An Ethical Dilemma in the Counselling Profession Essay

b. What special issues of confidentiality may arise in the case? How should David address these issues? Even though David most recently been in a counseling relationship with the husband, he stills have a legal “duty” to the husband, who was originally client..In most circumstances, he can release the husband 's individual counseling records to her upon his written request. However, he may be compromising his ethics and breaching confidentiality by releasing information to the wife that he obtained from the husband or learned during a joint counseling session unless he have written authorization of both or a court order (2005 ACA Code of Ethics, Section B.2.c.)

and requirements of the ACA Ethics Committee or ethics committees of other duly constituted associations or boards having jurisdiction over those charged with a violation.”(p.19) According to the AMHCA Code of

In the article, “Confidentiality: Concept analysis and clinical application”, author Winifred Ellenchild, examines confidentiality from both a theoretical perspective using concept analysis and through the use of a clinically based empirical investigation. The author compared the two approaches and discussed the features, credentials, costs, empirical referents, and implications for clinical practice. The results discussed in the article are those provided through a research project involving participants’ definitions of confidentiality and confidentiality issues.

For this reason the mere possibility of disclosure may impede development of the confidential relationship necessary for successful treatment. (Younggren & Harris, p. 590)

Professional associations establish codes of ethics to ensure that clinicians uphold the standards of their association in order to protect the clients they serve and the profession they are affiliated with. This paper will compare the codes of ethics of the American Counseling Association (ACA), American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), and National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

Forester-Miller and Davis’s (1996) ethical decision-making model suggests that the initial step in resolving an ethical dilemma is to first identify the problem and then clarify the nature of the problem. This entails gathering pertinent information that will help elucidate any potential ethical issues. One important matter to reflect upon is whether this dilemma is ethical, clinical, professional, legal or any combination of the aforementioned categories (Forester-Miller & Davis, 1996). Honing in on the nature of the ethical issue will provide some direction as to which avenues are the most applicable for the given ethical situation.

The subject I intend to reflect upon is confidentiality within a professional healthcare setting. Confidentiality formed a part of our professional issues lectures and it piqued my interest due to how differently it is interpreted within healthcare as opposed to education, which is my background. In an educational setting I was taught repeatedly that I could never ensure confidentiality between myself and a child. Comparing that to what I have now learnt in healthcare, this seemed to me almost the opposite way of working as I was used to and so I wish to reflect upon this.

* Confidentiality – the steps that are taken when people’s information is not kept confidential and on a need to know basis

Video presentation: The video clip was quite interesting I found it to be very educational as to the legal obligations of therapists in the mental health field. There were issues that were brought up that were quite important, such as therapists need to understand confidentiality, privileged information, and a therapists responsibility related to reporting suspected child abuse, elder abuse, and/or suicidal ideations, and possibly the most important of them all is a therapists duty to warn. The first case they were

There are several ethical dilemmas that the mental health professionals that are working as a team will face including “ensuring that the client has given informed consent, maintaining client confidentiality, and involving professionals, paraprofessionals, and family in appropriate coordinated processes that benefit the client” (Paproski & Haverkamp, 2000, p.96).

The situation is the decision to breach the confidentiality between a client and his patient. The therapist has to decide if the client will pose a threat to himself or any other 3rd party, or society as a whole. If the therapist feels in any way that the client could be a threat, he has the right to notify the person or the correct officials to insure that no harm comes to anyone involved.

The ACA Code of Ethics states, “when counselors are faced with ethical dilemmas that are difficult to resolve, they are expected to engage in a carefully considered ethical decision-making process,” (ACA, 2014, p. 3). Throughout these three case studies, I will use the seven-step ethical decision-making model to address the important professional issues, relevant ethical codes, and legal standards (Forester-Miller & Davis, 1996). By applying the steps to each case I will share how I came to my resolutions.

In some situations, counselors must clarify that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed (Herlihy and Corey, 2016). Ethically, a counselor should be sure that

In order for medicine to be practiced and therapy to be effective patients must be able to trust their health care provider. For example, a patient of Dr. Edgell was a prisoner in a secure hospital following conviction for killing five people and wounding several others. He made application to a mental health tribunal to be transferred to a less secure unit. Dr. Edgell was asked to provide a confidential expert opinion that they hoped would show that the patient was no longer a danger to the public. However Dr. Edgell was of the opinion that in fact this patient (W) was still very dangerous. W’s application was withdrawn. Dr. Edgell, knowing that his opinion would not be included in the patient’s notes, sent a copy to the medical director of the hospital and to the Home Office. The patient brought an action for breach of confidence. The court of Appeal held that the breach was justified in the public interest, on grounds of protection of the public from danger. The Court Judge said the risk must be ‘real, immediate and serious’ (Beauchamp & Childress, 2001). There are ethical and legal implications for a confidentiality breach.

Different organizations are driven by specific sets of code of ethics, which are used to protect many different aspect of the organizations, specifically the client, counselor, and organization. Concerning the standards of a counselor, their ethics are not only provided by the laws of the state or their practice, but also outside sources who present basic values and regulations of ethical standards in their code of ethics. This paper will look at two specific associations: the American Counseling Association (ACA) and the American Association