the issue by bringing it to the attention of that individual if an informal resolution appears possible and appropriate. Such interventions may not, however, violate any confidentiality rights that are involved.
2. If an apparent ethical violation has substantially harmed or is likely to substantially harm a person or organization and is not appropriate for informal resolution as described above, or is not adequately resolved in that fashion, EEM practitioners take further action appropriate to the circumstances. Such action might include informing the EEM Peer Review Committee of the situation.

   Exception: EEM practitioners are not obligated to take action based on information gained when serving as a member of a peer review panel, as a consultant to another practitioner who is seeking consultation on the specific ethical situation in question, or as a mediator between a practitioner and one or more clients.

3. EEM practitioners never attempt to harass, intimidate or manipulate by any means any person who brings a grievance before the EEM Peer Review Committee.
4. EEM practitioners cooperate in ethics investigations, proceedings, and determinations of the EEM Peer Review Committee, and they also submit relevant information they may have when they know an ethics inquiry is being conducted. In attempting to comply with these guidelines, they address confidentiality issues appropriately. Failure to cooperate with an ethics investigation is itself an ethics violation.
5. EEM practitioners show respect for various personalities, rhythms, representational styles, educational levels, and backgrounds, do not falsely impugn the reputation of their colleagues, and do not file or encourage the filing of ethics complaints that are made with disregard for facts that would disprove the allegation.
6. EEM practitioners do not deny other EEM practitioners employment, advancement, or admissions to training programs based solely upon their having made or their being the subject of an ethics complaint. This does not preclude taking action based upon the outcome of such proceedings or considering other appropriate information beyond the complaint, particularly information that is perceived by the EEM Peer Review Committee as constituting a clear and imminent danger to the public.
7. If an EEM practitioner’s ethical responsibilities, as set forth in this document, conflict with a legal requirement (this may happen, for instance, if confidential health care information is subpoenaed) or with the requirements of an organization employing the practitioner, EEM practitioners make known their commitment to the EEM Ethics Code and take steps to resolve the conflict in a responsible manner. If the conflict is unresolvable via such means, EEM practitioners may adhere to the requirements of the law or other authority according to the dictates of their conscience.
8. The EEM Ethics Code and Ethics Handbook, as posted on the Innersource website, may be updated at the discretion of Innersource. The dates the current versions were posted will always be indicated. Announcement of new versions with summaries of changes will be sent to the Innersource e-mail community.

SIX STEPS FOR THINKING THROUGH AN ETHICAL DILEMMA

1. Recognize that there may be no easy or even "right" answer. Some situations require that one principle be compromised in the favor of another and the best you can do is make a caring choice with the best interests of all affected parties in mind.

2. Gather information. The first question, and it will inform all others, is to deeply consider what your own motivations are in the situation. Then talk to the other parties involved. List the critical issues and evaluate the rights, responsibilities, and welfare of the people who will be affected by the actions that are taken.

3. Comb the EEM Ethics Code (and the Handbook if necessary) to identify the basic principles that apply to the situation. While they might not give you the solution, you will know that you are thinking within a sound ethical framework.

4. Evaluate possible courses of action.

5. Obtain consultation as appropriate.

6. Map out the best possible course of action, anticipating possible consequences and who needs to be informed.

FIFTY ETHICAL VIGNETTES

Following are 50 hypothetical case examples that present ethical dilemmas. Often, no "perfect" solution exists, but you can apply Six-Step process presented above and the principles from the EEM Ethics Code and the EEM Ethics Handbook to map out a best or at least reasonable solution given the situation. Each item links to a discussion about the issues involved in the situation. Click the item and read the discussion.

The discussions are responses by EEM senior practitioners, but they do not represent official Innersource policy. They are, rather, presented to stimulate thought and further discussion.  

The EEM practitioners who contributed their thoughts to these ethical issues included:

1. One of your closest friends is diagnosed with cancer and is going the traditional route involving surgery/chemo/radiation. You know that if it were you, you would start with a month of aggressive energy medicine treatments several times per week supported by daily self-applied sessions and then re-assess. How hard do you campaign for your friend to take this approach?

