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Professional and Ethical Issues in Person-Centred Counselling

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Professional and Ethical Issues Introduction 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: An ethical framework creates a basic conceptual structure within which we can all feel safe and supported to move around freely and make choices. There is enough of a structure to define the …show more content…

It is important to look at ethical dilemmas in a systematic way, thus increasing the chance of achieving a solution that gives the best possible outcome. An ethical problem solving model taken from American sources (Paradise and Siegelwaks, 1982; Austin et al., 1990) was used to develop a six-step process to follow, in order to achieve this (Bond 2010, pg. 227). This process informs this paper, and I am in the role of counsellor. Dilemma 1 Description of dilemma Your client Sue is a Social Work Assistant. In your last session she disclosed that she is concerned that on a recent home visit, herself and a senior colleague did not follow the necessary policies and procedures. They had visited a family with a history of neglect and domestic violence and did not ask to see the child or enter the home, both these actions are prescribed as appropriate as part of their work. Whose dilemma is it? The Counsellor The first thing would be alarms bells ringing with regard to child safety with the possibility of having to break client confidentiality with regard to potential Child Protection issues. That part, in my view, is not the real dilemma because I am bound by law to do ‘something’. For me, the dilemma is how to handle the situation to achieve the best outcome for my client, myself (professionally and morally), the family concerned and the organization that Sue works for. The Client It is also a dilemma for Sue. Should she go over her senior’s

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