Exploring Ethical Codes and Possible Ethical Issues in Responding Therapy Clients through E-Mail

Upon the first session with a new client, it is detrimental to go through certain expectations regarding confidentiality and privacy. According to the American Counseling Association, “at initiation and throughout the counseling process, counselors must inform clients of the limitations of confidentiality and seek to identify situations in which confidentiality must be breached” (ACA Code of Ethics, 2014). By disclosing expectations and policies held within the institution, allows the client to

Clearly, confidentiality is essential to the healing process. However, though it may appear to be a relatively easy concept, its application in the therapeutic atmosphere has proven to be quite complex (Younggren & Harris, p. 589). One issue that causes confusion for many professionals pertains to the differences between confidentiality and legal privilege. Quite often, ethical obligations overlap with the legal requirements. Frequently, the practitioner is not well informed about these particular limits on confidentiality and this lack of knowledge can place both the client and the helping professional at risk (Younggren & Harris, p.590, 598).

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.

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.

Although there were several issues addressed and updated in the most recent code of ethics, the most significant change was distance counseling, technology, and social media. The current ACA Code of Ethics did not mention specific social media names, like Facebook or Instagram, because they wanted to ensure that the code remains up to date with the newest social media sites. The emphasis on social media and the use of technology focuses on maintaining proper boundaries within the counseling relationship, so that counselors separate their personal and professional lives. The code of ethics also stresses the importance of having informed consent for technology usage, and addresses expectations with response time in replying to emails and texts messages. When counselors use these outlets, they must encrypt the communication method to protect confidentiality rights of their clients (Kaplan, 2017).

Professional counselors and their staff are exposed to sensitive client information and records. The helpful receptionist and whose privilege videos, show how to apply both the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics (ACA Code of Ethics) and state board counseling laws to common ethical scenarios. The content explores aspects designed to call attention to favorable and unfavorable skills and techniques in handling such matters. These two videos demonstrate the limitations of confidentiality and privileged information. As a professional counselor one is expected to uphold the principles of confidentiality and privilege according to the ACA Code of Ethics and state laws. One may conclude that the helpful receptionist video shows clear violations of confidentiality. While the whose privilege video indicates the significance of insuring that counselors comprehend state laws and ethics codes pertaining to confidentiality and privilege. Furthermore, counseling professionals are held accountable for violating ethics codes and state laws as well as training staff on informed consent.

The nature of therapist-client relationship and understanding the therapist’s role is vital in making sure that the client’s rights are not jeopardized. The client must be willing to trust the therapist. The therapist can earn the trust of the client will confidentiality guidelines that are established by requiring informed consent. The therapist-client relationship is based on counseling approach as well as relationship with the client. The therapist’s role is to understand the client’s needs, help them get their needs met mentally, and to develop the proper plan that fits the client’s needs. The therapist must fully

The EAI indicates that ethical guidelines have changed from individual character to organizational ethics (Ethics Awareness Inventory, 2011). The prime focus of this change are client-patient relationships in psychological counseling and clinical practice (Fisher, (2013). Psychological counseling and clinical practice are both constructed on ethical guidelines with the possibility for misuse of power and negligence to discretion (Fisher,

A counselor’s primary goal is to have integrity, while also having the client’s well-being as a priority. While competency is the most important factor in professional counseling, a level of trust needs to be met between the client and the counselor. When a client has full confidence that the counselor will maintain confidentiality, the counselor’s integrity has been established and the client can being to open up more to the counselor, establishing better tools for increasing mental health (Sanders, et. al., 2013, p. 263). Sexual identity therapy is also a potential means of.

Ever since the form of online counseling, there has been a controversy over the skills of online counseling and face to face counseling. A few experts are trying to limit online counseling while others appear to have boundless eagerness for this most recent advancement. In a research article by Shaw and Shaw (2006), they spoke about a study composed by Sampson, Kolodinsky, Greeno (1997) they created an ethical intent checklist to evaluate counselors who do online therapy. They used websites to identify and survey those professionals about their use of ethics related to this practice. Three ideas are hypothesized including (a) online counselors who were licensed in their given professions would score higher in ethical practice than would the

Therapy relationships with clients. The psychologist to patient relationship during therapy is a crucial aspect. It is within ethical guidelines that the psychologist clearly establish his role whether it be with an individual, group, or family therapist. These roles need to be understood for the variety of issues that may arise; one of which is the disclosure of information. Psychologists, for obvious reasons, are not to have sexual relationships with patients or former patients within a

The age of people going to their mailboxes to retrieve important documents is soon to be an action of the past. Very people use what we now call “snail mail” to transport important information to different destinations. We can now send documents in a matter of minutes by using an email account. Technology has become so advanced that we can now access our medical records by using an online network and never leaving our homes. We can also email our physicians and ask them questions about our records using this same network. The article that I chose to critique, raises questions about how ethical the use of email is in a clinical social work setting. The use of email has both benefits and risks, which the author discusses in this article.

There are many ethical issues that can arise during counseling. One issue that is fairly common is sexual attraction from patient to counselor, counselor to patient, or even in both directions. Even though an attraction may exist, this does not necessarily mean that these instincts will be followed in any inappropriate way. In fact attraction is a natural part of life and is impossible to avoid. However, any fulfillment of these desires is an unethical act that could not only be in violation of the code of ethics that a counselor is bound by, but it could also subject the counselor and their organization to litigation and legal action.

Psychotherapy is an intense and complex process, that can be isolating for many practitioners. Consequently, many counselors turn to their peers for guidance and support when faced with difficult cases. When doing so, counselors must always strive to maintain client’s confidentiality since it is the cornerstone of a therapeutic relationship and is an ethical duty (APA, 2002). The ACA Code of Ethics (American Counseling Association [ACA], 2014) states that counselors protect confidential information of a client and when consulting with others, do not disclose information that could lead to the identification of a client without the client 's prior consent. Additionally, confidential information is only discussed in settings, where clients’ privacy can be ensured (Standard B.3.c). That brings one to one of the main ethical issues in the above case. It is not clear whether counselors Frank and Megan have obtained informed consent from the client prior to discussing his or her case. Regardless, they are still breaching client’s

Another possible incident of a professional helper causing harm to a client is by sharing too much personal information about him or herself. The professional helper’s intention may be to help the client feel comfortable and at ease to open up, however, professional boundaries should be maintained. One example is the helper sharing that his or her own experience with divorce. If details related to their own emotions and how it affected them are shared, then the client could feel as though the professional is giving them a template to follow. A client is in a particularly vulnerable state when seeking therapy, and could perceive the therapist’s