2. Your friend agrees to postpone the surgery in order to try an energy medicine approach and gets the oncologist to agree to one month to see what happens. Your friend insists that you are the one who must do the treatment. While you have treated this level of illness in the past, you have never treated someone who is close to you with such a serious diagnosis and you are concerned that you may not be the best practitioner because your emotional involvement and desire to do a good job might get in the way of doing a good job and might get in the way of knowing when to suggest that more aggressive procedures may be necessary. What do you do?

3. Your closest friend within the energy medicine community, a relative newcomer, wants you to be his/her mentor. How does this impact the friendship? Should you do it at all?

4. You are treating a woman who has been having anxiety attacks during the past six months, and you are also treating her husband, for digestive problems. During a breakthrough session with the husband, you learn that he has been having a secret affair. It is immediately obvious to you that his wife’s anxiety is based on her picking this up at some level, though you have also been working with some success on ways her anxiety seems tied to her childhood history. Can you continue to treat her? Him? Could you have taken any steps to prevent this crisis in confidentiality?

5. You are teaching a one-evening EEM class. During the break, a man comes up to you and tells you he has been having EEM sessions with a practitioner you have not met. He feels the practitioner has made several mistakes in the way he has been treated, which he describes, and asks your opinion. What do you say?

6. You refer a male client to a chiropractor for some structural work. You have several insights about the relationship of his emotions, energies, and structural problems. You have shared some of these observations with him but have not felt he would be able to hear your thoughts about the role of his emotions in his physical problems. Can you share your speculations with the chiropractor?

7. You are working with a new client and you sense an energy in the second chakra that feels to you like the energy of cancer. What do you do?

8. You are extremely attracted to one of your clients, who you have met with three times and are continuing to see weekly. You find yourself looking forward to this client’s sessions and fantasizing about a personal relationship. What actions do you take in response to your feelings?

9. Your client is being treated by a physician who is prescribing medication that you believe is both unnecessary and an obstacle rather than an aid to recovery. What do you do?

10. A woman who has discovered a lump on her breast does not want to have a biopsy. She comes to you and asks you to use energy testing and intuition to determine if it is malignant. What do you do?

11. Your client’s physician wants her to stop seeing you because the physician believes that energy medicine is quackery and might even do the patient harm. The client has not been able to find scientific evidence that EEM is a legitimate treatment and is inclined to follow the physician’s advice. But you know your treatments with the client are just starting to have an impact and believe it would be detrimental to terminate them. What do you do?

12. You have just completed a difficult grid session and you learn that the client has a Rolfing session scheduled that afternoon. You are concerned that this will prevent the grid work from settling in. Can you ask a client to reschedule a session with another practitioner?

13. You are working your client’s neurolymphatic points. Your client is clearly in considerable discomfort. How do you determine if you are applying too much pressure? If you determine the pressure is therapeutic and right, do you ignore your client’s discomfort?

14. You are a female working with a male client’s neurolymphatic points and have come to the pubic bone. His penis is covering some of the points. What do you do?

15. A man who has heard of your ability to sense energies asks you to assess whether he needs a colonoscopy, a procedure that was routinely recommended because he has just turned 50. You have a very clear sense from sensing his energies, as well as from energy testing, that he does not. What do you do?

16. A man consults you after his wife is diagnosed with lung cancer.  He had been a smoker for the 30 years of their marriage and she had complained about this for 30 years.  He immediately gave up smoking after her diagnosis, and his guilt is enormous. The wife is only interested in a conventional medical approach. He wants to pursue every possible avenue to help her and has heard that energy healing can be done on a remote basis.  You ask for her consent, but he begs you to "just do it" because she already has too much on her mind and introducing her to such a strange concept might overwhelm her. Can you do the healings for her without her explicit permission? 

17. You have been developing your ability at remote diagnosis and surrogate healing. You have a session with a young man in a few hours and have been thinking about his case. Can you "tune into" him as you consider your treatment plan?

18. Your client has brought in the medication that has just been prescribed and wants you to energy test it. You find that it tests weak. How do you explain the situation to your client?

19. Your client is having terrible PMS. You have several herbal remedies and you energy test them, showing that one in particular tests very strong. Do you recommend that she go to the health food store and purchase it? Do you energy test for a product that you, yourself, sell?

20. Your client comes in reporting that she is very unhappy with the treatment she has been receiving from you. She has been doing everything you have recommended and her original condition has not improved after five sessions. The two of you are unable to come to an understanding. The client wants a refund and an apology. You feel you have been following protocol, are puzzled by the lack of response, and do not know the next step. What do you do?

