Ethical and legal issues in Alonso's addiction counseling group

1

Group Treatment and Substance Abuse Part 1 It is important to note, from the onset, that there are guidelines that counselors ought to adhere to in an attempt to govern their professional conduct. In relation to Alonso’s addiction counseling group, privacy/confidentiality comes across as being one of the most prominent legal and ethical issues of interest. In essence, counselors ought to reveal not only the nature of confidentiality, but also the limitations of the confidentiality rights clients enjoy. Alonso reveals the nature of confidentiality but fails to highlight its limitations especially given that the setting in this case has multiple participants who may not necessarily honor the call for confidentiality. There is also the issue of informed or valid consent. The exercise in this case does not seem to be mindful of the interests and wishes of the clients – with a valid question from one of the clients being casually brushed-off, and their participation being inclined towards coercion especially with regard to Alonso’s call for every individual to participate in discussions involving pre-assigned topics i.e. choice of drug. In essence, group counseling enables participants to share experiences and hence learn from each other on the best ways to cope. Participants in Alonso’s group could achieve this through imitative and learned behavior. It is important to note that when members share experiences, participants find it easier to beat feelings of isolation and helplessness. There is also altruism, in which case the act of helping out another person has the effect of lifting a participant’s self-esteem. In that regard, therefore, those who share their experiences in Alonso’s group could develop better coping abilities. Regarding group development, it is important to note that according to the social exchange theory, participants in Alonso’s group could have come on board due to expectations of mutually beneficial relations. In basic terms, this explains Alonso’s group formation. The group, as per the vignette, is in the forming stage – a stage at which the purpose of the group, as well as governing rules, are being formulated. The stages of group development (as proposed by Tuckman) include: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning (Tudor, 1999). While forming could be seen as an orientation stage, storming is characterized by power struggles and conflict as members seek to assume the relevant roles. Norming comes with cooperative effort, while performing and adjourning is focused on the accomplishment of group objectives, and disbandment of the group respectively. In a psychological educational group, the storming stage might not be present as power struggles are not necessarily present in guided group undertakings. The forming stage in this case would have to do with the orientation of participants, with the norming stage being all about integration as well as cooperation. We also have performing which is characterized by group unity and sharing of experiences, as well as formulation of coping mechanisms. Adjourning in a psycho-educational group has got to do with the validation of learned concepts and preparation for practice and follow-up. It is important to note that there are various elements of therapeutic formations (National Center for Biotechnology Information - NCBI, 2017). Some of the more important ones include size, leadership, group processes, group membership and content. In relation to the structure in the vignette, size and leadership present some concerns (NCBI, 2017). The size of the group is not well defined and indications are that Alonso could accept any number of participants for financial gain. On leadership, Alonso’s background and qualifications are not well defined – his response to a participant seeking answers on the same is casually brushed-off.