The Primary Client 's And Fiduciary Relationships Essay

Ethical dilemmas may arise during the course of a human service professional’s time with the client. The difficulty in finding a resolution to an ethical dilemma depends on the human service professional’s ethical practice and personal belief system. I believe that I would have little difficulty avoiding a dual relationship. My personal belief system tells me that a dual relationship creates a conflict of interest between the human service professional and the client. It leaves the door open for exploitation between both parties. It is a very fine line to walk when trying to gain the trust of the client. However, the main objective is to respect the integrity of the client and avoid any activities that could open the door to an intimate relationship that is unprofessional. I had an experience where the client’s sister was interested in me and wanted to know me in a way that was unprofessional. Ethically, I knew it was wrong and because of my personal belief I chose not to entertain her. Then, I notified my supervisor. An ethical dilemma that would be difficult for me to handle would be when a spouse shares information in confidentiality during marriage counseling, but does not want the other spouse to know. If I am counseling a husband and wife,

I believe that maintaining the marriage should be the decision of the parties involved when a couple enters relationship counseling because of conflict and emotional distress. I would not want to impose my personal beliefs on my client’s. By having a conversation around what values each client has and what values they each have in common I would allow them a safe space to continue exploring what they want to do as a team. Counselors should not have a greater ethical responsibility to encourage couples to maintain the marriage when children are involved because every family is different and one should not assume that because they have children they have to stay together for the betterment of the family. One reason I would not want to do so is because not all families need to stay together to strive and I would not want to impose my belief that they should stay together when they could make the family dynamic work with whichever path they choose to take. What needs to be done is to have a conversation around the needs of their child and what they believe is the best

The client , Esmerelda and her family are undergoing some serious situation, parents on immigration issues on deportation and Esmerelda appear exhausted, grief and fear. It is significantly important for counselors to be fully aware of legal, and immigration because of many issues that nay arise. Counselors should demonstrate an active concern for family well-being and promote client safety, security, and place of belonging in society. According to IAMFC code of ethics, Hendricks et al., (2011) noted that professional couple and family counselors are willing to support family in counseling relationship

* I don’t believe it is in the best interest of the original client (the husband) for the counselor to offer marriage counseling to the couple. The scenario does not address the training of the counselor in this field. If I were the counselor, I would continue to see the husband, dealing with his issues and refer the couple to a marriage counselor.

There are several ethical dilemmas that the mental health professionals that are working as a team will face including “ensuring that the client has given informed consent, maintaining client confidentiality, and involving professionals, paraprofessionals, and family in appropriate coordinated processes that benefit the client” (Paproski & Haverkamp, 2000, p.96).

The client has had a strong support system in the past and is open to creating another one. This is strength because it demonstrates that the client is open reaching out to others in times of need and is a resiliency factor.

Geyer (1994) defines dual relationships as occurring when a mental health practitioner, “relates to a client in roles other than that of a mental health practitioner outside the therapeutic context” (p.187). Areas outside of context may include church, social gatherings, and organized events to name a few. The term dual relationship is interchangeably used with multiple relationships or nonprofessional relations. Corey et al. (2011) further defines this role as a professional who assumes multiple, two or more, roles at the same time with a client. The following paper will look to address a literature review of dual relationships along with a review of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapist (CAMFT) and American Counseling Association (ACA) ethics codes regarding the topic. I will further provide personal reflections and values as they relate to dual relationships. In closing I will provide an ethical resolution to a hypothetical case and provide final thoughts.

It is the responsibility of a human service professional to guide the client through the entire process which will prove to be easier due to the relationship that was initially established. Kilpatrick and Holland writes about the importance of building a positive relationship within the family during the initial. This will allow the human service provider to introduce alliance not only with the therapist, but with the family system as well. The text note during the first visit the counselors’ task is to ensure the client is counseling include being educated in regards to the expectation, responsibilities and role of all parties involved and regarding the confidentiality of shared information (2009, p. 106).

There are two relationships present; one is a counselor/client and the other is familial. Being a family member of a client is problematic since there’s a bond based on family, emotion and love, which are all things that a counselor/client relationship cannot have. You’ve created an overlap in relationships, which can be confusing to the client (Miller,

The Puerto Rican Family Institute clinic in Brooklyn is currently undergoing a new organizational structure due to a high turnover of recent employees. The previous director for the clinic had been in the same position for 25 years, and once she left, the structure started to decline. The new director, James Chavez, has been overseeing the clinic for a year now, and the clinic has been evolving ever since. Due to such a drastic change in roles, the clinic has been using a lateral organizational structure to help the director and keep the flow going. Since the clinic in Brooklyn is smaller, there is a lot of cohesiveness that happens within various departments. The director always has the final say, but many times, the staff will work together to help one another. I have received a lot of guidance due to the lateral structure, and I am thankful for that. The clinic has many full-time staff clinicians and the majority have a background in social work. Since the director comes from a social work background also, there is a strong social work presence. The social worker’s role is to provide one-on-one psychotherapy, give a pre-diagnostic impression, and complete treatment plans. They also assess for strengths, goals, and triggers to provide clients with a strong therapeutic experience.

As a social worker and facilitator of a treatment group, you off-handedly remarked that you were going to give away a bunch of clothes that you have had stored and haven’t worn. A treatment group member hears this and asks that you give the clothes to him or her. Do you give them to her or him? Why or why not? Which NASW Code of Ethics does this situation relate to?

It is important to understand that when counselors practices in any setting with clients as they interact on regularly bases with other professional’s workers should always conduct themselves in an ethically and legally appropriate manner (Remley & Herlihy, 2014, p.317). Chapter 12 discuses counselors who are in training for private practice and the type of roles those counselors have with other mental health professionals that are supported in their community.

Dual relationships and the ethical behavior that revolves around boundaries with clients present a multitude of very complicated situations to counselors where a clearly defined course of action is not always evident. Aside from no accord amongst mental health professionals and boundary issues being unavoidable at times, recognition and prediction of potential benefits or pitfalls correlated with dual relationships can prove to be troublesome as well (Remley & Herlihy, 2010). For most cases, it is best if an outline is used to discern when it is appropriate for a counselor to breach the client-counselor boundary.

Ethics and therapy are closely intertwined. It is important that healthcare professionals dealing in therapy adhere to strict professional standards and values that help define expectations and also prevent harm to those who seek therapy. Although the application of such values can sometimes be somewhat complicated when such therapists are dealing with individual clients, the complexity is even more heightened in the context of having multiple family members under therapy. Advancing conversations regarding values and marriage and family therapy is important to enable professionals grapple with the complexities of the topic as well as support their clients better.

This paper will explore the concept of dual relationships between counselors and clients and the ethical implications of such relationships. In addition to presenting several examples of dual relationships, this paper will also explore how ethical decisions must be made to avoid potentially harmful or exploitive relationships in therapy as well understanding how different interactions between counselor and clients can be understood from an ethical standpoint, as well as how reviewing these ethical dilemmas may shape my future career as a counselor.