21. You receive an e-mail from someone in another region asking you for advice on how to use energy medicine with a specific condition. The person has read Donna’s book, watched several DVDs, and is trying to self-treat. What are your responsibilities? Must you respond at all? If so, how soon?

22. Your client has a growth that you believe may be malignant. Your client refuses to get a medical diagnosis. You plead and cajole. Your client still refuses. You know your client’s doctor’s name and you know your client’s spouse. What are your responsibilities?

23. You wake up with a bad stomach ache and a mild temperature. You have five clients scheduled this day, including one who has traveled a considerable distance to see you. What do you do?

24. You know that one of the faculty members has been telling a friend who is also an EEM CP student what is going to be covered on the Graduation Exam. What do you do with this information? What do you do when you know another EEP practitioner has committed an ethical violation?

25. You intuitively sense that a particular certified practitioner has been off center and that this is compromising the person’s work. While you have no direct information that the practitioner is not doing a good job, another member of the community heatedly mentions a concern about this same practitioner. Do you share your intuitive hit?

26. At this point (#25), you are asked by someone in one of your classes if you recommend that they schedule a session with the practitioner in question. You have no direct knowledge that the practitioner is not providing good services. How do you respond?

27. You are present when several of your EEM colleagues are discussing their concerns about the treatment choices a specific practitioner has been making. To your knowledge, these concerns have not been shared with the practitioner, though they seem legitimate to you. Do you immediately turn the person in to the Peer Review Committee or do you send an e-mail to the entire EEM list warning them about this practitioner or simply pin down Donna and give her an earful? Or do good ethics require that you do all of the above? Or none of the above? Just what do you do?

28. You have an intense session with a new client which includes substantial neurolymphatic work. The next day the client calls you. She feels terrible, is running a 102 degree temperature, believes your session is responsible for it, and wants you to come right over to her home to give her a free session to treat the aftermath of your original treatment. What do you do?

29. When doing an energy session with a male client, a female practitioner becomes aware her client has a noticeable erection. What would be an appropriate and ethical way to deal with this?

30. In a phone interview before a new client session it becomes clear to the practitioner that the potential client has psychological and/or addiction issues or problems. You have no special training, background, or license to treat addictions or serious psychological problems. How should you proceed?

31. While at a local restaurant in your small town, you overhear two EEM practitioners discussing a client. Even though they don’t reveal a name, you recognize by the description of the problem who they are speaking about. What are you obligated to do?

32. After meeting with a client several times, you are asked to attend a Worker’s Comp hearing regarding a disability this client is claiming. Even though you did not take full notes of the relevant sessions from a few months earlier, you feel you can reconstruct your notes, adding pertinent details for the benefit of the hearing. Should you do this?

33. After seeing a client for more than a year, you feel satisfied with her progress and feel you have little more to offer. In talking to her about ending your work together, the client becomes very upset and you learn that she has a strong emotional attachment to you and wants to continue to work with you. What do you do?

34. You have a session with a client who has just left an abusive husband and is living in a "safe house." Her fears, memories, and physiological reactions quickly surface and become a central part of your work together. You find that you are strongly triggered by feelings from some old personal history around similar issues. How should you proceed?

35. You feel good about your client’s progress and the work you are doing together. The client expresses feeling great compassion and caring coming from you. A few sessions later, the client admits to feeling a strong romantic attraction toward you. You explain a bit about transference, but later you find that the discussion has sparked your own romantic interest. You are both single and available. Can you become friendlier and continue treatments? Should you refer the client to another practitioner so that you can pursue a personal relationship? Is there any reason you should not explore an opportunity for a meaningful relationship?

36. You are deeply involved in treating a woman with M.S. and her physician is impressed with the results. The woman’s brother has been driving her to the sessions and you have been enjoying brief chats before and after the sessions. The brother invites you to lunch, with clear romantic overtones. You are both unpartnered, and you are interested. Can you pursue this relationship? If your attraction is very strong but you decide you cannot simultaneously treat the woman and pursue the relationship, can you refer the woman to another practitioner?

37. Your client reveals after your third session together having been a victim of ritual abuse that is still a source of trauma and anxiety. In the next session, the client has an overwhelming flashback and dissociates. You manage to help stabilize the person, but the issues are clearly not resolved. You learn that the client has never had therapy for these experiences, but when you recommend therapy, the client claims that the cost of both entering psychotherapy and continuing to see you would be prohibitive. You have been helping the client with symptoms of hypertension and overall well-being. What do you do?

