VALUE-ORIENTED COUNSELING
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Introduction
Counselling is among the most difficult professions today. The nature of this profession is complex to the extent that most practitioners choose to quit. It is always described as a conflict-prone profession, evident by how they are always in confrontations with their clients, trying to solve conflicts arising from ideological differences, especially those that pertain to controversial issues like abortion. However, the counsellors must uphold professional dignity and help their clients overcome their mental health challenges. The American Counselors Association has a code of ethics that helps counsellors deal with their clients (Ponton & Duba, 2009). This paper examines the ethical guidelines that bind counsellors to their profession. It addition, it shall discuss the necessary course of actions in case the relationship between them and their clients fail.
Ethical Implications
For counsellors, dealing with clients while sticking to the stipulated code of ethics may be the most difficult task. This is because the code of ethics binding them to their profession are complex, and can easily be compromised. Ethical issues normally arise when the counsellor’s values, attitudes and personal beliefs—especially those that relate to controversial issues such as suicide—contradict or rather, are inconsistent with those of the client. Ethical issues occur as a challenge that may affect the relationship between the client and the counsellor. To prevent the possibility of experiencing ethical issues in the process of counselling, the American Counselors Association has code of ethics that act as guidelines that help counselors uphold the relationship with their clients by focusing on their needs. Any situation where the counselor forcefully imposes his beliefs and values on the client amounts to a violation of the ACA code of ethics. In any case, this may be seen as a situation where the counselor is forcefully trying to address his needs, rather than the client’s needs. The ethical implication of this move is that it causes more harm to the client than good; thus, compromising the ethical guideline of non-malfeasance. The ACA ethical guideline of non-malfeasance requires counselors to inflict the least harm to their patients. Harming the patient is unethical as it further plunges him into a situation that may be difficult to recover.
Forcefully making the patient believe into the councillor’s ideas, for instance, making him stand with pro-choice. At the same time, he, the client, is pro-life is also a violation of the ACA ethical guideline that grants the client the power of autonomy. The ACA Code of ethics requires clients to have autonomy over the counseling process (ACA, 2014). The power of autonomy means that the clients have the power to control the counseling process. Failure to grant the client this power makes him inferior and may lead to the unwillingness of the client to further participate in the counseling process.
The councilor must do everything within his capacity to ensure that his relationship with the client works. This includes doing everything he can to ensure that the client benefits from the therapy process. He also must do the best for the client, failure to which should be accompanied by alternatives beneficial to the client. Failure act in the benefit of the client is unprofessional and amounts to the violation of the code of beneficence (ACA, 2014). The ethical implication of this move is that it further disorients the patient; thus, lengthening the patient’s recovery period.
The counselor should also be just and trustworthy to the client (ACA, 2014). The ethical guideline for justice requires the counselor to treat the patient fairly despite their differences. This increases the bond between the two. This bond is also enhanced through fidelity. Fidelity, as an ethical guideline, requires the counselor to be loyal to the client. Failure to act fairly or show fidelity distorts the client-counselor relationship.
Legislations and Government Policies Related to School Counseling
The prevalence of issues such as abortion, child abuse, and domestic violence has escalated in modern times has escalated to disturbing rates. The worst part of this is that the most affected people are students of up to age 18. Most of them sit silently in class but are mentally dealing with the challenges caused by domestic violence or child labour. Such students need counseling. Students’ counselors should adhere to legislations guiding school counseling as well as the American School Counselor Association code of ethics (Schoolcounselor.org, 2020).
Some of the government legislations related to school counseling the Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Act of 2019, which requires elementary and secondary schools to increase the school counselors/psychologists to student ratio. The increased ratio would oversee that more students are enrolled in counseling programs. The Perkins V Act of 2018 is also another legislation related to school counseling (Schoolcounselor.org, 2020). The legislation ensures that school counseling services extend to post-secondary school institutions. The Perkins V Act also serves to ensure that the standards of school counseling achieve quality targets as well as desirable results.
With Perkins V Act, school counseling goes beyond helping troubled students overcome mental health issues to elevating their academic performance. These legislations are mainly enforced by ASCA whose code of ethics requires school principals, counselors and psychologists to offer counseling services while maintaining the virtues of professionalism, leadership and integrity (Schoolcounselor.org, 2020). Harassment, bullying and discrimination amount to abuse and violation of the ASCA code of ethics.
Referrals
Under certain factors, a counselor may be forced to refer a client to another counselor. These factors revolve around the client challenging the counselor’s ability to give compassionate counseling. At times, it’s possible to work out these challenges with the client and overcome the need for referral (Natwick, 2017). However, some challenges are hard to overcome, so it is only best when the counselor refers the client to another counselor for the benefit of both parties; the client and his original counselor. In most cases, the decision to refer a client to another counselor is always a step to terminate the therapy, or rather the client-counselor relationship. Below are the factors that may push for a referral.
A counselor may consider referring a client to another counselor if he discovers that the client is better served by a specialist (Natwick, 2017). Some patients go for therapy with an assumption that they are suffering from a general mental issue, say depression. Others go for therapy to get treated for symptoms they do not comprehend. As the therapy continues, the counselor discovers that the client’s condition is way deeper than he thought, and he lacks the necessary skills to provide therapy for the condition. For instance, the patient may seek therapy for depression. Halfway through it, the counselor discovers that the patient has personality disorders or psychosis, but not depression. These are conditions that require the services of a specialist; not an ordinary counselor. Such a counselor may not be helpful to his client; hence, will need to refer him to a specialist who can offer counseling that goes beyond cognitive behaviour therapy (Natwick, 2017). For instance, for a patient that is suffering from a borderline personality disorder, it is only best if he is referred to a specialist that is skilled at giving dialectical behavioural therapy; it is the only therapy type that can help overcome this personality defect. A counselor cannot refer to a client due to cultural complexity. In any case, a counselor-client relationship becomes stronger if the counselor works to comprehend the client’s cultural and ethnic background.
