Counselor Ethics and Responsibilities

Counsellor Ethics and Responsibilities

In the wake of an increasing prevalence of mental health illnesses, counsellors play a vital role in managing these illnesses. Counselling is a psychotherapeutic modality of treatment that maintains effectiveness in treating several mental health illnesses. For counsellors to discharge their mandate effectively, they should be able to develop a healthy working professional relationship with their clients. Ethical and legal provisions exist that guide counsellors’ professional conduct and enable them to function effectively. This paper discusses the ethical and legal obligations of counselors and their responsibility to warn protect, and keep clients’ records. This paper will also discuss the concept of self-care, advocacy, and the counsellor’s values.

Section 1: The Counselor’s Role in Protecting Client Rights

Protecting the rights of the client is a primary responsibility of a counselor. The principles of ethical practice promote values central to the dispensation of the fundamental functionality of counsellors. These principles are beneficence, fidelity, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice. The ethical principle of beneficence requires that the counsellor does good and promotes the welfare of others. Central to this ethical provision is putting the client first. In this regard, the counsellor will strive to dignify their clients and ensure that the client’s needs are met (Varkey, 2020). A counsellor will demonstrate beneficence by promoting the welfare of their clients and respecting their rights.

Nonmaleficence is another ethical provision that is complementary to beneficence. Non-maleficence is grounded on causing no harm to the client and avoiding practices with the potential to cause harm to the client. Mental health professionals demonstrate this ethical provision by imposing values that do not have the potential to harm their clients (Varkey, 2020). This entails respecting their rights and avoiding activities that can inflict harm on them.

The ethical principle of autonomy grants authority of self-determination to all clients. This ethical provision requires that the patients decide on all interventions done to them. Incorporating this principle is a demonstration of optimal ethical practices and sets the base for other ethical provisions. This provision grants clients authority over their health and requires caregivers to respect and embrace decisions made by the clients on their health.

Justice is an ethical principle that accords clients with equal and fair treatment from their caregivers. Counsellors demonstrate justice by treating their clients fairly and equally and without any preferences attributable to the client’s background or personal information. Justice is a central provision in moral care provision that gives due consideration to the patients themselves rather than other defining characteristics (Varkey, 2020). It is, therefore, important that all counsellors embrace justice in their dealings.

Fidelity is a broad concept in ethical practice that encompasses honouring commitments, loyalty, and being faithful. Fidelity is fundamental in ensuring a healthy clinical relationship between the client and the counsellor. The counsellor’s mandate in care provision is to commit to their clients, addressing their needs to avoid leaving any client’s obligations unfulfilled (Varkey, 2020). Fidelity is especially beneficial in clinical environments where chronicity is apparent. By committing to the course and remaining loyal to it, optimal outcomes are likely to be realized.

Informed Consent

Informed consent is a legal and ethical provision that has highlighted care provision processes. Informed consent is the initial communication process between the counsellor and the client that gives the counsellor permission to offer care services to the client. Informed consent is legally binding and is made by the patients upon acknowledging receipt of sufficient information on the process (Blease et al., 2018). Informed consent plays a role in billing, right to privacy, HIPAA compliance, and compliance with credentialing board requirements.

Billing is an important process in healthcare that utilizes clients’ personal and health data to raise and send invoices to them. Informed consent is required in the billing process since personal and health information is likely to be utilized in the process by other parties. Informed consent is valuable in the billing process as it provides the clients with information on healthcare interventions likely to be given to them. It also obliges handlers of that information to safeguard it. The right to privacy frees the clients from unwarranted publicity. All clients have the right to privacy over their health information. Informed consent enables external parties to access this information. Individuals, however, maintain the right of privacy to their personal and health information and oblige handlers of this information to safeguard it from publicity.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) provisions maintain the safeguard of clients’ private health information. HIPAA is a legal provision that provides standards for protecting sensitive patient health information from disclosure (Cohen & Mello, 2018). Handlers of clients’ personal health information are therefore under an obligation as per this provision to safeguard this information. The HIPAA rule requires that patients provide informed consent for their private information to be disclosed to other external parties (Cohen & Mello, 2018). It also obliges those privileged to access this information to safeguard it from malicious intent.

Compliance with credentialing board requirements for incorporating informed consent into practice is another fundamental functionality of counsellors and other psychotherapists. This comes against the backdrop of understanding the significance of informed consent in assuring the confidentiality of the client’s personal and health data. Credentialing boards are regulatory authorities that ensure optimal standards of professional practice. As a professional, complying with the provisions of these regulatory boards is the first step toward establishing a legitimate practice.

