Counselor Ethics and Responsibilities Essay

In this paper I go out discuss guidance Ethics and Responsibilities to include my own ad hominem thoughts and values concerning abortion and illicit affairs and how I would in mortal provide ethical counseling to a leaf nodes struggling with abortion and or extramarital affair issues. Next I will discuss leaf nodes right to autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice and reliancefulness in ethical counseling. Then I will cover the factors that must be con statusred in job to warn and similarly duty to protect obligations as a counseling. Fin altogethery, I will discuss lymph node go into keeping a guests right to a nonrecreational standard of safekeeping, and advocator liability. advocate ValuesAbortionFrom my own somebodyal pay off and beliefs, abortion is faulty with few exclusions. My personal belief is that if a female is raped or in that respect is danger to the arrive abortion is unimpeachable to me. What I mean by acceptable is that it creates dissona nce with my current operating beliefs of abortion being wrong to take the biography of an unborn fetus. I arrive a 16 year old female child whom was gang raped which resulted in a pregnancy not at the will or picking of my daughter. My belief says no abortion, but my rational side asks m both questions like is the mother ready to c ar for a child? Can she physic bothy and monetarily care for a child? How will this affect her life in the long run? What about school? Are the any issues that might arise if the mother carries to full term? Am I ready in every fashion to become a grandparent? To me each answer was no and my daughter continued and had the abortion.Extramarital affairsIn an article by Wagaman (2013), he arrest s out that Ameri gits today are more tolerant to premature sex, divorce and gay relationships which was once considered taboo. He continues by saying but theres one exception We condemn adultery like it is 1642. (WAGAMAN, 2013) I follow suite and believe if you marry another person that is the one person you have devoted yourself to and should at any cost stick by their side no matter what and an extramarital affair is a deal breaker. I ask myself why I should punish my partner by going outside of the marriage seeking the puzzle piece that is missing, when my wife has already given me the key to her heart. In society today people have more chasteness and freedom to explore premature sex and entering and leaving a relationship or marriage. But, with all this freedom and control there comes accountability and lying is the one vice most consider wrong. (WAGAMAN, 2013) pass how you would counsel the guest in each situation. In counseling a lymph gland in two cases of abortion and extramarital affairs I quote the ACA (2014) section A A.1.a, Primary Responsibility, The primary tariff of counsellings is to respect the dignity and promote the welfare of nodes. It is not uncommon for the counselor and client to have divers(prenominal) valu es and beliefs at all. (2014 ACA Code of Ethics, 2014) First off, I will have to step back and manner at my own personal area or areas of expertise. deteriorationonize to the NBCC Code of Ethics (2012), NCCs (Nationally Certified Counselors) shall perform only those professional operate for which they are qualified by education and supervised experience (NATIONAL BOARD FOR CERTIFIED COUNSELORS (NBCC), 2012) . dependance specialist shall seek out new/effective approaches which enhance their professional abilities much(prenominal) as continuing education research and activities with professional in different disciplines. (The Association for Addiction Professionals, 2013) Some clients many have already dealt with an abortion or affair and may be seemingly ok, but not in-line with my values. As the primary counselor in these cases it is my responsibility to overturn causing harm or imposing my values on to my client.As a counselor I must act accordingly to avoid harming my client or abate or remedy undeniable or unforeseen harm. Counselors must be aware of their own values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors and avoid imposing them on their client. For example, if Im opposed to both abortion and affairs these aremy own personal beliefs and not those of the client. My client may have had an affair and became pregnant by someone other than their partner and had an abortion to insure it from their significant other. So if I were to voice my values to my client this could cause harm to the counselor-client relationship where the client shuts down and it causes irreversible damage due to me imposing my own values on my client. According to the NBCC (2012), from the point of view of an addiction counselor, the professional counselor refrains from using methods which seems coercive like threats, negative labeling or any agency which causes discompose or humiliation. In the case of abortion or having an affair, either could provoke shame and humiliation in the cl ient based on counselor vs client values.Clients RightsAutonomyIncorporating autonomy in its simplest form is supporting the clients right to make their own decisions and addresses the concept of independence. In order to support a clients autonomy, this means not imposing goals, agendas or values on a client. As a counselor I must understand, embrace and work with the clients experiences culturally, socioeconomically, this is supported in counseling done person centered style of counseling and communication. (Ryan, 2011)NonmaleficenceIncorporating nonmaleficence is supported by the number one rule in counseling, the concept of causing no harm to others our clients. This practice is tied with a clients autonomy and their right to independence and making their own choices. Implementing this means living by the laws of your state and follow the ACA, NAADAC or NBCC codes of ethics. (Davis, 1996) unselfishnessBeneficence is simply doing what is good for the client, this is the counsel ors responsibility to be proactive and contribute to the overall health and welfare of their clients. This means doing interposition planning with the client and listening to the clients input in the planning process. (Ryan, 2011)JusticeAccording to Kitchner (1984), Justice is not doing what is right for theclient, but treating equals equally and unequals unequally. This means identify such things as social background, socioenomic background, race and numerous others. (Kitchner, 1984)FidelityIncorporating fidelity is me being loyal to my client, because clients must must have faith and trust in their counselor in the therapeutic relationship in order for growth to occur. This means being faithful and meeting obligations and commitments and not leaving with of these unfulfilled. (Ryan, 2011) Discuss the informed consent process and how it protects client rights including Informed consent is an on-going process passim the counseling process it