Chaplains and Chaplaincy Associates are required to:
● Be a committed Christian who holds to the Apostles Creed and the
doctrines held by their relevant denomination.
● Maintain the highest ethical standards in their own personal life.
● Be personally accountable for their professional conduct to their
employing authority and/or Church authority.
● Maintain the highest standards of professional competence and integrity
in the pastoral, spiritual and religious care of recipients.
● Exercise the greatest sensitivity and discretion in matters of
confidentiality, privacy and respect for others.
● Continue to undertake professional development, enhancing their
chaplaincy skills; including attendance at Chaplaincy Australia
Conferences and regional meetings.
● Co-operate fully with industry professionals, Chaplaincy colleagues and
representatives of the Church in providing holistic care to others.
● Respect at all times the religious faith, practice and belief systems of
clients.
● Provide for the appropriate pastoral, spiritual and religious services
required by recipients.
● Ensure that no personal action or omission, within their own area of
responsibility, is contrary to the highest standards of care or to the
welfare of recipients.
● Be an active member of a local Church fellowship.
● Meet with their Senior Minister (or their appointee) periodically to
discuss their ministry and to ensure that accountability and
encouragement is being received.
● Engage in regular mentoring/supervision that contributes to your own
personal, spiritual and professional development.

AAOS Ethical Practice
Values, Guiding Principles and Professional Standards for Ethical Practice
AAOS seeks to foster a commitment to values driven practice.
Values can be defined as beliefs or ideals that are important to and are valued by an individual or,
collectively, to an organisation or culture.
Values in this context are the overarching principles that guide and define our behaviours and
attitudes in our lives. We carry this with us as supervisors and supervisees within the diversity of
our practice. Specific values we embrace include trust, confidentiality, mutuality, honesty, respect,
integrity and accountability.
Ethics are rules of behaviour based on ideas about what is morally good and bad (definition:
Merrian-Webster dictionary).
Good Ethical behaviour is apparent in the way supervisors conduct themselves in relationship with
supervisees, with peers and with others.
All AAOS supervisors, whether trainees or fully qualified in the profession, aim to work with good
values – driven ethical practice.
1. Relationship
Relationship is identified by AAOS as the overarching bond that directs and unites us. It
acknowledges that all our work as supervisors is relational and notes, as a guiding principle, that
relationships are multi-dimensional, and may be good or bad, effective, or ineffective, pleasant,
or disagreeable and fall anywhere on a continuum between these. Relationships are not static.
All relationships, even with oneself, contain an element of conflict. It is recognised that conflict
is a normal aspect of being human and contains the seeds of growth and change.
AAOS supervisors work relationally across disciplines, modalities, contexts, and professions.
AAOS encourages cross disciplinary exposure to enhance and accelerate growth.
Relationship in supervision includes (and is not exclusive of) all these aspects: self, others,
organisations, secondary relationships, the professional, colleagues and peers, training
organisation, group relationships and modalities.

2. Scope of Supervision
Supervision is concerned with the work of the supervisee NOT the supervisee’s clients.
Supervision on supervision is concerned with supporting the supervisor to reflect on their work
with their supervisees and NOT the behaviours of the supervisee’s clients and those in the
client’s world.
3. Values and Ethical Practice
Honesty – AAOS supervisors act with honesty and provided feedback that is open, fair and
reasonable.
Self-reflection – AAOS supervisors reflect on their practice to enhance their self-awareness and
to ensure they uphold good values and reflect on the consequences of their actions.
They reflect with their own supervisors to ensure their practices are delivered with integrity,
insight and timely interventions.
Sustainability – AAOS supervisors ensure their practices are supported and are sustained
through their own supervision and regular professional development.
4. Code of Practice
Establish appropriate boundaries:
Contracting: AAOs supervisors work with clearly defined contracts and accountabilities to their
supervisees and trainees and, if appropriate, with the organisations for which those supervisee
work.
Record keeping: AAOS supervisors will keep appropriate records of their sessions, stored to
ensure the privacy and confidentiality of the supervisees and only to be released to supervisees
on request or externally in response to a subpoena.
Mandatory reporting: AAOS supervisors may be required to be mandatory reporters if they
hear in session about acts of harm to a minor. The supervisor’s first step, however, would be to
encourage the supervisee to make the report. In addition, supervisors must be aware of their
own state legislation as there may be other mandatory requirements.
Notes must be kept in accordance with Federal privacy legislation. If the supervisee works with
minors, the supervisor is advised to consider their state or territory child protection legislations
with regards to their record keeping.