Section 2: Responsibility to Warn and Protect

The responsibility to warn and protect is the counsellor’s obligation toward the preservation of health. The duty of warning arises when a client has communicated an intent with the potential of inflicting harm or death to another identifiable victim, and the victim has the potential to execute the aforementioned intent (“Mental Health Professionals’ Duty to Warn,” 2022). The legal provision of the state of Minnesota details factors to consider whether the duty to protect is present under state laws. These include the presence of a special relationship and whether the client directly communicated to the counselor their intent for threat, the presence of foreseeable harm, and whether the victim is identifiable (“2021 MN Statutes”, 2022). The state laws list the context in which the duty to warn and protect may arise. Some of these include threats of danger to victims of child abuse, neglect, battery, and self-injury, such as suicide, among others. Minnesota statutes direct that privileged patient information may be disclosed without consent when a duty to warn and protect arises.

Section 3: Client Record Keeping

Record keeping is central to comprehensive care provision and provides a framework for developing therapeutic plans, admission, discharge, and care continuum. Clinical record keeping is a fundamental responsibility of healthcare providers and facilities. This functionality is defined by law and remains a vital ethical mandate in care provision. The advent of health information technologies, such as electronic medical records systems, has significantly facilitated client record keeping (Schopf et al., 2019). Counsellors play a pivotal role in keeping clients’ personal and health records.

All clients presenting to healthcare facilities have the right to basic healthcare. In this regard, caregivers are mandated by law to provide a professional standard of care to all clients who need it. Counselors in the process have to document care processes accorded to their clients and provide this information to the clients upon request. Client record keeping also protects the counselor from malpractice. Accurate and timely clinical documentation can be used as a basis of legal defense in the event of a legal suit on malpractice or any other lawsuit thereof. Counselors can produce these documents in a court of law to free themselves from legal liabilities. It is the right of any client to have access to healthcare. Accurate documentation of client treatment processes can be used to notify clients of their respective rights. Electronic clinical record keeping via electronic health record systems provides a more efficient way of storing and documenting client health information. Electronic clinical records also provide a framework for safeguarding vital patient information from theft (Schopf et al., 2019). Healthcare systems across the globe have integrated information technologies that enable them to electronically store and document client data.

Section 4: Self Care

Self-care is an important health maintenance strategy that entails doing things that promote mental and physical wellness. The American Counselling Association (ACA) recognizes the significance of self-care in psychosocial well-being. It encourages all counselors to engage in any form of self-care activities to promote their psychological and physical wellness to enable them to better offer their professional responsibilities (Harrichand et al., 2021). The ACA also provides online resources for counselors targeted at increasing their self-awareness and well-being.

Maintaining a professional and personal life balance is key to ensuring the overall well-being of counselors. To maintain a healthy professional-personal life balance, I intend to set boundaries between my professional life and personal life. During my time, I intend to engage in several self-care activities. I also intend to take lessons on handling or dealing with stress as well as strategies to maintain well-being. I have in the recent past engaged in activities such as reading comic books and watching movies. To further my self-care activities and work towards a professional-personal life balance, I would like to try yoga as it helps in relaxing the mind and the body. Yoga is a mind-body technique that has found considerable use in several mental health illnesses, such as anxiety and depression.

Counselors, just like other mental health illnesses, may present emotional baggage to caregivers that may impact their functionality. A red flag that I may have to address to avoid personal impairments is feeling anger or hatred when dealing with capital offenders like convicts of robbery with violence. Having been brought up in a neighborhood where runaway crime and capital offenses such as murder and rape were rampant, I developed a characteristic hatred for perpetrators of these crimes. Having to face these offenders in a therapy session sometimes uncovers the bitterness of witnessing such offenses. I feel happy about counselors receiving personal counseling. I view it as a new dawn that enables counselors to assume a client role. The neighborhood I live in has been privileged to have a community mental health center established by the local government to aid persons with mental health illnesses. This resource center offers counseling services to all community members.

Section 5: Advocacy

Advocacy’s role in counseling implores counselors to not only engage their clients in talk therapy but also indulge in other activities that promote the welfare of the clients. Such activities include but are not limited to educating clients on their mental wellness and providing them with resources necessary for preserving health (Kozan & Blustein, 2018). I am passionate about providing care for clients suffering from depression. Advocacy efforts for this population group focus on educating the affected individuals on the disease, encouraging them to come out and seek care interventions, and helping them design strategies for healthy living. The ethical responsibility that a counselor has in advocacy is beneficence. Beneficence requires that the caregiver does good and promotes the welfare of their clients. Advocacy offers a platform in which caregivers can promote the welfare of their clients.

