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It is common knowledge that marriage and family therapists are ethically obligated to provide competent care to their clients and that they need to engage in systematic decision-making processes to ensure they are providing the best care. Yet, a comprehensive guide for ethical decision-making specifically accounting for the unique nuances of working with relational-systemic clients from a relational-systemic conceptual lens is lacking. Thus, the aim of this article is to outline the current understandings of the unique ethical issues experienced when working with relational-systemic clients and to review currently utilized ethical decision making models in the hopes of providing guidance regarding the development of a specific relational-systemic ethical decision-making model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethical decision-making within marriage and family therapy is complex and often convoluted due to the relational-systemic nature of the clinical services provided. The aim of this article is to provide an overview for a new model for ethical decision-making in marriage and family therapy. This new model, entitled the Butterfly Model, will then be applied to a case vignette for illustration. It is hoped that the Butterfly Model can provide marriage and family therapists with a guide for ethical decision-making that is tailored more for the relational-systemic work they engage in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]