Counselor Ethics and Responsibilities
CNL-505 Topic 4: Counselor Ethics and Responsibilities Assignment GuidelinesDirections: Follow the directions below to write a paper of 1,750-2,100 words on counselor ethics and responsibilities. Provide a thoughtful response to each of the following sections, including specific, concrete examples to illustrate your ideas. Use the section headings provided below to separate each section of your paper. Your final deliverable should be one cohesive paper addressing all six sections along with an introduction and conclusion.This paper requires six scholarly references including your textbook.Part One:Please note that Part One must be written in the third person. Section 1: The Counselor’s Role in Protecting Client Rights 1)One of the roles of clinical mental health counselors is to do no harm. Based on research, describe how counselors incorporate the following five principles of ethical practice in order to maintain client rights. a)Autonomy b)Nonmaleficence c)Beneficence d)Justicee)Fidelity2)In all clinical settings the informed consent process is important because it protects the privacy and dignity of the client. Discuss how the informed consent process protects client rights in the following areas:a)Billingb)Right to Privacyc)HIPAA complianced)Compliance with credentialing board requirements for incorporating informed consent into practiceSection 2: Responsibility to Warn and Protect Identify the factors that you will consider in order to determine your “duty to warn” and “duty to protect” responsibilities as a counselor. Be sure to consider ethical guidelines as well as the legal considerations pertaining to the "duty to warn" and "duty to protect" in the state in which you plan to practice.
All Rights Reserved.Section 3: Client Record-Keeping Discuss the role of the counselor for client record keeping in protecting the following:a)A client's right to a professional standard of careb)The counselor from malpracticec)Notification of client’s rightsd)Storing files and documents electronicallyPart Two:Section 4: Self-Care After reading the introduction of Section C “Professional Responsibility” in the American Counseling Association (ACA) or American School Counseling Association (ASCA) Code of Ethics, discuss the following:1.What does the ACA or ASCA Code of Ethics say about self-care?2.How do you plan to maintain a healthy balance between your professional and personal life?3.What healthy self-care activities have you engaged in in the past or present?4.What healthy self-care activities have you considered but have not implemented?5.What are some red flags suggesting that you may need to address personal issues to avoid personal impairment?6.How do you feel about counselors receiving personal counseling? Some counseling programs require it. What counseling resources are available for you in your area? (Please note: The Counseling Community Connections website has a Counselor and Counseling Resource List available to you. The direct link is in the Topic 4 Resources. Please contact GCU Tech Support if you have difficulties logging into the website.)Section 5: AdvocacyGo to the Take Action webpage on the American Counseling Association website, located in the Topic 4 Resources, to find options to advocate for the counselors and the counseling profession at the governmental level. Summarize a population you are passionate about how you can get involved. What ethical responsibilities does a counselor have for advocacy? Cite at least one ACA code.Section 6: Counselor Values 1)Select one of the following issues you feel strongest about from the following: a)Abortion. (A 19-year-old rape victim wants an abortion, but her parents are vehemently opposed to abortion on religious grounds and have stated that they will no longer consider her their daughter if she proceeds. The young woman is firm in her plans but wants your help in changing her parents’ attitudes.)
All Rights Reserved.b)Gay adoption. (John and Bill, after living in a committed relationship for 7 years, decide that they want to begin a family. They have differing opinions about whether to use a surrogate mother or adopt a child.) c)Assisted suicide. (Eleanor, an 87-year-old with terminal cancer, has decided to end her life but is undecided about how to discuss this with her family, or if she should discuss it with them at all. She seeks your guidance in this decision but is not interested in revisiting her decision to end her life.)d)Extramarital affairs. (Both spouses in a couple you are counseling are having affairs, which they claim are not contributing in any way to their current marital difficulties. They want your help in strengthening their marriage, but they are both committed to the “open marriage” concept that does not require sexual monogamy.)2)Describe your personal values and attitudes towards the selected issues as well as how you would advocate for the client(s) in each situation you selected. How would you work with a client who was in direct conflict with your advocacy group/ a group that you are passionate about? HINT: Make sure you review the respective code of ethics specific to your program of study (ACA or ASCA). Reference the relevant ethical codes in your response.
Counselor Ethics and Responsibility
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Counselor Ethics and Responsibility
Ethics plays a crucial role in counseling because it provides a framework for ensuring the safety of both clients and counselors by defining thoroughly what comprises an ethical course of action. Various challenging issues often leave the client in a vulnerable position. Under these circumstances, the counselor must behave ethically and adhere to some ethical framework. Technically, counselors owe a duty of care to their clients. By definition, counselors are supposed to act in the client's best interest, which includes advancing desired objectives and interests, optimizing client gains, and preventing client harm. Therefore, counselors have an ethical responsibility to safeguard the client's rights, to caution and protect the client, to ensure appropriate record keeping, to practice self-care, to advocate for the improvement of the counseling profession, and to demonstrate the most pertinent values in dilemmatic situations.
