Rey Flores (They/Them), Research Coordinator at CCHE.
ETHICS
CCHE’s value of ethics states:
“We pledge to engage in thought-leading research and services that benefit the community we serve and addresses community needs and input. We will protect participants’ rights, safety, self-worth, integrity and autonomy”
Featuring one of the Center’s values, “Ethics,” I spoke with Rey Flores (They/Them), a research coordinator at CCHE, for September’s staff spotlight article.
Mx. Flores’s background stems from their work in social service and social work education. Mx. Flores works to further research and knowledge about sexual and gender minority folks impacted by stigma and its relation to their overall health. It is within both Rey’s and CCHE’s ethics to engage with research participants beyond data collection. While doing research in CCHE’S clinics participants are also offered any relevant resources for any issues they might be facing.
Rey says that they’ll be working on their ethics for their entire life. Ethics are ever changing, and there’s always more information and new perspectives to consider. Rey shared that many fall into the trap of believing that their ethics needs to align with their initial thinking. When someone is hurt, they’re allowed to feel and honor the emotions that come up, even if the emotion is anger. What we do with that anger is where our ethics show. “Being able to engage in conflict and being able to move past it with people is really important.” Before social work Rey worked for restaurant and coached children’s gymnastics; gaining experience in conflict management from mediating between patrons and chef’s and between parents and children respectively. Becoming angry is inevitable, but it’s not an emotion we need to hide from. Through conflict we are able to identify our own values and communicate through them, and establish boundaries around them.
“You’re not going to be perfect, nobody’s going to be perfect.”