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Legal And Ethical Practices Of Adolescent Counseling

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Legal and Ethical Practices in Adolescent Counseling
As a 15-yearold “at risk” adolescent, Manual recently reported feeling extreme depression and admitted that he no longer cared about living. In order to provide useful counseling support to Manuel, J. McWhirter, B. McWhirter, E. McWhirter, and R. McWhirter (2013) provide a list of legal and ethical considerations that serve as a guidelines during interventions. These suggestions include counselors’ documenting the incident and any intervention methods, consulting with colleagues in order to provide sound counsel, encouraging staff members to be considerate and professional within their communication, reaching out to the adolescents’ families, and keeping current with professional …show more content…

If Manuel’s answers demonstrate imminent danger, emergency services should be called immediately and all information gathered from the initial conversation should be documented.
For the purposes of this paper, an assumption that Manuel is not in immediate danger is made, and he chooses to sign a written contract stating that he will not make any attempt on his life before having another discussion with a counselor. While a written contract cannot guarantee that Manuel will not choose to harm himself during this period, adolescents who sign this type of contract will typically comply. At this point, a follow-up meeting is scheduled, which will allow time to consider the assessment information in formulating the scope of the problem, and provide intervention strategies for Manuel’s continued treatment (McWhirter et al., 2017).
Consultation and Supervision In order to provide Manuel with the best therapeutic approaches, colleagues should be consulted, who are willing to question the intervention strategies from not only a therapeutic perspective, but also keeping in mind ethical and legal guidelines (McWhirter et al., 2013). One method of consultation that is proving to be helpful is the formation of consultations groups who “serve many functions for the clinician, including the development and refinement of therapeutic skills, assistance with case

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