38. You attend a monthly meeting of local holistic health providers. You become aware that one of the members has recently added the credential of "MD" to his business card and advertising. When you inquire about the medical degree, he explains that he earned this credential by writing a 25 page paper about the history of miraculous healing as spiritual ministry from an East Indian University which offers on line medical and spiritual credentials. A month later you have a client who discusses the need for a new MD and says she heard about the member of your group and asks you for a referral or an opinion. What is your responsibility if any to your client . . . to the practitioner . . . to the group . . . to the community?

39. A 17-year-old male has contacted you as a result of an ad he saw in a local alternative health newsletter. After making a preliminary appointment, he arrives with his mother. The mother, who will be paying for the session, insists on being present during the session. The young man is clearly giving signs he does not wish that arrangement. What do you do?

40. A landscaper calls for an initial appointment. He has been out of work for the past three months due to an injury that is to be a focus of the treatment. Once you tell him your fee, he says that he simply does not have the money but he really wants to work with you. He asks if he can do a work exchange of landscaping in repayment for sessions. You have just moved to a new home that needs landscaping. What do you say? What if the client is a single parent working as a nursing home caregiver with low pay, has no savings, no health insurance, and can’t possibly pay any appreciable fee? But the person can’t function adequately without help for the injury. What do you do?

41. A 22-year-old client who has been responding well to treatment quite abruptly becomes depressed for no identifiable external cause. Work with homolateral patterning, neurovasculars, triple warmer, and stomach meridian yield only temporary relief after three intensive sessions focusing on the depression. Are you obligated at this point to refer to a mental health professional for a psychiatric assessment of possible bipolar disorder?

42. As a faculty member, you are invited to travel to teach in another community. While there, students complain that a CEEM practitioner who has previously taught in the area did not stay within the announced topic of EEM and actually taught some "far out" material that a few people liked, but many of the health providers attending left with a very negative impression of EEM. How do you handle these complaints?

43. After a powerful first session, your very ill client describes the treatment to her minister and calls you to cancel further treatment unless you can assure her that the healing is coming from Jesus. You sense that she is feeling very vulnerable, caught between two authorities. What do you do?

44. You use a product that has given you tremendous health benefits. You feel so strongly about it that you want to make it available to others. Is it ethical for you to sell this product to your clients? If you do not personally sell the product, is it ethical to energy test whether or not your client should use this product?

45. An EEM colleague is in a new relationship and asks for your advice about a dilemma that has come up. As she begins telling you the situation, you realize that her new partner is one of your clients. What should you do?

46. An EEM colleague reveals that she has entered a sexual relationship with a client. She is thrilled with this development. Are you obligated to report her to the PRC?

47. An EEM colleague reveals that she has entered a sexual relationship with a client. She is agonizing about this development and seeking your counsel. Are you obligated to report her to the PRC?

48. In working with a minor child, you suspect that there is some form of abuse currently taking place. How do you handle this with the child? If the child confirms your suspicions, what do you do then? What do you do if the person bringing the child for the appointments is the abuser?

49. You attend a lecture in which an EEM practitioner takes credit for other people’s ideas, presenting them as her own. Is this an ethical problem? How should you handle it?

50. You have a female client who loves dogs and dog shows. She’s a wonderful person who would love to be in a relationship. You have another client who shows his dogs regularly and is also single. You’re sure they would be great for each other. What do you do?

DISCUSSION OF THE FIFTY ETHICAL VIGNETTES

Thinking It Through:

Since you have an established, close relationship, first evaluate the mindset and emotional state of the friend in question.