lets the client know that first they h ave the freedom to engage in or decline entrance into a therapeutic relationship and gives them satisfactory tuition concerning the theraputic process and the healer.Informed consent is an obligation placed on the counselor, which is reviewed both written and by word of mouth explaining the rights and responsibilities of the counselor as well as the client. Therapists explain to their clients the nature of all service, goals, purposes, techniques, limits, procedures, benefits and potential risk of services counselor credentials and qualifications, relevant experience and counseling approach. Counselor explain fee and billing arrangements including non-payment of fees. Clients also receive rights and limits of privyity, information concerning records, refusal of services and consequences of refusal. (Gerald Corey, 2104)BillingWhen creating costs for counseling services, the counselor should take consideration the clients locality and financial status so that the normal fees do no t create an overweening hardship on the client. Counselor may assist clients in finding comparable and affordable services or adjust fees when legally permissible.Right to PrivacyAs a counselor, each and every client has a right to privacy whether a prospective or existing client. Therapists only request confidential information from clients when it is determined advantageous to the therapeutic process. Counselor protect the privacy of clients and only disclose information with consent to release information or with soundlegal/ethical confirmation. At the initiation and throughout the therapeutic process counselors inform clients of confidentiality limitations and identify situations situation in which confidentiality must be broken such as when disclosure is required to protect clients or keep others from serious foreseeable harm or when legal requirements require release. HIPPA compliance and Compliance with credentialing board requirements for incorporating informed consent int o practiceAs a professional counselor we are bound by HIPPA to provide documentation to potential clients how the practice and you will handle the release of confidential information. This document describes how mental/medical information about you may be disclosed and used and how the client may get access to this information. This document must have a compliance date on it and includes information pertaining to treatment, health care doings, payment and other disclosures and uses without the clients consent. (Association, Meeting HIPAA Requirements, punctuate of Privacy Practices and Client Rights Document, 2014)Responsibility to Warn and ProtectDuty to warm and protect refers to the responsibility of the therapist or counselor to breach confidentiality if a client or other identifiable person or persons are in clear imminent danger. When duty to warn and protect come into play there must be clear evidence of imminent danger to the client or other persons, and then the therapis t/counselor must determine the seriousness of the threat and then must notify the person in danger and other persons in a position to protect that person from harm.The best achievable example is the Tarasoff Act, which imposed inherent duty on therapist/counselors to warn potential victims of intended harm by a client, stating confidentiality ends where danger begins. The implications of the Tarasoff Act indicate that only notifying the police is not sufficient live up to to protect the therapist/counselor from a lawsuit if the client threatens to carry the threat out. (University, 2014) Client Record-Keeping/the counselor from liabilityA clients right to a professional standard of care sustenance in a clients record serves many purposes including clinical/ administrative accountability, and documentation of the counselorsprotection of the clients rights. This documentation also provides protection for counselors in helping them refute any and all allegations of incompetence or mi sconduct by the counselor. A counselors responsibility to protect the clients rights is normally documented in a series of forms signed by the client to include informed/parental consent, fee agreements, treatment forms, treatment plans, signed client rights statement and treatment team staffing notes, and release of information protecting the clients privacy with specific parameters. Finally, documentation in a clients record can be used to protect and defend the therapist/counselor from unwarranted allegations of misconduct.A client record containing a thorough assessment, treatment plan, progress notes consistent with the plan, supervisory notes, billing for services rendered, and documented clients rights settle sound evidence of the counselors efforts to practice within their professional scope and standard of care. (University, 2014) In conclusion, the ethical responsibilities of a counselor are both broad and complex. This paper describes and discusses many of the aspect tha t are at the forefront of client/counselor relationship and protection of rights for both counselor and client. The knowledge required to become an ethical counselor comes with time and practice along with consulting colleges and primary supervision.BibliographyAssociation, A. C. (2014). 2014 ACA Code of Ethics. Alexandria AMERICAN commission ASSOCIATION. Association, A. C. (2014). Meeting HIPAA Requirements, Notice of Privacy Practices and Client Rights Document. Alexandria Author. COUNSELORS, N. B. (2012, June 8). NATIONAL BOARD FOR CERTIFIED COUNSELORS (NBCC). Retrieved from nbcc.org http//www.nbcc.org/Assets/Ethics/NBCCCodeofEthics.pdf Davis, H. F.-M. (1996). virtuous Principles. A Practitioners Guide to Ethical Decision Making, 2. Gerald Corey, C. C. (2104). Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions (9 ed.). (K. Mikel, Ed.) Stamford, CT, the States Cengage Learning. Retrieved November 18, 2014 Kitchner, K. S. (1984). Intuition, critical evaluation and ethical principles Th e foundation for ethical decisions in counseling psychology. Counseling Psychologist, 12(3), 43-55. Retrieved November 19, 2014, fromhttp//www.counseling.org/docs/ethics/practitioners_guide.pdf?sfvrsn=2 NAADAC. (2013). The Association for Addiction Professionals. Retrieved from NAADAC.org http//www.naadac.org/code-of-ethicsi Ryan, R. M. (2011). Motivation and Autonomy in Counseling. The Counseling Psychologist, 193-260. University, G. C. (2014, November 18). Lecture 4. Retrieved from gcu.edu https//lc-grad2.gcu.edu/learningPlatform/user/users.html?operation=loggedIn/learningPlatform/loudBooks/loudbooks.html?viewPage=current&operation=innerPagetTopicname=Client Rights, Counselor Responsibilities, and Confidentiality&topicMaterialId=71 WAGAMAN, A. (2013, July 25). Americans grow increasingly intolerant of extramarital affairs. champion Tribune. Retrieved from startribune.com http//www.startribune.com/lifestyle/relationship/216813271.html