Counselor should never have a dual relationship with a client it can bring a lot of ethics issue that affect the client and counselor. According to ACA "A.6.b. Extending Counseling Boundaries Counselors consider the risks and bene ts of extending current counsel- ing relationships beyond conventional parameters. Examples include attend- ing a client’s formal ceremony (e.g., a wedding/commitment ceremony or graduation), purchasing a service or product provided by a client (excepting unrestricted bartering), and visiting a cli- ent’s ill family member in the hospital. In extending these boundaries, counselors take appropriate professional precau- tions such as informed consent, consul- tation, supervision, and documentation to ensure that judgment
Moreover, both codes strive to promote the wellness, autonomy, and right to justice for individuals utilizing services. A further similarity between the two codes includes standards on sexual and/or romantic relationships with former clients, such as a counselor is prohibited from engaging in a sexual and/or romantic relationship with a former client for a minimum of 5 years after the last known professional encounter (ACA Code of Ethics, 2014, p. 5; AMHCA Code of Ethics, 2010, p. 4). Although engaging in a sexual and/or romantic relationshup with a former client may seem unlikely, this distinction and timeframe might be valuable to some individuals throughout their career. Furthermore, both ethical codes agree that when a counselor counsels multiple clients, such as individuals in a relationship, the counselor must clearly deliniate the roles within the theraputic dynamic and adjust and/or terminate the dynamic if the roles become unclear at any point (ACA Code of Ethics, 2014, p. 6; AMHCA Code of Ethics, 2010, p. 5). This is important to note due to the fact that the issue of multiple relationships in a therapeutic setting occurs frequently. In respect to termination, both ethical codes state that a counselor does not abandon or neglect a client, but rather make appropriate refferals as needed (ACA Code of
According to Allison L. Kramer (2016) in her “Why we can’t be friends” article, researches have observed numerous relationships between psychotherapists and their present and/ or previous clients. Boundary issues have been studied in the world of ethics and dual-role relationships with current clients are ordinary for some practitioners in their daily practice. Meaning it isn’t rare to run into dual relationships in counseling. These relationships aren’t always negative nor avoidable states Kramer. The example she used for dual-role relationships being advantageous and unavoidable was a school guidance counselor having multiple roles in the school. The counselor could also be “a coach of a sports team, thus filling both a counselor and
If the therapist sent flowers it would definitely be an instance of boundary crossing. The action of sending flowers would raise concerns about the nature of the psychologist-patient relationship. There is a risk of violating APA ethics code General Principle A: Beneficence and Nonmaleficence as well as General Principle G: Fidelity and Responsibility. The act of giving a gift to a patient no longer in therapy does not serve to achieve a therapeutic goal but it instead focuses on an area unrelated to therapy. Therefore there is no therapeutic benefit to the former patient. In fact, because there is no therapeutic rational in giving the former patient a gift, the act of giving the gift may actually cause the patient harm. According to APA ethics code 3.4 Avoiding Harm, the
Ethical issues in a counseling practice lay the foundation of a therapist in practice. Ethics are at the center of how the counseling process functions and operates in a successful manner for the clients who seek help in such a setting. In order for the counseling profession to be ethical and hold professional recognition, there are many facets that need to be examined and outlined to make sure all counselors and practitioners are functioning at the highest level and withholding their duties required by the counseling profession. The first introduction so to speak of the area of ethics also happens to be one of the first steps in counseling, which is the informed consent. The informed consent provides the basis of what happens or will be happening in a counseling setting and serves to inform the client to their rights, responsibilities, and what to expect. Most importantly, the informed consent is in place for the client’s benefit. It also is important to understand that culture and environment play a role in the treatment of a client and how theories can positively or negatively impact this treatment. Therapists need to understand how to work within the context of a theory while being able to understand the individual in their own environment. Although theories are put into place to serve as a framework, there are also alternative ways to approach counseling, one example being evidence-based practice. Such an approach is very specific, which presents a series of solutions for counseling as a whole, but also brings forth many problems. Every approach or theory introduces ethical concerns that need to be taken into consideration by the entire counseling community and how each can positively and negatively affect clients and the pr...
As a future counselor, I have enjoyed learning about the different techniques and theories of counseling. Understanding each approach is important but I believe that the counselors self knowledge of her or his own values, worldviews and life philosophy is just as important for the counselor to do the job effectively. Each theory that we learned about, I could see being helpful to different people, their circumstance and individual problem. I can see myself using different parts of each in my future career. Currently, I more drawn to the Adlerian theory. I understand and agree when Adler believed that people do have the ability to monitor and control the direction of their lives.The unconscious shapes personality,
Values, Morals, and Beliefs are components that play a role in an individual’s self-identity. The establishment of these components shape human nature, behavior, and the development of an individual’s purpose. The basis of these fundamentals has contributed to my desire to become a counselor. This paper will discuss my views of human nature, factors of behavior changes, goals of therapy, the roles of a therapist, and the counseling approaches that I chose to incorporate in a practice.
