Counselor Ethics and Responsibilities PDF

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Counselor Ethics and Responsibilities...

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Running head: COUNSELOR ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Counselor Ethics and Responsibilities Marcie Burger PCN 505 Professional Counseling Orientation and Ethics Shaunie DuBose 12 December 2018

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Running head: COUNSELOR ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Counselor Ethics and Responsibilities Responsible for the guidance of individuals, groups, and couples, who are affected by mental ailments, counselors are to encourage change and provide coping techniques to clients when plausible. Oftentimes treating clients whose values and beliefs differ from their own, counselors are expected to make competent ethical judgments, remaining impartial throughout the interaction. Alongside the direction provided by the American counseling association’s code of ethics, clinicians are able to provide adequate care, as well as bear a guide for handling situations that may seem like a grey area. Client Rights Widely recognized due to the vulnerability that it allows the client, autonomy is necessary so not to impede on the client’s ability to make their own decisions about which interventions they will or will not receive during treatment (Entwistle, Carter, Cribb, & McCaffery, 2010). Employing therapeutic techniques such as active listening and probing questions or seeking clarification, offer a chance for the counselor to obtain an elaborated description of the topic, as well as allows the client to vocalize what will help them during sessions. By allowing clients to have a voice in the treatment that they receive, and to make informed decisions supports the development and use of autonomy-enhancing approaches to empower the client (Entwistle, Carter, Cribb, & McCaffery, 2010). Involving the ethical and legal duty to avoid harming other, non-maleficence holds as a principle for treating clients in your care (Beauchamp & Childress, 2008). Practicing outside of one’s scope of practice leaves liability for the counselor to cause harm to the client by not being educated in the area of duress the client is experiencing. Warranting the right of having a

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Running head: COUNSELOR ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

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clinician who is current and experienced in the skills necessary to treat the client, counselors should remain aware of their level of skill and when they would be providing more harm than not. Compelled to offer and create an optimum therapeutic space for the client, beneficence includes the responsibility of assisting those when necessary, protecting the confidentiality of clients, and assuring the rights of said clients (Brown, 2017). To practice this principle ethically, it would look like actively engaging with the client in an understanding or compassionate manner. Holding space for the client and allowing them to expose themselves without feelings of judgment, as well as the counselor keeping this in mind (Brown, 2017), make for a great example of how beneficence can be inserted into the treatment of clients. Defined as “treating equals equally and unequals unequally but in proportion to their relevant differences” (Kitchener, 1984), to offer justice to clients does mean to offer a one size fits all model. To provide justice for clients means to be able to give clients a solution that is appropriate for the course of treatment. Displaying justice within counseling is portrayed when a blind client arrives and is given a form written in braille vs. a standard form. While the client’s difference is taken into account, they are given the same information that any other client would receive. A therapeutic relationship with no rapport is a therapeutic relationship that will not last. Established as a safe space, the client must be able to trust the counselor and their skills if the relationship is to truly become beneficial (Forester-Miller & Davis, 2016). In order to remain in allegiance with the client, it will be essential that the counselor take care not to threaten the therapeutic relationship or to leave responsibilities incomplete (Forester-Miller & Davis, 2016).

Running head: COUNSELOR ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

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An ongoing part of the curative relationship, mental health clinicians have an obligation to support appropriate arrangements for the continuation of treatment when necessary and following termination (Association, 2014). Equipped with the freedom to decide whether to enter into or remain in a counseling relationship, and receive adequate information about the counseling process and the counselor, clients are afforded the right to make informed decisions about their care through informed consent (Association, 2014). Mandated to provide clients with consent forms in both writing and verbally, the process of informed consent is an ongoing part of counseling, and therapists should properly notate discussions had with clients surrounding informed consent throughout the counseling relationship (Association, 2014). Encompassing the topic of client billing, counselors are expected to practice ethical and honest billing practices. Falling under the scope of informed consent, a counselor who is participating in ethical billing practices will include accurate accounting expenses, accurate documentation of interactions with clients, and ethical reporting of professional conduct (Association, 2014). Inculcated by the US Department of Health and Human Services, HIPPA was established as a set of measures placed to assure the individual’s health information was safeguarded appropriately. Venturing to ensure that the correct persons receive access to an individual’s sensitive health information, HIPPA statutes are designed to protect the privacy of an individual’s recognizable health information and to assure that information is released for the appropriate purposes (Office for Civil Rights (OCR), 2017). Outside of additional partnerships, the ACA code of ethics is applicable to all mental health clinicians. Enacted by the American Counseling Association, the code of ethics yields the clinician a guide to acceptable ethical processes and resources for encounters that may be

Running head: COUNSELOR ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

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ethically questionable. By following the stipulations in place, it will guarantee that clinicians are continuously in compliance and providing their clients with informed consent while protecting their confidentiality and privacy during treatment. Responsibility to Warn and Protect Lacking a universal interpretation of what warn and protect constitutes in different states, it is important to have a basic understanding of the responsibilities that counselors have to protect clients and the public. Commonly regarded as the duty to warn and protect when the welfare of others is threatened (Corey, Corey Schneider, Corey, & Callanan, 2015), it will be important for counselors to outline what they consider a threat and when it is, time to intervene with a client. Engaging with a client who is emotionally disturbed, acting violently, making threats, and having suicidal and homicidal ideations are all situations where it is deemed necessary for the counselor to breach confidentiality (Corey, Corey Schneider, Corey, & Callanan, 2015). Mandated reporters, counselors have an ethical duty to inform the fitting persons of any threats to themselves or others. Client Record Keeping Serving various reasons, adequate record keeping aims to provide high-quality service to clients and to maintain continuity of care when the client is transferred from one professional to the other (Corey, Corey Schneider, Corey, & Callanan, 2015). While records ensure that the clients are taken care of, they also serve as a history that the therapist can use to review treatment over a course of time. Maintaining adequate records is also the standard of care. By documenting relevant and accurate interactions with clients, counselors are able to protect themselves from malpractice claims that may arise, ensure that counselors are providing quality care to clients,

