Counselling ethics children and young people NZ Essay

1. Describe and discuss ethical frameworks within which counselling and therapeutic practitioners work. Include justification for observing codes of conduct and how professionalism is maintained.

Describe with examples the importance of recognising and responding to concerns about children and young people’s development.

When looking at children and young people’s development it is important to recognise and respond to concerns to ensure that the child or young person receives the help and assistance needed.

Ensuring children and young people’s safety and welfare in the work setting is an essential part of safeguarding. While children are at school, practitioners act in ‘loco parentis’ while their parents are away. As part of their legal and professional obligations, practitioners hold positions of trust and a duty of care to the children in their school, and therefore should always act in their best interests and ensure their safety – the welfare of the child is paramount (Children Act 1989). The Children Act 2004 came in with the Every Child Matters (ECM) guidelines and greatly impacted the way schools look at the care and welfare of pupils. Children and young people should be helped to learn and thrive and be given the opportunity to

For this essay there will be a critical evaluation of the counselling approaches and skills that are used which can guide the practice of education professionals and benefit relationships with children/ young people in supporting their social and emotional well-being. The approaches that will be looked at and compared are the Person-centred approach and the Psychodynamic approach. The approaches will be discussed and linked to the use in an educational context by teachers with children and young people. The strengths and weaknesses of these approaches will also be examined. It is important for teacher to support children and young people’s social and emotional development right for the start of their educational experiences in the early years. The statutory frame work for the early years published by the department for education in 2014 makes sure that every practitioner follows by law the learning and development requirements of every child. The DFE 2014 suggests educational programs have to include activities and experiences involving the children as suggested: personal social and emotional development entails assisting children to develop an encouraging view of themselves, and others; to make positive relationships and develop respect for others, progress on their social skills and acquire the skill how to deal and control their feelings, to know how to behaviour correctly in groups and to have self confidence in what they can do. From this practitioners can pick up on

I intend to show an understanding of the ethical framework for good practice in counselling, relating it to practice and also my own beliefs and opinions, how this influences the counselling relationship, I will also show the need for protection of self and client.

The first ethical issue that counselors have to worry about in counseling children is to be a competent counselor. It includes that the counselor must be familiar with child and adolescent development. Also, in order to be competent in counseling children, a counselor must frequently participate in trainings, specialized education, and supervised practice (Henderson & Thompson, 2011). Another ethical issue in counseling minors is privacy and confidentiality. According to the American Counseling Association (ACA) (2014) Code of Ethics, when counseling minors a counselors protect the confidentiality of information received (ACA, 2014, B.5.a). Counselors also have responsibilities with the child’s parents such as inform parents about the role of counselors and the confidential nature of the counseling relationship (ACA, 2014, B.5.b). When a counselors needs to release confidential information, he needs to seek permission from the child’s parents, legal guardians, or the appropriate third party in order to disclose the information (ACA, 2014, B.5.c). According to Henderson and Thompson (2011), children have to have their parents’ consent to see a

As a practitioner it’s your duty to observe and maintain correct procedures to ensure that the children are offered a stimulating environment which will further allow optimum possibilities for development. All those who work with or amongst children and young people have a crucial role to play in helping not only to shape aspects of their lives, but to also aid in enhancing their future development. Therefore it can be stated that how we set up our own working practices can affect children and young people’s development, as will be identified by this essay; below are areas where one should concentrate in order to further

It is very important to recognise and respond to any concerns with child/young person development because children who are not reaching development norms may well require additional support, or help from a professional person, or it could be emotional distress or help at home they need.

Describe with examples the importance of recognising and responding to concerns about children and young people’s development.

For child protection to work effectively we must ensure we have good inter relationships with other agencies and good co-operation from professionals that are competent in responding to child protection situations. A procedure for recording concerns and incidents if a child discloses information that concerns his/her welfare; We must make a record of exactly what the child has said in their words and report it to a safeguarding officer, ensuring that these records are kept confidential and separated from pupil’s records. Guidance on confidentiality and sharing; the head teacher or safeguarding officer will only disclose personal information concerning a child to other members of staff on a need to know basis, however all staff must be aware that they have a responsibility to share information with other agencies.

Many factors influence children’s development as well as that massive amount of development theories that elaborate on why children do certain things, why children have developmental disorders, or even why some children have developmental delays. Although there are many theories regarding children development and how they are influences, theorist make some great points in the child development but with any theory come flaws such as developmental issues. Famous theorists Freud, Erikson, and Piaget all have different ideas on this topic. Freud was a psychiatrist who believed in unconscious activity of the mind. Erikson was a developmental psychologist who believed that the mind developed in a series of stages, and Piaget was a clinical psychologist who believed in cognitive development. Theorists such as Sigmund Freud, Jean Piaget, and Erik Erikson discusses how their individual theory influences the make-up of the development of children.

Practitioners and professionals working with children on a daily basis are in a good position to notice changes in a child's or young person’s behaviour which may be a possible sign of abuse. Children or young people may also confide in practitioners or allege that abuse has taken place.

The needs, rights and views of the child are at the centre of all practice

This case had several ethical, legal and professional ramifications, including aspects of cultural differences between non-indigenous and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients. There is a requirement for counsellors to actively understand the diverse cultural backgrounds, and differences in behaviour of their clients; stated in; The Australian Counselling Association (ACA-Au., 2008); Code of Conduct (2, 2.1), American Counselling Association (ACA, US, 2005), Code of Ethics (A.2c; B.1a; c.2a) and Education Queensland (EQ) Code of Conduct (1994) 2.1.1, and Education Queensland (EQ) (2008) Ethical Code, and Watson, Herlihy & Pierce, 2006.