1. Your client’s "health and welfare" is your highest priority. (Code – 1)
2. You "build a collaborative relationship" with those you serve and are obligated to respect your client’s "self-determination." (Code - 16)
3. You are asked to recognize the wisdom of your clients about their own health needs and to recognize their personal responsibility for their health care choices. While EEM practitioners may "attempt to persuade…they do not attempt to pressure or coerce a client into any action or belief, even if the practitioner believes such act or belief would serve the best interests of the client." (Handbook: The Healing Relationship – 2 &3)
4. You are asked to "recognize the pitfalls of being overly attached to the outcomes" of your work and of "trying too hard." (Handbook: Healing Relationship – 6)
5. You are asked to recognize the limitations and subjective nature of non-conventional ways of assessing the flow within a client’s energy system. (Handbook: Healing Relationship – 11)
6. If conflicts occur regarding your ethical obligations (such as the above, where your commitment to your client’s welfare comes into conflict with confidentiality requirements and other considerations), you are asked to attempt to resolve these conflicts in a responsible fashion that avoids or minimizes harm. (Handbook: Healing Relationships – 15)
7. Because EEM may open issues that are delicate, you are asked to be prepared to articulate these issues when they emerge and discuss them in a frank, professional, and respectful manner, while at the same time acknowledging the client’s right not to discuss the issue. (Handbook: Personal and Interpersonal Boundaries - 4)

If your friend, knowing your involvement with EM, asks for advice or asks what you would do in the same situation, you could say "while it is impossible to predict, my assumption is I would certainly apply EM protocols on myself or enlist the aid of other practitioners whenever possible."

If you had firsthand knowledge, you could explain that you know people who avoided surgery, chemo and radiation by their total commitment to getting well naturally and faithfully doing the EM protocols, and that if the cancer wasn’t known to be a very aggressive kind, a month of aggressive EM treatments several times a week would be a good place to start.

You could explain the benefits of EM protocols no matter which course of action she chooses. You could also refer her to EM materials such as "Six Pillars of Energy Medicine" so she could better understand how EM works in order to help her make a decision.

If she seems open and willing, and if the doctors are saying the cancer is not aggressive so there is no rush for surgery, you could suggest she spend some period time working with EM and perhaps be re-tested. Otherwise, if she does not seem open to energy work, you should respect her wishes and encourage her to pursue the course of action that feels most appropriate to her. In addition, you could offer to teach her some EM techniques that she may find beneficial.

You might also suggest that there might be a doctor who is open to a holistic approach to healing who would support her decision to include multiple approaches to her healing process.

If she has gone for multiple opinions that are all in agreement, and has a family history of cancer, then you would not suggest that she delay surgery. If this friend lives nearby or if you know an EM practitioner in her area, you could offer to work on her and teach her EM protocols that can help prepare the body for surgery and the post surgery treatments or give her the name and number of someone whom she could contact for help. [Return]

2. Your friend from the dilemma above agrees to postpone the surgery in order to try an energy medicine approach and gets the oncologist to agree to one month to see what happens. Your friend insists that you are the one who must do the treatment. While you have treated this level of illness in the past, you have never treated someone who is close to you with such a serious diagnosis and you are concerned that you may not e the best practitioner because your emotional involvement and desire to do a good job might get n the way of doing a good job and might get in the way of knowing when to suggest that more aggressive procedures may be necessary. What do you do?

Thinking It Through:

It is important to carefully evaluate the alternatives. If there is no one else in her area with whom she can work, you must seriously weight the pros and cons of doing the work yourself as opposed to her not receiving the work at all.

1. Your client’s "health and welfare" is your highest priority. (Code - 1)
2. You "build a collaborative relationship" with those you serve and are obligated to respect your client’s "self-determination." (Code - 16)
3. You must avoid dual relationships that might negatively impact the effectiveness of your services. (Code – 18)
4. You are asked to stay attuned to factors that might impact the healing relationship. (Code - 17)
5. You must be aware of the power difference inherent in the professional relationship take care not to exploit them. (Code - 19)
6. You must clarify professional roles and obligations and seek to manage conflict of interest to avoid exploitation or harm. (Code - 25)
7. You are asked to recognize the wisdom of your clients about their own health needs and to recognize their personal responsibility for their health care choices. While EEM practitioners may "attempt to persuade…they do not attempt to pressure or coerce a client into any action or belief, even if the practitioner believes such act or belief would serve the best interests of the client." (Handbook: The Healing Relationship – 2 & 3)
8. You are asked to "recognize the pitfalls of being overly attached to the outcomes" of your work and of "trying too hard." (Handbook: Healing Relationship – 6)
9. If an EEM practitioner finds that a potentially harmful dual relationship has arisen, the practitioner takes reasonable steps to resolve it with due regard for the best interests of the affected person and maximal compliance with the EEM Ethics Code. (Handbook: Personal and Interpersonal Boundaries - 15.)