Secondly, a counselor can refer the client to another therapist if there is a looming risk of ethical issues if he, the counselor, continues with the therapy (Natwick, 2017). As discussed, the therapy process is a subject of ethical guidelines. The counselor must ensure that all ethical guidelines are upheld during and after the process of interaction. The compromisation of ethical guidelines comes about when the client’s beliefs are inconsistent with the beliefs held by the counselor. For instance, a client may have different political or religious views from those held by the counselor. The difference in these beliefs may challenge the counselor’s ability to give compassionate care to the client. If a counselor feels like the ethical guidelines may be compromised by continual interaction, he should terminate his services with the client by referring him to another counselor. A counselor can also refer a client to another counselor if he is under threat of physical violence from the client. The ACA Code of ethics requires the counselor to put the client’s priorities before his priorities, but not before his health. Physical violence possibly destroys the relationship between the client and the counselor, translating to compromised of ethical guidelines (Ponton & Duba, 2009). In such circumstance, it is wise to have the client’s needs sorted by a different counselor. The ACA, however, requires the therapist to cushion his beliefs and keep the relationship between him and the client as professional as possible. Doing so may prevent the possibility of terminating this relationship.
Thirdly, a counselor may refer a client to another counselor if the client isn’t benefiting from the therapy/counseling in any way (Natwick, 2017). The therapy process is not easy. A counselor may think that he is helping out the client while in reality, the results that the client is reporting is nothing but negative progress or shows disinterest in the therapy process. A client that is no longer interested in therapy is always unwilling to disclose or discuss his situation, always late for sessions or puts little to no effort in it (Natwick, 2017). A client will only act in this way if he is not benefiting from the relationship. In such a case, it is always advisable to refer the client to another counselor because the goal of counseling is to help the client to overcome his mental health challenges. It makes no sense to continue with the relationship when it is not helping the client.
Alternatives to Referrals
In counseling, referrals come after the counselor has exploited other possible ways of dealing with the challenges arising from his relationship with the client (Martz & Kaplan, 2014). Under counseling circumstances, referrals are normal but not necessary. Even under the above factors, the counselor may still work with other alternatives to prevent the possibility of referring the client to another counselor (Clay, 2017). Below are the steps that a counselor may take when referring the client to another counselor is not an option.
The first step is seeking advice from the supervisor or consulting colleagues on ways of overcoming the challenge in question. Ending the counselor-client relationship due to fear of compromising the ACA ethical guidelines is not necessary (Clay, 2017). In such a case, the counselor should seek advice from his supervisor and other colleagues to help him solve the discomfort that is threatening his ability to provide compassionate and ethical care to his client. Referral should only become an option when counseling or the relationship fails, even after consulting the supervisor and other colleagues. However, if such occurs, it may only be treated as the client’s fault.
Another step is to cushioning personal values and beliefs (Clay, 2017). The counselor is always the one on the fault of breaking the ethical guidelines. In any case, he should cushion his personal beliefs and values, to keep them out of the patient’s reach, until he has a complete understanding of the client’s personal beliefs and values. Even after having this understanding, the counselor should act neutral towards the client’s beliefs. This creates an atmosphere where the client feels accepted, accommodated and understood; thus, strengthening the relationship between the two parties. Even though it may be difficult to maintain a neutral stance towards the client’s personal beliefs and values, the counselor should try to do so for the sake of being devoted to the ACA code of ethics and professional guidelines (Ponton & Duba, 2009). Broaching is also a necessary step that may be undertaken by a counselor to prevent referral resulting from misunderstanding the client’s personal values and beliefs. Broaching entails reading widely on the subjects unknown counselor to get a deeper understanding of the client’s reasoning, values and beliefs (Clay, 2017). The counselor may also indulge in broaching to understand how specialist therapy is delivered. This way, there will be no need of referring a client to a specialist.
The counselor can also undertake self-awareness analysis to prevent possible client-counselor conflicts that may lead to a referral (Martz & Kaplan, 2014). Self-awareness analysis involves analyzing the client’s feelings, attitude and reaction to know appropriate ways of handling the client (Clay, 2017). Some patients are violent; hence, analyzing these traits and knowing how to handle them may prevent occurrences such as physical violence. Self-awareness analysis also helps counselors maintain appropriate values while serving the clients (Clay, 2017). In any case, the analysis helps build a stronger client-counselor relationship.
Conclusion
This paper discusses how counselors can remain value-oriented towards their clients. It also discusses the factors for referral in case the relationship between the two fails. Counselors should stick to the ACA code of ethics for valuable service delivery.
References
American Counselling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA Code of Ethics. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.counseling.org/resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiShYTy88vrAhUOmRoKHfAZDqsQFjABegQIDRAG&usg=AOvVaw0dBwzv5CYVOFQIq54SkxK2
Clay, R. A. (2017). Coping with challenging clients. Monitor on Psychology, 48 (7).
Martz, E., & Kaplan, D. (2014). New responsibilities when making referrals. Counseling Today, 57(4), 24-25.
Natwick, J. (2017). On the ethics of ending: Terminations and referrals. Counseling Today, 59(5), 18-20.
Ponton, R. F., & Duba, J. D. (2009). The ACA Code of Ethics: Articulating counseling’s professional covenant. Journal of Counseling & Development, 87(1), 117-121.
Schoolcounselor.org. (2020). ASCA Legislative Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.schoolcounselor.org/school-counselors-members/legislative-affairs