5. Respect, Integrity, and Accountability
AAOS supervisors work with their supervisees respectfully, with due regard for their feelings,
wishes, rights and cultural diversity.
AAOS supervisors work with humility, acknowledging, recognising, and never abusing the power
imbalances that exist in the supervisory relationship.
AAOS supervisor always behave with professionalism in their work, demonstrating reliability
and a willingness to continue to expand their knowledge and practice skills in:
• Working with diversity
• Acknowledgement of power differences
• Reliability
• Stretching and expanding potential
6. Do No Harm
AAOS supervisors ensure they do no harm in their practices by monitoring their supervisory
relationships to ensure integrity, transparency, and professionalism at all times.
AAOS supervisors are aware of their strengths and limitations and always maintaining clear
boundaries in their practice.
AAOS supervisors refer supervisees to others when the supervisee’s needs exceed the
supervisor’s areas of expertise.
AAOS supervisors have a fiduciary relationship with their supervisees. This means that the
supervisee places trust and confidence in, and may have a financial relationship with the
supervisor, who has responsibility to ensure their practice is competent and appropriate to the
supervisee’s needs.
AAOS supervisors ensure they are competent to practice by maintaining their own professional
development and having regular supervision on their supervision with qualified supervisors.
AAOS supervisors are aware of, and are explicit about, any dual (or multiple) relationships that
arise in the context of their supervision practice, and seek additional supervision to manage this
ethically and responsibly, referring their supervisees elsewhere should the need arise, regarding
all of the above, in summary regarding:
• Self-monitoring
• Self-care
• Supervisor strengths and limitations
• Fiduciary duty
• Transparency and disclosure
7. Reflection and Growth
AAOS supervisors are committed to their ongoing professional development and seek to
continuously improve their skills and practice to enable them to provide the best possible
service to their supervisees and peers.
AAOS supervisors demonstrate good judgement and ethical decision making in all aspects of
their work by approaching it with:
• Commitment
• Courage
• Open-minded enquiry
• Discernment
8. Manage Privacy and Informed Consent
AAOS supervisors seek informed consent from supervisees at the commencement of their
working relationship outlining confidentiality and contract issues, and at any point thereafter if
the supervisor is intending or required to disclosed to a third party.
AAOS supervisors are required to ensure all records of sessions are held in accordance with
State or Territory Privacy legislation.
The AAOS database is not shared with any other association or used for any other purpose than
AAOS business.

ACMN Code of Ethics
Preamble: Members of the Australian Christian Mentoring Network aspire to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects positively upon our Christian faith and the role of a mentor; are respectful of different
approaches to mentoring; and recognize that they are also bound by applicable laws and regulations.
Part One: Definitions
Mentoring: Christian Mentoring is intentional partnering with others in a Spirit led and creative process that helps them to recognise what God is saying to them as they aspire to maximize their personal and
professional potential.
Members of the Australian Christian Mentoring Network: those approved by the ACMN coordinating
committee and who agree to be accountable to the ACMN Code of Ethics.
Categories of membership: the ACMN maintains three membership categories
• Informal – mentoring usually offered to a limited number of people with a varying degree of
structure and no fees charged
• Formal – structured arrangements are a feature but a fee is not necessarily paid
• Professional – qualified mentors who establish written agreements, charge fees and operate
under professional supervision
Mentoring contract or agreement: a negotiated and mutually agreed document that clearly establishes
rights, roles, and responsibilities for both the mentor and the person being mentored.
Part Two: The Mentor and the Self
Personal Growth
ACMN mentors assume responsibility for their own personal growth by:
• receiving some form of mentoring themselves
• following personal and communal spiritual practices and disciplines.
Development as a Mentor
ACMN mentors take steps to enhance their mentoring ministry according to the category of their membership
• Informal mentors engage in self-directed learning and reflection
• Formal mentors engage in 5 hours of recognised continuing development each year
• Professional mentors engage in 10 hours of recognised continuing development each year, and
receive supervision from a qualified practitioner
Personal Health
ACMN mentors meet their needs outside their mentoring relationships in a variety of ways, especially by:
• self-care, wisely balancing time for spiritual practices, work, leisure, family, and personal
relationships
• recognizing and addressing the difficulties multiple roles or relationships pose to the
effectiveness or clarity of their mentoring relationships
• removing themselves from any situation that compromises the integrity of the mentoring
relationship.