If you decide that the most important thing is for her to have the opportunity to reap the benefits of EM and you are the only one available to help her, you can consult with a colleague or get appropriate counseling for yourself in order to stay balanced. You can frequently remind yourself to drop your own agenda and see this as the best gift you can give your friend to support her in her time of need. [Return]

3. Your closest friend with the Energy Medicine community, a relative newcomer, wants you to be his/her mentor. How does this impact the friendship? Should you do it at all?

Thinking It Through:

If your friendship is solid and there is trust, communication and mutual love and respect, there may not be a problem. Is there even the possibility of another mentor in your friend’s area?

1. You must avoid dual relationships that might negatively impact the effectiveness of your services. (Code - 1)
2. You are asked to stay attuned to factors that might impact the healing (or teacher/student) relationship. (Code -17)
3. You must be aware of the power differences inherent in the professional (or teacher/student) relationship take care not to exploit them. (Code - 19)
4. You must clarify professional roles and obligations and seek to manage conflict of interest to avoid exploitation or harm. (Code - 25)
5. If an EEM practitioner finds that a potentially harmful dual relationship has arisen, the practitioner takes reasonable steps to resolve it with due regard for the best interests of the affected person and maximal compliance with the EEM Ethics Code. (Handbook: Personal and Interpersonal Boundaries, 15.)

Clear communication would be of the utmost importance in this relationship. You would need to establish agreements ahead of time such as: if either party feels uncomfortable with the mentoring relationship at anytime, that you agree that your friend must find another mentor. Before beginning, suggest your friend have a backup plan consisting of a list of at least two other people she or he would consider asking to mentor them. Take into account the logistical benefits of working together in this way if you are the closest EM practitioner to your friend by far. When working in this capacity, you are teacher/student first and friends second. When together socially as friends, it is not the appropriate time to ask mentoring questions. You would also need to establish and agree on guidelines for paying for the mentoring service. [Return]

4. You are seeing a woman who has been having anxiety attacks during the past six months, and you are also seeing her husband, for digestive problems. During a breakthrough session with the husband, you learn that he has been having a secret affair. It is immediately obvious to you that his wife’s anxiety is based on her picking this up at some level, though you have also been working with some success on ways her anxiety seems tied to her childhood history. Can you continue to see her as a client? Him? Could you have taken any steps to prevent this crisis in confidentiality?

Thinking It Through:

This is a difficult situation because two clients are involved at the same time who also happen to have a relationship.

1. Your client’s "health and welfare" is your highest priority. (Code - 1)
2. You "build a collaborative relationship" with those you serve and are obligated to respect your client’s "self-determination." (Code - 16)
3. You must avoid dual relationships that might negatively impact the effectiveness of your services. (Code - 18)
4. You are asked to stay attuned to factors that might impact the healing relationship. (Code - 17)
5. You seek to promote accuracy, honesty, and truthfulness in your communications and in the practice, teaching, science, and art of energy medicine. (Handbook: General Principles – 3)
6. If conflicts occur regarding your ethical obligations, you must attempt to resolve these conflicts in a responsible fashion that avoids or minimizes harm. (Handbook: Healing Relationship – 15)
7. Your client is the only person who has the right to determine who has access to information about the EM services. (Handbook: Confidentiality -1)
8. If you are working with more than one member of the same family, you must establish from the outset what kind of information may or may not be shared. (Handbook: Confidentiality -2)
9. You recognize that clear, compassionate communication is integral to providing the highest level of service possible and act accordingly. (Handbook: Personal and Interpersonal Boundaries – 3)

I would not inform the wife, as there is no "clear and imminent danger" involved in this case and because I would be violating the privacy of another client who happens to be her husband.

I would explain to the husband that this new information makes it difficult for me to continue as his practitioner while I am working with his wife. I would ask the husband to take a referral for another practitioner. While assuring the husband of his privacy, I would encourage him to find a therapist to help him find a way through the situation, for his own peace, as well as his family’s. [Return]

5. You are teaching a one-evening EEM class. During the break, a man comes up to you and tells you he has been having EEM sessions with a practitioner you have not met. He feels the practitioner has made several mistakes, which he describes, and asks your opinion. What do you say?

Thinking It Through:

To defame another practitioner is serious.

