Professional Dishonesty - Part Five

NOTE: This is Part Five of a continuing entry. See Monday 4/30, Tuesday 5/1, Wednesday 5/2, and Thursday 5/3 for Part’s One-Four.

Halleck’s article is somewhat inappropriately titled in that he spends more time identifying the seven areas of professional dishonesty than he does describing the “impact” they have on “behavior of disturbed adolescents”. This makes sense, however, as the article assumes a certain level of knowledge on the part of the reader. Most adult professionals know that if we are seen by adolescents as dishonest they will react to us with fear, distrust, and cynicism and our ability to be seen as a viable, safe and helpful resource for them will be severely limited. Halleck’s contribution is not in how dishonest behavior impacts the adolescent, but in what form dishonest behavior may appear. It is not the big out-and-out lie we need to worry about. It is the subtle, even well-intentioned, misrepresentation where we may not even realize we are lying that we need to be on guard against.

The paper concludes with advice on how to avoid dishonesty in each of the seven categories, but here’s what it boils down to in Halleck’s words; “The methods of developing an honest approach …are based on a conviction on the part of workers to be scrupulously honest with themselves and the child …”. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that being honest with the young person is the easy part. As professional youth workers we should already know that growth and change is more likely to take place in a trusting atmosphere of truth than it is in an atmosphere of dishonesty. It is being honest with ourselves that is the difficult part. With each of Halleck’s seven areas – and with many additional but similar areas we can think of – the real lie is the one we are telling ourselves. For example, because we want to help and our intentions are good, we may believe that if the adolescent would only open up and trust us, all will go well. But our hope-based belief may hide the fact that we might not be able to guarantee that outcome.

Adolescents deserve the truth from us. More importantly, they need the truth in order to understand their world and find their way. Any form of dishonesty, including the subtle forms identified by Halleck, is both disrespectful and a disservice.