Ethical Standards For Mental Health Service Providers

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.

Before a counselling session starts it is important that the client understands confidentiality. To be able to understand this the counsellor must explain to the client that anything they say within the

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.

There are at least 10 significant struggles and/or ethical violations discussed in the book. Read the book, choose three ethical issues or violations, and cover:

Autonomy. Hai’s mental state is altered with the manifestations of delusions and hallucinations making him incapable of deciding for himself. His ability to practice his autonomy and refusal of medical treatment is deemed invalid due to his mental illness.

Ethical principles and virtues give mental health professions guidelines to follow to police their behaviors. Do no harm, respect autonomy, be just and pure excellences are some of the principles and virtues. Purse excellence is described in my textbook, Ethics in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions: Standards and Cases, as maintaining competence, doing your best, and taking pride in your work. (Koocher & Keith-Spiegal, 2008)

Breaking confidentiality is a serious ethical component in counseling and must be considered very carefully before doing so. Each state has laws regarding the disclosure of confidentiality whether it to the courts, the clients, relatives, lawyers, schools, or other unbiased parties (Corey et al., 2015). It is very important that the therapist is aware of the laws in regards to disclosure of confidentiality in the state in which they practice to ensure that they are practicing in an ethical manner and to avoid any legal

This is a legal requirement that obliges the counselor to disclosure in regards to protecting the client or the identified individuals the client shared from harm. Furthermore, the counselor has the right to disclosure when legal requirements are commanding confidential documentation that needs to be released. Why this guideline was implemented into the counseling field was due to the Tarasoff case that occurred at California University. The situation was that a counselor was seeing a client who stated that he was going to kill his girlfriend, who was named Tatiana Tarasoff. After the session, the counselor contacted the campus police, who confront the client on his disclosure during therapy. The counselor attempted to follow up on the police’s

Ethical codes have been developed so that therapists understand the standards for appropriate behavior and maintaining the welfare of the client. All mental health professionals should be proficient in the acknowledgment of any Code of Ethics as they serve as legal guidelines when ethically questionable circumstances arise. Essential to the principles of counseling, a client’s confidentiality is imperative as a therapist is the receiver of an individual’s thoughts and ideas surrounding the concerns for seeking treatment. Item 2.1 in the AAMFT Code of Ethics states how a therapist would disclose and limits of confidentiality, and in what circumstances that a client’s information would be requested. Additionally, item 2.2 is the

Working within the confines of consulting or private practice the following expectations and code of ethics must be followed according to the CCPA Standards of Practice (2015). ?Foremost, the counselor who is providing the third party service should have a clear understanding as to their role, the relationship with each party, the possible uses of any information accumulated, and any limits of confidentiality (2015). More specifically, the counselor should only be providing services in an area of their expertise, and if it is outside of their scope of knowledge then they should request specific training or supervision. Clear and precise discussions should be arranged outlining the volunteer nature of the relationship as well as the respect to privacy between the client and the counselor in that the only information that will be shared will be to individuals directly involved in the case. ?Address the client 's rights to confidentiality, need for confidentiality and limits of confidentiality that would only be breached if the client him or herself gave permission to share. There is an ethical liability to create, maintain and dispose of the client 's records in a secure manner.

Ethics are important to consider as the moral values, the authentic self, the obligations, the moral manager, or the moral person (McManus, 2006). This ethical aspect is an important aspect to consider on the delivery side of services in the mental health field. However, when it comes to the value of business and money, business is business. Therefore, ethics are not as important in the mental health operations as they are when treating patients. Business is about surviving, being competitive, and sometimes that means that unethical measures are done to keep up with the competition. In this regard, ethical values, morals, and obligations get thrown out of the window. In some respects, business associates or managers may become in a sense greedy,

Confidentiality is the professional obligation that a professional has to their client that does not allow the therapist or the social worker to reveal information without the client’s permission. The only time confidentiality is able to be broken is during mandatory reporting. Privacy is the innate right of a person to disclose information when and to whom they want to. Privileged

At the start of a new therapeutic relationship the client should be informed of how the information the client uses will be shared and when it would need to be disclosed (Behnke & Warner, 2002). This will avoid any issues or concerns from the client in regards to the information they provide during a session. Any information from a client should not be disclosed, except for certain circumstances, such as harm to themselves or others and only if it is beneficial to the client (Linzer, 1999). This type of information should not be taken lightly due to the chance of potential harm being done and no action being taken. Confidentiality also holds four premises, the first being that individuals are able to have their own secrets; the second is that they are able to have these secrets while also being able to share them with others (Linzer, 1999). The third premise is that an agreement to keep discretion creates a mutual respect between the individuals whether it is the therapist or someone else with whom they are confiding in and lastly the fourth premise allows the professionals to guarantee the clients confidentiality and allows the individual some comfort in disclosing their information in a session (Linzer, 1999). Individuals seek counseling because they do not feel as if they

Confidentiality/privacy are critical in counseling. The communication between the client and the counselor must stay confidential, unless client intends to harm self or others or legally information is needed for the court system (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2012). The National Career Development (NCDA) discusses the limitations to confidentiality in standard B.1.d (NCDA, 2015). A career professional is required to discuss with the client the limitations to confidentiality at the beginning and throughout the counseling process (NCDA, 2015). The ACA Code of Ethics breaks down confidentiality and privacy into two sections. Standard B.1.b discusses respect of privacy, which contains the counselor asking questions only if it is beneficial to the counseling process (ACA, 2014). Standard B1.c. discusses the respect for confidentiality and the disclosure of information only if there is consent or legal justification.

According to Code of Ethics of the American Mental Health Counselors Association (2000) it has the following principle about confidentiality: At the outset of any counseling relationship, mental health counselors make their clients aware of their rights in regard to confidential nature of the counseling relationship. “They fully disclose the limits of, or exceptions to, confidentiality, and or the existence of privileged communication, if any. (Corey, Schneider & Callanan, 2011) This previous paragraph clearly stating what our ethical approach to confidentiality should be can be found in section 3.a in the Code of Ethics of the AMHCA. This paper starts with this probably confusing to others