Section 6: Counsellor Values

The selected issue is abortion. The case presented is of a 19-year-old rape victim who wants to abort despite her parent’s vehement opposition to her decisions. Being a firm believer, I base my affirmations on religious values and beliefs. I do not believe in abortions and would recommend adoption as the best alternative. According to the scriptures, God affirms the value of every human life, from children in the womb to the elderly. The scriptures also prohibit man from murdering. The scriptures further reinforce their opposition to abortion and affirmation of the value of human life through several scriptures. It is for these reasons that I will proactively advocate for adoption. My understanding of the value of man, regardless of the stage of human development, drives me to believe that all forms of life are precious and that all have the right to life.

As a counselor working with a client with divergent views, I will embrace the ethical principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. Beneficence requires that I do good to my clients and promote their welfare. Non-maleficence also requires that I do no harm to my clients. Imposing my values on the patient may affect her welfare. On the contrary, respecting her decision and recommending an abortion may present another complexity in obtaining informed consent from the parents, which may require dragging the parents into the issue. Besides, her parents oppose the issue. Despite her parent’s stance being similar to mine, it presents a conflict of interest between my beliefs and values and what is good for her as per ethical provisions and standards of practice. Due to conflicting interests in the case and the resultant ethical dilemma, I may have to refer the patient to other clinical specialists.

Counselors remain significant in managing mental health illnesses. Their roles require a better understanding of the ethical provision of practice as detailed by the ACA. Additionally, they should demonstrate an understanding of the legal provision of their practice, especially the privacy rule that grants their clients authority over their personal and health data. Counselors have the responsibility to warn and protect their clients as per the laws defining this provision. Due to their role definition, counselors should have a better understanding of self-care and incorporate it into their lives as a strategy to ensure wellness.

 References

2021 MN Statutes. Revisor.mn.gov. (2022). Retrieved 10 August 2022, from https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/.

Blease, C., Kelley, J., & Trachsel, M. (2018). Informed Consent in Psychotherapy: Implications of Evidence-Based Practice. Journal Of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 48(2), 69-78. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-017-9372-9

Cohen, I., & Mello, M. (2018). HIPAA and Protecting Health Information in the 21st Century. JAMA, 320(3), 231. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.5630

Harrichand, J., Litam, S., & Ausloos, C. (2021). Infusing Self-Care and Wellness into CACREP Curricula: Pedagogical Recommendations for Counselor Educators and Counselors during COVID-19. International Journal For The Advancement Of Counselling, 43(3), 372-385. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-021-09423-3

Kozan, S., & Blustein, D. (2018). Implementing Social Change: A Qualitative Analysis of Counseling Psychologists’ Engagement in Advocacy. The Counseling Psychologist, 46(2), 154-189. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000018756882

Mental Health Professionals’ Duty to Warn. Ncsl.org. (2022). Retrieved 10 August 2022, from https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/mental-health-professionals-duty-to-warn.aspx.

Schopf, T., Nedrebø, B., Hufthammer, K., Daphu, I., & Lærum, H. (2019). How well does the electronic health record support the clinical tasks of hospital physicians? A survey of physicians at three Norwegian hospitals. BMC Health Services Research, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4763-0

Varkey, B. (2020). Principles of Clinical Ethics and Their Application to Practice. Medical Principles And Practice, 30(1), 17-28. https://doi.org/10.1159/000509119

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Assessment Description
Access and review the “Counselor Ethics and Responsibilities Assignment Guidelines.” Complete the paper according to the assignment guidelines.

Include at least six scholarly resources in addition to the textbook in your paper.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

This performance assessment assesses the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for Professional Counseling Orientation & Ethical Practice.

This assignment is informed by the following CACREP Standards:

2.F.1.d. The role and process of the professional counselor advocating on behalf of the profession.

2.F.1.e. Advocacy processes needed to address institutional and social barriers that impede access, equity, and success for clients.

2.F.1.l. Self-care strategies appropriate to the counselor role.

5.C.2.a. Roles and settings of clinical mental health counselors.

5.C.2.l. Legal and ethical considerations specific to clinical mental health counseling.

5.C.2.m. Record keeping, third party reimbursement, and other practice and management issues in clinical mental health counseling.

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