Ethical Issues In Counselling Research Paper

This is supervised and checked regularly by an accredited member of the BACP to ensure that the requirements of the BACP are being met. A person using counselling skills in other occupations may use similar methods but will not be formally using the guidelines and being assessed in such a way as that of a qualified counsellor. The intention of the use of the skills is also different. The counsellor and client relationship is a therapeutic one and both parties understand the potential or intended result of it, whereas using counselling skills may used for other purposes. For example, a person in a professional setting such as a people-management role may use listening, reflective and paraphrasing in a similar way to a counsellor yet the objective is different. The use of the counselling skills facilitates the relationship of the manager and the employee but there isn’t the intention behind it that there is between a counsellor and their client.

In order for counselling to be effective and purposeful it must be conducted in an ethical way. The very act of seeking counselling predisposes that the seeker is vulnerable/troubled and needs assurance that the main focus of counselling will be their well-being and promote for them a greater sense of autonomy, and not to serve any other purpose. Therefore the foundation of good counselling must be an ethical relationship, hence the need for an ethical framework. As Tim Bond (2010) states:

To have good ethical practice within counselling it is important that there are boundaries and contracts in place that are agreed to and understood by both the counsellor and the client.

Counsellors do not offer advice as such but instead give an insight into a client’s feelings and behaviour and they help the client to change their behaviour accordingly. They do this by actively listening to what the client has to say and comment from a professional perspective. Counsellors are trained to be effective helpers, especially in sensitive and difficult situations. They have to be independent, very neutral and professional as well as respecting the privacy and confidentiality of a client. Counselling can help clients to clarify their problems, identify the changes they wish to make and give them a fresh perspective. Counsellors should help them to seek other options and look at the impact that life events have made on the

I understand counselling to be a helping practice that differs from other helping activities, such as teaching for example. Counselling requires professional training and is specifically contracted or explicitly agreed. It has a theoretical base and uses specific methods within an ethical framework. The relationship between the counsellor and the client is built upon mutual expectation and is central to the process of the client under-going significant change in their lives.

The way the counsellor approaches the client in this infant stage is vital for the client to gain trust and has the willingness to open up in later sessions. Some clients may just rush into what is troubling them or say nothing, in both cases the counsellor will need to be patient, observe and listen to what is being said as there will be vital information given and without understanding this it could damage

Counselling is a process of assisting individuals go through worries and difficulties, (Geldard and Geldard 2012). Consequently, many people strive for counselling help when they cannot handle issues or sometimes when they require expert support to provide

A counselling relationship is likened to being on a journey - a beginning, middle and end (Smallwood, 2013). During the beginning phase the client develops sufficient trust in the counsellor and the relationship ‘to explore the previously feared edges of his awareness’ (Mearns and Thorne, 1988, p.126).

ETHICAL FRAMEWORK, LIMITS OF PROFICIENCY AND THE LIMITATIONS ON COUNSELLORS COMPARED TO OTHER PROFESSIONS THAT USE COUNSELLING SKILLS.

In the relationship between counsellor and client the need for confidentiality is vital as it is not only the bases that the relationship is built on and it is a legal obligation.

In this step, it is extremely important for the counselor to see if the situation that the client is facing contains ethics. The counselor must be able to gather all the required information and get more understanding about the problem the client is facing. This can only done by strengthening the relationship with the client, if the client is able to trust you, he/she would be willing to tell you what they are facing. After the client is done describing the problem that they are facing, the counselor

The process involved in establishing a counselling relationships includes many factors to ensure that a client feels safe and comfortable with a counsellor to explore his or her feelings with them.

The counsellor is in their right to inform the counsellor that they can not keep the confidentiality on the particluar piece of information been shared. It is important that the counsellor does not arrange to meet the client outside of the counselling sessions and that both client and counsellor keeps to the agreed appointment times. The counsellor is there to purely counsell the client and should by no means become in involved in other aspects of the clients life for example offering to find out something on behalf of the counsellor. It is important that once the costs/fees are agreed upon that the counsellor does raise these costs or waive them for something in return. At the first counselling session the counsellor should offer the client a set number of weeks that they maybe counselled and it is important that the counsellor does not extend these without any clear reason to do so as this may result in the client becoming dependant on the counsellor. The counsellor must on no terms exploit the client in anyway and recieving or giving of gifts is not acceptable during the time the client is being counselled.

Professional counsellors are also bound by other ethics such as being non-judgemental and should not exploit their clients in any way. They must be respectful of how their clients choose to live and their right to self-determination. Counsellors must not impose their own thoughts or feeling on other people & should not have any expectations or impose any conditions on their clients. The relationship between counsellor and client should be one of equality. Although, the client may not feel that there is equality, they may feel powerless, as they are seeking help. The counsellor must try and convey a sense of equality and use their skills and knowledge to enable the client to take control of their life and feel empowered.

All of the above issues will have an impact on the counselling process. Both the client and counsellor are individuals and bring with them often vastly different experiences, backgrounds and values. It is interesting to look at these factors and examine how they may influence the counselling process and the relevance they have.