Counseling Ethics Professional Guidelines Psychotherapy

Ethics emphasizes any profession one has to pursue after educational degrees are completed. The importance of ethics for the counseling profession cannot be overstated since the involvement of human subjects and respecting their values is the sole responsibility (Mansaray & Mani, 2020). For this very reason, I selected the topic “What ethical codes are associated with advocacy as a counselor?” The relevance of this topic with my counseling profession is quite conspicuous since applying the code of conduct is required for maintaining the confidentiality of patients and upholding professionalism. Inability to follow such codes would end up removing the counseling membership.

The chosen topic presents itself within my counseling role since discernment of right and wrong should be followed by the counseling practitioners themselves. The personal and professional lives should reflect what is practiced ethically so that moral obligations are fulfilled, especially when an accurate decision is to be taken for a patient (Bakshi & Goss, 2019). My intentional demonstration of this perspective would be within my counseling role through the deployment of best practices suggested in the literature such as ethical decision-making models, utilization of ethics while using technology, especially in online counseling, and becoming culturally component via gaining constant knowledge about diverse ethnic groups, not only for the sake of professional development but also for adherence to strict observation of different needs for different cultural background (Bakshi & Goss, 2019).

The characteristics of my field site that resonate with the chosen topic of ethics on counseling are respecting autonomy, doing good to the patients, preventing harm to them, and providing justice in the form of benefits and removal of burdens (Gerger et al., 2020). The asset that this field site offers is the trust that the patient would have in the counselor, which I have to take special care of if I want the treatment or intervention to be successful. Obtaining adequate patient information requires a patient-counselor relationship to build naturally for active patient involvement. The challenge might occur when the personal and professional or ethical values might come into conflict, which could unfortunately sometimes lead to court cases.

The ethical and legal considerations I note regarding the chosen topic are client welfare, gaining informed consent, maintaining confidentiality, supporting cultural sensitivity, encouraging network involvement, avoidance of human harm, prohibition of non-counseling roles or building of similar relationships, and creating and sustaining boundaries in professional relationships, etc. (American Counseling Association, 2014).

The specific dispositions that would be identified in my Internship Plan related to ethics of counseling include the display of moral behavior, expression of my thoughts effectively with a sound judgment, facilitating social welfare and justice through my actions and words, demonstrating respect and honesty through my attitude, caring for others in whatever situation, accepting responsibility for my words and actions and valuing beliefs of others regardless of conflicting with my own or how diverse they are, self-care and self-awareness of my limitations or barriers, enhancing interpersonal relationships for boosting collaboration (George Mason University, 2017).

The social change implications of counseling ethics would facilitate healthy patient-counselor relationships so that complete information is disclosed by the patient whom the counselor wants to treat. Once accurate information is acquired, and the patient knows that it would be respected, kept private, and no harm would be incurred, a better and mentally healthier society would come into shape. Advanced interpersonal communication skills are the key to success in this regard so that mental and emotional well-being could be guaranteed by the counseling practitioners, and that too, after having followed the code of ethical conduct strictly.