1. You must hold, as the highest priority, the health and welfare of your clients, students, and others with whom you become professionally involved. (Code – 1)
2. You must conduct you business and professional activities with integrity, in a professional, honest, and fair manner. (Code – 4)
3. You must treat clients, students, and colleagues with respect and courtesy, communicating clearly and sensitively regarding issues that affect the services they provide. (Code – 10)
4. You must resist gossip, but rather speak directly with other EEM practitioners when concerns about their actions arise. (Code -12)
5. You must seek to promote accuracy, honesty, truthfulness, and dignity in the practice, teaching, science, and art of EM. (Code – 24)
6. You treat colleagues with dignity, respect and courtesy and talk about colleagues in respectful ways. (Handbook: Personal and Interpersonal Relationships – 12)
7. If conflicts occur regarding your ethical obligations (such as the above, where your commitment to your client’s welfare comes into conflict with confidentiality requirements and other considerations), you are asked to attempt to resolve these conflicts in a responsible fashion that avoids or minimizes harm. (Handbook: Healing Relationships – 15)

Encourage the student to talk directly to the practitioner to express his concerns, as they might have a plausible explanation for their course of action. If he remains unsatisfied both with the treatment and how the practitioner handled his complaints, he should look for another practitioner. It might easily be a simple style incongruence. [Return]

6. You refer a male client to a chiropractor for some structural work. You have several insights about the relationship of his emotions, energies, and structural problems. Can you share your speculations with the chiropractor?

Thinking It Through:

When considering sharing information with a colleague about a client you have in common, there are a number of considerations.

1. You must hold, as the highest priority, the health and welfare of your clients, students, and others with whom you become professionally involved. (Code – 1)
2. You must treat clients, students, and colleagues with respect and courtesy, communicating clearly and sensitively regarding issues that affect the services they provide. (Code – 10)
3. You must uphold the confidentiality of those you serve, informing clients in advance of exceptions that might require that you disclose information. (Code – 15)
4. Your client is the only person who has the right to determine who has access to information about the EM services. (Handbook: Confidentiality -1)
5. When referring a client to another practitioner, always ask permission to share information with the other practitioner in order to create a team approach.
   Without that permission, it is not appropriate to share information. [Return]

7. You are working with a new client and you sense an energy in the second chakra that feels to you like the energy of cancer. What do you do?

Thinking It Through:

As EEM practitioners, we are not qualified to diagnose or treat medical disorders, unless specifically licensed to do so. It is important to refrain from using inflammatory language, such as the word "cancer." Since this is a new client, you need time getting to know their energy and recognize that until you have seen them a few times, you may come across energy that feels unfamiliar. Your training involves assessing and balancing the body’s energies and energy systems as well as educating the client as to ways they can participate in their own well-being. You start by building a relationship where you are working together toward health on all levels.

1. Your client’s "health and welfare" is your highest priority. (Code - 1)
2. You "build a collaborative relationship" with those you serve and are obligated to respect your client’s "self-determination." (Code - 16)
3. You perform only those services you are qualified to do and therefore do not diagnose, prescribe or treat unless specifically licensed to do so. (Code -6)
4. You don not diagnose, prescribe, or treat medical disorders unless credentialed to do so, making referrals to other health care professionals when and as appropriate. (Code - 8)
5. You take reasonable precautions to ensure that you personal biases or boundaries and limitations of competence or expertise do not negatively impact your service to your client. (Handbook: General Principles.)
6. You assess the body’s energies and energy systems and balance and influence those energies for the client’s benefit. You do not diagnose or treat illness unless specifically credentialed to do so. (Handbook: Competence and Scope of Practice - 6)
7. You engage each client in mutually creating an appropriate plan of care, including engaging other health care professionals. (Handbook: Healing Relationship -1)
8. You know that it is inappropriate to use energy testing to make a medical diagnosis. (Handbook: Healing Relationship - 11)
9. You realize that clear, compassionate communication is integral to providing the highest level of service possible. (Handbook: Personal and Interpersonal Boundaries - 3)
10. You recognize that in dealing with subtle energies you are also dealing with complex, subtle boundary issues and act accordingly. (Handbook: Personal and Interpersonal Boundaries - 5)

Only after you have gotten to know your client, assessed their emotional, physical, and energy state, would you consider discussing potential problems, always emphasizing the positive. If after the appropriate number of sessions you still feel the energy of cancer in their second chakra, you might