Confidentiality And Confidentiality In Counseling

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Confidentiality is extremely important in providing any type of counseling or mental health treatment, however confidentiality is an ethical concern. Chemical dependency counseling has a set code of ethics, guidelines and regulations that seek to safeguard the interests of everybody involved. The guidelines and regulations are put in place to protect a client’s right to privacy by ensuring that matters disclosed to a professional not be relayed to others without the conformed consent of the client. Laws and ethics ensure that everyone acts in a way that does not cause harm to others. Laws and ethics also help to give the profession its credibility.
There are federal and state guidelines and regulations pertaining to code of ethics. Here in Washington under WAC 246-924-363, “Protecting confidentiality of clients”, you will find the state regulations. All professionals shall safeguard the confidential information obtained in the course of practice, teaching, research, or other professional, (WAC 246-924-363). Many of the same codes fall under federal regulation as well. The National Association of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors has a section reviewing confidently, “Addiction professionals shall provide information to clients regarding confidentiality and any reasons for releasing information in adherence with confidentiality laws” (NAADAC, 2011).
Since there are laws regarding confidentially it is important that the addiction professional inform the client of the limits of confidentiality and obtain agreement from the client. Clients receiving substance abuse prevention and treatment services are guaranteed strict confidentially under Title 42, part 2, of the Code of Federal Regulations. These regulations help to protect p...

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In conclusion, confidentiality in counseling benefits both the counselor and the client. The counselor gains the public trust through the promise of confidentiality. The potential clients feel at peace at the idea of seeking treatment that will remain confidential. The counselor gets clients and clients feel motivated and at ease with counseling. Confidentiality however has limitations. The counselor needs to make sure that their clients are well aware of the exceptions to confidentiality before the counseling commences. Maintaining confidentiality involves more than just the mentioning the client’s name. It also includes not giving away information that will clearly identify the client. Counselors need to be careful and diligent especially during practice and discussions and ensure they do not give away any information that could easily lead back to the client.

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