Family and Community’s Role in the Experience of Trauma and Post-trauma Healing: Ethical Implications for the Helping Professionals

Family and community play a critical role in the health and well-being of the individual but can also serve as the source of traumatic events, rejection, or other maltreatment. We present the case of Zane, a transgender and gender-expansive teen who is seeking counseling for grief due to traumatic loss, as well as treatment of gender dysphoria. Zane’s counselor, Alicia, encounters an ethical dilemma when the minor client requests support accessing gender-affirming medical interventions without their parent/caregiver’s involvement. Alicia works with her clinical supervisor to employ the trauma-informed ethical decision-making model, considering critical ethical principles, and aspects of the code of ethics, as well as state law. This text explores the counselor’s implementation of this approach, and ultimate outcomes, highlighting the role of family and community in the decision-making process.