“Dual or multiple relationships” is a second relationship that arises between two individuals who are currently or were previously relating with each other in a professional social worker to client manner. In my understanding, it is a relationship that is outside what is intended, and goes beyond to break professional boundaries that formerly existed between two people who may have same or different professionals. In view of the ethical values, dual relationship includes factors such as; bartering for goods and, or services; providing therapy to a relative or a relative of a friend; socializing with clients; and lastly, becoming emotionally attached to or involved with the client or former client
The counseling session began with the introductions where I introduced myself as the counselor and later introduced my client. This stage is important in any counseling session since it is the time of exploration and focusing according to Gerard Egan as quoted by Wright (1998) in his essay on couselling skills. It is in this session that I was able to establish rapport and trust with my client in order to come up with a working and fruitful relationship with him. During this stage I made use of skills like questioning, where I would pose a question directly to my client, sometimes I would choose to just listen to what the client wanted to speak out while in some instances I would be forced to paraphrase the question if I felt the client did not understand the question I had asked previously. There were also other times when I would reflect through silence. During such a period, I got time to study the client and the information he had given. This being a difficult area, since some clients may not be able to volunteer information to you as the counselor, I decided to assure the client of confidentiality of any information he was willing to share with me with a few exceptions which I also told him about. Being open to him about the only times the information may not be confidential was part of my building rapport and establishing trust with him. I therefore, decided to ask the client what information he wanted to share with me and lucky enough he was ready to speak to me about different issues that he was going through.
Dual relationships are common yet unethical in psychology. The professional plays a huge role on whether the dual relationships gets established between both themselves and the client. Although there have been cases where the client initiates and tries to take the relationship to the next level, it is ultimately the professionals decision to continue such act knowing that it is unethical of them to do so and is essentially hurting the counseling sessions for the client. Pope (1991) states that a dual relationship is when the therapist is in another significantly different relationship with their client. There a various type of “second roles” that could play in perspective with the client, some being, professional, financial or social.
...imes, this alone will clarify the issues enough that the resolution of the dilemma will become obvious. In more complicated cases it is helpful to be able to work through the steps of an ethical decision making model and to assess which of these moral principles may be in conflict. Always remember the reason we chose this profession was for the benefit and wellbeing of the client. Van Hoose and Paradise (1979) offered a suggestion for counselors that may be wandering if their actions as a counselor towards a client are ethical or not. They suggest that if the counselor keeps a personal and professional honesty coupled with the best interests of the client in mind, without malice or gain and can justify her/his actions as the best judgment of what should be done based upon the current state of the profession, then they are probably acting in an ethical way.
Helping people, whether it is through difficult times or to just achieve a goal, is one of the most rewarding of human experiences. However, with it being so rewarding, there is significant difficulty behind successfully helping someone. Luckily there are people that specialize in helping such as peer counsellors. Although helping does come naturally for some, certain things can be learnt to make one a better helper.
The most important aspect of multiple relationships is that the client could file a malpractice lawsuit as a result of harm or exploitation. These relationships can be ethical or unethical as well as avoidable or unavoidable. Furthermore, counseling a family member is unethical and can cause problems in the family. As a matter fact, these situations create challenges for the client, counselor, and family members. In fact, these relationships can lead to boundary confusion, boundary violation, and cloudiness in the professional or family relationship. Boundary violation, for instance, happens as a consequence of the counselor requiring the client to work in the counseling office. Consequently, when the roles of both the counselor and the client become perplexed, it results in boundary confusion. Boundary violation and confusion can lead to cloudiness in the therapeutic relationship. Being direct in the session and setting crystal clear boundaries and defined roles is the only way in which the cloudiness will dissipate or not
It is imperative to study counseling theories when beginning field based work. Counseling theories provide a foundation to be able to learn and develop my own techniques. Some ideas that exemplify the significance of counseling theories are; research, application of theories, and case studies.
In counseling, there are many processes used by a counselor in his sessions with a client. These may be done in a specific order or however which way the counselor sees them to be appropriate. Listed below are the different processes that may be undertaken during a counseling session. 1. Before meeting a counselee, the counselor tries to find out as much as he can about the former. This is done so that he may discern what will help the client most. Also, he has to fathom the counselee's past so that he will know beforehand how he can help him. 2. The counselor and the counselee take some time to get to know each other. This is a process that works both ways, as does the entire counseling process upon which they are about to embark. In the process, the counselee's needs are assessed and appropriate therapy may be chosen. 3. Questionnaires or tests may be given to the counselee to prove or disprove the counselor's initial findings. It may be too early to judge the counselee right away but this may help the counselor in the totality of the sessions. 4. The counselor needs to determine, with greater accuracy, the nature of the emotion and experience that is behind the counselee's current difficulties by further detailed examination of the latter's history. Some of the issues and patterns raised in the questionnaires or tests may be raised and any relationships that may be analogous to initial observations may be noted with the behaviors and feelings involved. 5. The counselor ...
When entering into a counseling relationship with new clients, psychologists must take reasonable and appropriate steps to ensure that those relationships are not blurred by conflicting or overlapping professional, social or interpersonal roles. Section 3.05 of the American Psychological Association (APA) code of ethics makes it clear that, where such roles may exist, they hold the potential to create confusion and impair the professional judgment