Limitations
Mentors recognize the limits of:
• energy by restricting the number of mentees
• attentiveness by appropriate spacing of meetings with mentees
• competence by referring mentees to other appropriately qualified persons when necessary.
Part Three: Ethical Conduct in Mentoring Relationships
Section 1: Conduct at Large
As a mentor:
I will not knowingly make any public statement that is untrue or misleading about what I offer as a
mentor or make false claims in any written documents relating to mentoring or my credentials or the Australian Christian Mentoring Network.
I will accurately identify my mentoring qualifications, expertise, experience and certifications.
I will recognize and honour the efforts and contributions of others and not misrepresent them as my own. I understand that violating this standard may leave me subject to legal remedy by a third party.
I will, at all times, strive to recognize personal issues that may impair, conflict or interfere with my
mentoring or my mentoring relationships. Whenever the facts and circumstances necessitate, I will promptly seek professional assistance and determine the action to be taken, including whether it is appropriate to suspend or terminate my mentoring relationship(s).
I will conduct myself in accordance with the Australian Christian Mentoring Network Code of
Ethics in all mentor training, mentoring and mentor supervisory activities.
I will conduct and report research with competence, honesty and within recognized scientific standards and applicable subject guidelines. My research will be carried out with the necessary consent and approval of those involved and with an approach that will protect participants from any potential harm. All research efforts will be performed in a manner that complies with all the
applicable laws of the country in which the research is conducted.
I will maintain, store, and dispose of any records created during my mentoring in a manner that
promotes confidentiality, security and privacy, and complies with any applicable laws and
agreements
I will use Australian Christian Mentoring Network contact information (email addresses, telephone
numbers, etc.) only in the manner and to the extent authorized by the ACMN.
Section 2: Conflicts of Interest
As a mentor:
1. I will seek to avoid conflicts of interest (actual, potential or perceived) and openly disclose any
such conflicts. I will offer to remove myself when such a conflict arises.
2. 3. I will only barter for services, goods or other non-monetary remuneration when it will not impair
the mentoring relationship.
I will not knowingly take any personal, professional or monetary advantage or benefit of the
mentoring relationship, except by a form of compensation as agreed in a written agreement or
contract.
Section 3: Professional Conduct
As a mentor:
I will not knowingly mislead or make false claims about what my mentee will receive from the
mentoring process or from me as the mentor.
I will not give my prospective mentees information or advice I know or believe to be misleading or
false.
I will facilitate a clear understanding of mutual expectations with my mentees. When mentoring in
the professional category I will have a written agreement. Whether they are verbal or written, I will honour all agreements or contracts made in the context of mentoring relationships.
I will carefully explain and strive to ensure that, prior to or at the initial meeting, my mentee
understands all aspects of our mentoring arrangement including the nature of Christian
mentoring, the nature and limits of confidentiality, and any financial responsibilities. Should we
have a written agreement, all terms contained in it will be clearly explained.
I will be responsible for setting clear, appropriate, and culturally sensitive boundaries that govern
any physical contact I may have with my mentees.
I will not become sexually intimate with any of my current mentees.
I will respect the mentee's right to terminate the mentoring relationship at any point during the
process, subject to the provisions of any agreement or contract we may have. I will be alert to indications that the mentee is no longer benefiting from our mentoring relationship.
I will encourage the mentee to make a change if I believe they would be better served by another
mentor, professional service or resource.
Section 4: Confidentiality and Privacy
As a mentor:
I will maintain the strictest levels of confidentiality with all mentee information. I will have an
additional, specific agreement or contract with my mentee before releasing information to another
person, unless required by law.
I will establish a clear understanding of how mentoring information will be exchanged between
mentor and mentee. This will be expressed in any written contract we may have.
When acting as a trainer of mentors, I will clarify confidentiality policies.
I will ensure that mentors associated with me, in a paid or volunteer capacity, also make clear
agreements or contracts to adhere to the ACMN Code of Ethics.
Part Four: The ACMN Pledge of Ethics
As a member of the ACMN, I acknowledge and agree to honour my ethical and legal obligations to those I mentor, colleagues and to the public at large. I pledge to comply with the ACMN Code of Ethics and to practice these standards with those whom I mentor.
If I breach this Pledge of Ethics or any part of the ACMN Code of Ethics, I agree that the ACMN, in its
sole discretion, may hold me accountable for so doing. I further agree that my accountability to the
ACMN for any breach may include sanctions, such as loss of my ACMN Membership.