Exploring Unique Issues in Couples and Family Work
One experiences several issues when working with families and children. For instance, it is required that a counselor should not share certain information with family members. Any information shared between the counselor and the patient should always remain confidential. Besides, a therapist handling patients from the same family at different times is not expected to use the same approach to solve the issues the family members face (Miller, 2018). Therapists also face confidentiality issues when dealing with children. Some children and adolescents would prefer certain information not to be shared with their parents. This commonly occurs when the information relates to bad behaviors (Behnke and Warner, 2002). It is also difficult for therapists to build a rapport with children and adolescents. Children may have trust issues due to the traumatic experiences they have had when interacting with new adults in their lives.
While practicing, I am likely to face issues that relate to the confidentiality of information shared between me and my clients. For instance, I might face a situation where the caregivers of my client demand to know certain information about a patient whose condition has worsened while being attended to in my facility. Even though I need to maintain the confidentiality of patient information, I would be left in a dilemma in such a case. The patient’s caregivers might sue me for hiding information that would have made the patient’s condition better. Sharing information about the patient’s condition with the caregivers without obtaining informed consent from the patient may be unethical (Weifel, 2006). This is comparable to a case where a child who has attained a certain age does not want his/her parents not to know particular information about him/her. Sharing the information without obtaining informed consent from the child would be unethical.
When handling couples, it is important to convince them to say everything that would help you in determining their clinical outcome. You need to let either of the partners know that this information will remain confidential and will not be shared with anyone else. Therefore, if one member of the couple decides that you should not share certain information with the spouse, you need to respect his/her decision. Sharing the information would make him/her distrust you the next time he/she seeks medical assistance from you (Reiter and Runyan, 2013). However, you are supposed to emphasize the need for him/her to share the information with the other spouse, especially if the information would be beneficial to the spouse. You should respect the partner’s decision in case they still insist that the information remain confidential.
The discussion prompts I learned from these articles are:
- In one of the sessions, an adolescent girl tells you that she lied 2 years ago when she had his cousin imprisoned for rape. How do you handle such information?
- Do you have to keep all the information about a child confidential in the presence of his/her parents?
- A husband to a lady you have been counseling visits your facility and explains how he is depressed since he feels his marriage with his wife is failing. How do you handle this situation, given the wife told you before that she has been cheating on her husband?
- Do you have to force a child to give out certain information in the presence of his/her parent?
- What is the importance of the code of ethics in handling family issues?
References
Behnke, S., & Warner, E. (2002). Confidentiality in the treatment of adolescents. Retrieved 8 December 2020, from https://www.apa.org/monitor/mar02/confidentiality
Miller, A. (2018). Types of Ethical Issues a Counselor May Face When Working With Families. Retrieved 8 December 2020, from https://careertrend.com/types-ethical-issues-counselor-may-face-working-families-4732.html
Reiter, J., & Runyan, C. (2013). The ethics of complex relationships in primary care behavioral health. Families, Systems, & Health, 31(1), 20–27. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031855
Welfel, E. R. (2006). Ethics in counseling and psychotherapy: Standards, research, and emerging issues (3rd ed.). Thomson Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.
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Question 
Exploring Unique Issues in Couples and Family Work
Read the 4 articles in this week’s topic materials. After reading the articles, respond to the questions/prompts listed below. Each response should be approx 100-150 words. What are some of the unique issues that those working with families and children may experience? List as many as you can think of
Compare those issues with those that you may encounter when working with individual clients.
How you would handle a situation where one member of a couple told you a secret and asked you to keep it from their spouse
Create five discussion prompts that cover what you learned from these articles.