Section 1: The Counselor's Role in Protecting Client Rights
The American Counselling Association (ACA) provides key principles and guidelines that counselors must meet to maintain client rights. First, counselors embrace autonomy by encouraging clients to make judgments and behave per their ideals (Pilecki et al., 2021). The counselor must help clients understand how their decisions and values may be received within the societal context and how they may affect others' rights. Second, counselors incorporate the principle of justice by treating clients in the same way as any other client in all other regards. However, treating everyone the same is not what justice entirely entails. If a client is to be treated differently, the counselor must be able to articulate why this is appropriate and beneficial. Thirdly, the counselor must practice beneficence by taking steps to improve the client's situation through prevention and early intervention. Beneficence represents the counselor's ethical commitment to supporting the client's well-being.
The counselor should also practice nonmaleficence by refraining from harming others or taking risks that could put them in danger. A counselor's duty to prevent harm is to weigh the risks against the rewards. Lastly, the counselor should practice fidelity by taking precautions to avoid jeopardizing the therapeutic relationship or neglecting commitments. Fidelity is the quality of being loyal, trustworthy, and reliable, keeping promises, and being honest. If clients are going to progress, they need to feel safe with their counselor and confident in the therapeutic connection.
The counselor must provide the client with the information necessary to give informed consent before enrolling in a counseling organization. This informed consent is necessary under all state practice guidelines and all professional ethics regulations. In the context of bailing, informed consent involves notifying the client about the counselor's policies and their rights under federal and state law. The patient must always have access to this form and retain a copy of the form that has been duly signed and filed in the patient's medical record. Privacy law allows for various informed consent formats, but essential data must be included for the consumer to give his genuine informed consent. While informed consent is a legal document and must comply with HIPAA and credentialing board demands for incorporating it into practice, it must also be appealing, supportive, and easy to understand. Because the client reads and recalls this document before initiating therapy, it can set the tone for the first session.
Section 2: Responsibility to Warn and Protect
There are many considerations I would evaluate while weighing my duty to warn and duty to protect. First, the satisfaction and security of the clients are the priority. The client may miss the opportunity for therapeutic intervention that could have led to long-term progress if I, as the counselor, need to be more sensitive in developing an evaluation. Second, respecting the client's independence is crucial in therapeutic relationships. Facilitating clients' self-development and, in turn, reducing their danger to society may be as simple as encouraging them to learn coping skills like anger management. Third, to help a client who has shown a desire to harm others, I have the therapeutic opportunity and the responsibility to act as a role model for social responsibility. Thus, I am responsible for making the client aware of the repercussions of their action. Finally, clinicians who comply with duty-to-warn regulations may worry about retaliation if they disclose patient information or warn others about a patient's potentially dangerous condition. Both scenarios pose legal and professional risks to the therapist because there is no foolproof method for gauging a client's propensity toward violence.
Counselors who work with potentially violent clients can refer to several ethical guidelines designed to help them fulfill their professional and legal responsibilities. First, at the onset and during the counseling relationship, the therapist must explain the boundaries of client confidentiality and have them signed off on by the client in an informed consent form. Second, the counselor must devise and implement measures to assess dangerousness, such as determining if the danger is immediate and if there is a specific target. A history of violence, an appraisal of current thinking, and an examination of violent behaviors are all necessary components of a complete dangerousness assessment. If the counselor believes the risk is imminent, they will contact the victim and other appropriate specialists.
Section 3: Client Record-Keeping
Counselors and their patients benefit from detailed records detailing therapy plans, services rendered, and patient advancement. Record keeping helps counselors check their efficacy by proving that they have planned and carried out a treatment regimen (Luepker, 2012). Records may be extremely helpful when there is a large amount of time between client encounters or when the client seeks services from a different provider. Similarly, the counselor and the client might benefit from proper documentation in case of a legal or ethical challenge.
The record-keeping process involves the requirements of the particular professional context and the requirements of the law, ethics, and other external restraints. A client deserves to be treated with the same care and consideration that other clients receive from their service providers. The counselor must strike an appropriate balance between competing variables, especially when one set of factors suggests a different action route than another. These rules are meant to help counselors when drawing such findings. The counselor is responsible for keeping records and protecting the clien...