Describe and Discuss Ethical Frameworks Within Which Counselling and Therapeutic Practitioners Work. Include Justification for Observing Codes of Conduct and How Professionalism Is Maintained.

The Ethical Framework is made up of rules and regulations within which Counsellors and Psychotherapists strive to achieve in order to attain a high professional standard. It protects client and counsellor and compounds values, principles and personal moral qualities for counsellors to work alongside in order to achieve the highest standard of counselling for clients. These include safety, record keeping, confidentiality and issues such as prejudice, transference.

The Ethical Framework is designed to regulate the work of the counselling practitioner in order to safeguard the needs of the client and to ensure that they are being treated with respect and dignity.

The British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions provides the foundations and guidelines for ethical understanding and good practice in counselling work. This enables a counsellor to practice safely in private practice or within an agency. Different agencies may work with other frameworks, for instance the National Counselling Society (NCS), who support counselling and related therapies, and are closely linked with the NHS. (Nationalcounsellingsociety.org). The BACP framework can’t inform a counsellor of specific rights or wrongs, but outlines the values, principles and moral qualities that a counsellor should adhere to, which helps with guidance and ethical decision making and safeguarding client and counsellor. (BACP, 2015)

In order for counselling to be effective and purposeful it must be conducted in an ethical way. The very act of seeking counselling predisposes that the seeker is vulnerable/troubled and needs assurance that the main focus of counselling will be their well-being and promote for them a greater sense of autonomy, and not to serve any other purpose. Therefore the foundation of good counselling must be an ethical relationship, hence the need for an ethical framework. As Tim Bond (2010) states:

To have good ethical practice within counselling it is important that there are boundaries and contracts in place that are agreed to and understood by both the counsellor and the client.

Professional counsellors are also bound by other ethics such as being non-judgemental and should not exploit their clients in any way. They must be respectful of how their clients choose to live and their right to self-determination. Counsellors must not impose their own thoughts or feeling on other people & should not have any expectations or impose any conditions on their clients. The relationship between counsellor and client should be one of equality. Although, the client may not feel that there is equality, they may feel powerless, as they are seeking help. The counsellor must try and convey a sense of equality and use their skills and knowledge to enable the client to take control of their life and feel empowered.

I intend to show an understanding of the ethical framework for good practice in counselling, relating it to practice and also my own beliefs and opinions, how this influences the counselling relationship, I will also show the need for protection of self and client.

The EAI indicates that ethical guidelines have changed from individual character to organizational ethics (Ethics Awareness Inventory, 2011). The prime focus of this change are client-patient relationships in psychological counseling and clinical practice (Fisher, (2013). Psychological counseling and clinical practice are both constructed on ethical guidelines with the possibility for misuse of power and negligence to discretion (Fisher,

The British Association for Counselling’s Code of Ethics and Practice for Counsellors states that ‘Counselling may be concerned with developmental issues, addressing and resolving specific problems, making decisions, coping with crisis, developing personal insight and knowledge, working through feelings of inner conflict or improving relationships with others’ (BACP Ethical Framework).

Establishing an efficient relationship between client and counsellor is one of the key aspect in counselling. Every therapeutic session starts with the process of building up a therapeutic alliance. Bob Shebib defines the therapeutic alliance as a time limited period of consultation between a counsellor and one or more clients for assisting the client in achieving a defined goal (Shebib, 2014). However, to achieve successful results, a partnership that primarily focuses on the clients’ needs and goals is required. The therapist must be eager to help the clients with care and compassion while the patient also need to

It is up to the professional to ensure that the line is not crossed. (Community Door E Training, 2013). To be able to impact someone's life is a privilege, so the importance of a client-worker relationship should not be taken lightly or overlooked. Professionals have the responsibility to respect and uphold their clients’ integrity and security in order to provide them with the best possible care (Muirhead, 2016). Integrity in itself is a complex notion, however, is most simply defined as uncompromising in the adherence to codes, honest work, accountability and conducting yourself in a genuine way (Cherrie May Appleton, 13). Clear objectives in professional practice should be highly considered and acted upon in a consistent and principled way to ensure the best outcomes for clients. There are many elements to consider when maintaining a professional and appropriate relationship with clients to maintain integrity within ethical boundaries. This idea refers to several standards covered by the Queensland Government Human Services Quality Framework (HSQF). Standard 3.2 states that an effective organisation is able to ‘formulate service delivery that respects and values the individual and their beliefs’. (Queensland Government, 2016) A huge contributing factor to consider in relation to ethical boundaries is

In this essay I am going to look at the importance and purpose of the initial consultation between the client and the therapist and what happens during this preliminary session. I will also cover the ethical definitions that will need to be explored and established, to ensure the safety and wellbeing of both the client and therapist.

Counter-transference can be defined as the occurrence of unresolved personal feelings of the therapist that are projected unto his or her client. Sigmund Freud coined the term counter-transference in 1910, who viewed counter-transference as the result of the client influencing unconscious feelings of the therapist (Hayes, Gelso, & Hummel, 2011).

Kahn (1991) claims that according to Freud, when entering therapy, a patient’s view of and reaction to their therapist is influenced by two tendencies. Firstly, the patient will view this relationship in the light of their earliest relationships, and secondly that they will try and incite replays of early difficult situations. Jacobs (2010) describes this transference as the repetition by the patient of former, often child-like patterns of relating to significant people, such as parents, but now viewed in relation to the therapist. The author goes on to claim that the therapist becomes, for the patient, a transference figure with whom the patient has an opportunity to relive or to find the type of parent–child relationship he or she might have wished for, or even to some extent had.

Yes, definitely. The NZAC Code of Ethics states: “Counselling involves the formation of professional relationships based on ethical values and principles” (2). As a counsellor I believe it is of utmost importance that we practice with ethical sensitivity since our profession is bound by our Code of Ethics. Ethical sensitivity would not only save us unnecessary law suits but also gives more reassurance and comfort to the client.