Reading 4.1: ethical principles for embedded counselling

1.Introduction

2.Examples of ethical dilemmas

3.Core ethical principles

  1. Working within the law
  1. Negotiating informed consent
  1. Confidentiality
  1. Being aware of your limits as a counsellor
  1. Taking care around your relationships
  1. Sensitivity to cultural differences in morale standpoint
  1. Dealing with risk and self-harm
  1. Using touch
  1. Ethical decision making
  1. The concept of boundary
  1. Conclusions

Practitioners hold confidential information about clients and service users, and have the power to make decisions or recommendations that can fundamentally change a person's life

1.Autonomy

  1. Non-maleficence
  2. Benefficiency
  3. Justice
  4. Fidelity
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Brief discussions around confidentiality can contribute to a strengthening of the counselling relationship and counsellor-client alliance if a client gains an appreciation of the professionalism of the counsellor, and a sense of being cared about.

There is some evidence that councillors are not particularly sensitive at picking up subtle clues about harmful behaviour. In a study carried out by Reeves et al.

Another explanation was that they lacked skill and confidence in initiating conversations around risk

  1. Collect all relevant information about situation
  2. Consider who benefits from different courses of action
  3. Consider the consequences
  4. Identify duties
  5. Consult
  6. Decide
  7. Test the plan
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For each of these boundary dimensions it can be helpful to map out a, what the boundary is. B, who decides on the boundary, and how it is decided or negotiated. See, how the person seeking help learns about the existence of the boundary or is invited to negotiate it. D, what happens if the boundary is violated.

In counselling, ethical issues are not separate from practice – they are part of practice. A counsellor who feels morally secure in what they are doing tends to be more relaxed, and convey a sense of confidence to the client. Similarly, a client who has a fundamental trust in the integrity of the counsellor is more likely to talk about important stuff, and embraced the possibility of change. Each of the ethical domains that have been discussed in this chapter can also be regarded as an aspect of the counselling process. For example, talking about the limits of confidentiality is a necessary step in ethical good practice and means of strengthening the counsellor – client relationship. Asking the client if they wish to proceed with counselling is similarly an element of ethical practice and a means of positioning themselves as person with strengths and a capacity to decide what is best. While it is important for anyone in a counselling role to be as prepared as they can be to deal with ethical dilemmas through reading, discussion and role-play, the key strategy that needs to be employed in all ethical scenarios is a willingness to proceed on our collaborative basis. Resolving ethical dilemmas is not a matter of applying and algorithm or set of rules in one's head, but instead consists of engaging in a process of consultation and collaborative decision making with the clients, colleagues, and one supervisor.