The Importance Of Group Leadership

700 Words2 Pages

Group Leaders In the past two weeks, I have learned a great deal of what it means to be a group leader/counselor. A group leader is an extraordinary human being, who is fully knowledgeable in ethics and legal standards, advanced in techniques and skills, and consumes personal qualities motivating moral excellence in practice. It is essential group leaders involve personal and professional judgment in accordance with ethical and legal standards. Serious harm and damage is at hand, if group leaders do not adhere to ethical and legal guidelines when conducting group counseling (Corey, Corey, & Corey, 2010). It is the group leaders responsibility to work “with clients” instead of “on clients” in group counseling. The group leader can use resources …show more content…

The counselor is responsible for providing clients with adequate information pertaining to the counselor and the counseling process. Informed consent requires counselors to explain the rights and responsibilities of both the counselor and the client (ACA, 2014). The ACA Code of Ethics provides counselors with guidelines to practice in an ethical manner, however there is a need for clarity on guidelines when working in a group setting. This is where the Association of Specialists in Group Work (ASGW) comes into play. A group leader can follow the ACA Code of Ethics as well as the ASGW to ensure group members are being counseled ethically and legally appropriate. The ASGW, standard B.9, Ethical Surveillance, states, group members must employ appropriate ethical decision making when challenged with dilemmas (Thomas & Pender, 2008). I believe it is important to practice in an ethical and legal manner, however it is equally important to looks at the ramifications when group leaders violate informed …show more content…

If informed consent is not reached in an ethical manner, serious harm can implicate the group as a whole, the group members as individuals, and the leader. If the group leader has not implemented informed consent properly, group members are placed in harms way. The implication group members face is their right to express feelings towards the group and decide if the group is the right fit. The implication for group leaders when informed consent has not been conducted properly is ethical and legal misconduct. Group leaders are at risk for loosing their group leadership role. The group process can become implicated when informed consent is absent or ethically challenged. The group’s privacy can be implicated without the appropriate knowledge of informed consent (Corey, Corey, & Corey,

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