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and be a useful advantage in a risk management strategy (Corey, Corey Schneider, Corey, & Callanan, 2015). Self-Care Disclosed as the ability of counselors to be self-aware of signs that signal impairment be it physical, mental, or emotional, self-care within the ACA code of ethics assures that counselors abstain from providing counseling services until they’ve been treated (Association, 2014). A learned habit, I was raised to place everyone's needs above my own. Through my own counseling experience and obstacles that I’ve faced throughout adulthood, my dedication to selfcare has been radical and uncompromising. An avid supporter of everyone engaging in counseling, I agree that students in counseling programs should themselves have to experience counseling. There’s an old saying, “you can’t help anyone if you aren’t okay yourself”. Although counselors themselves are human and may place their own values and beliefs upon clients, I believe that if the counselor has had the chance to work through unexposed trauma, they will themselves benefit and therefore be beneficial to their clients. If I listen to my body, I always see the signs of impairment before they hit me head on. Irritability, vertigo, headaches, a mild case of trichotillomania (picking my eyelashes), chest pain, all physically remind me when it’s time to take a break and tend to myself. Passionate about becoming more in sync with my body, I’ve started pole dancing, doing yoga, and attending cycling classes as self-care means. I look forward to trying pilates and betting my meditation, I can also never go wrong with reading a good book, taking a hot bath, or just bundling up with a good movie or tv show and Chinese food as forms of self-care. Advocacy

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Exposed as having nothing to do with the way an individual was raised, the topic of sexuality, specifically homosexuality is still a concern in many states. Banned in all but a few states, the practice of conversion therapy on minors is a way to advocate for clients on a governmental level. Offering statistics on the deplorable outcomes and harm that conversion therapy causes within young men and women, counselors have the ability to practice beneficence for the sake of their clients and others. Counselor Values Abortion Abortion counseling needs to be supportive and nonjudgemental regardless of the circumstances (Asher, 1972). Abortion is a topic that evokes strong emotions on either side of the line. Obligated with the care of a nineteen-year-old rape victim, it is imperative that the counselor place their values wayside. A supporter of the rights of women to make their own decisions regarding their bodies, I also understand that this decision is one that is not taken lightly and afford clients the space to explore their feelings and thoughts about such. Upon meeting with my nineteen-year-old rape client who has become pregnant and is now seeking to have an abortion, I would work to ensure that she is okay with the prospect of her religious parents disowning her after her decision. As she stands firm in her decision, it is important that as her counselor I validate her choice, and also convey to her that people must be willing to change before their minds can be changed and that this may not be a quick fix with her parents as they are religious. An advocate for my client, it is important that I respect how this situation makes her feel and take into account her background and continue discussions around how we can prepare her for an unfavorable response (Association, 2014).

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Gay Adoption No path to parenthood is the same. Upon meeting John and Bill a gay couple who are seeking to expand their family, my values are of no problem in this scenario. Valuing love and believing that it should be offered to everyone, the fact that they are a gay couple matters none to me. Differing on whether to use an adoption agency or surrogate, this would involve having a candid discussion with the couple around how they would both feel if the child has a genetic connection to one father and not the other. Providing guidance, education, and clarification, my job as a counselor in the fertility field is to aid couples in clarifying and exploring potential roes as well as what the potential outcomes could be for all parties involved. Conclusion Advancing in the professional counseling program, the exploration of client rights, client record-keeping, counselor values, responsibilities, self-care, and advocacy prepare me to be a well-informed clinician. Adhering to policies established by the ACA, NBCC, and NAADAC assures that I will remain ethical in all facets of counseling. Understanding that the client is the priority and recognizing how all facets of the profession tie into the protection of not only the clients but for the clinicians as well, counselors are able to provide care knowing the ethics and responsibilities expected of them to provide the best care possible. counselors are able to provide care knowing the ethics and responsibilities expected of them to provide the best care possible.

Running head: COUNSELOR ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

References Asher, J. (1972). Abortion Counseling . Am J Public Health , 686- 688. Association, A. C. (2014). ACA Code of Ethics. Alexandria, VA: Author. Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. (2008). Principles of Biomedical Ethics (6th ed.). New York : Oxford University Press . Brown, D. (2017). Nonmaleficence and Beneficence . In D. Brown, Ethics in Administration: A Practical Approach for Decision Makers (pp. 47- 64). Sage. Corey, G., Corey Schneider , M., Corey , C., & Callanan , P. (2015). Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions . Stamford : Cengage Learning . Entwistle, V. A., Carter , S. M., Cribb, A., & McCaffery , K. (2010). Supporting Patient Autonomy: The Importance of Clinician-Patient Relationships. J Gen Intern Med, 741745. doi:10.1007/s11606-010-1292-2 Forester-Miller, H., & Davis , T. E. (2016). Practiitioner's Guide to Ethical Decision Making. Retrieved from American Counseling Association : http://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/ethics/practioner’s-guide-toethicaldecision-making.pdf Kitchener, K. (1984). Intuition, Critical Evaluation and Ethical Principles: The Foundation for Ethical Decisions in Counseling Psychology . Counseling Psychologist, 43- 55. Office for Civil Rights (OCR). (2017, December 19). Information Related to Mental and Behavioral Health, Including Opioid Overdose. Retrieved from U.S. Department of

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Running head: COUNSELOR ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Health and Human Services: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/specialtopics/mental-health/index.html

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