Law and ethics for counselors

¶ … client is going to harm to someone or himself it must be reported. This is a simple black and white issue with very little room for gray if the client states that he or she is already determined to commit harm to someone, and have a plan on how to do it. In this case however it is not as clear cut and it becomes more complicated to decide. This particular client has made statements that if she discovers her husband is having another affair then she will harm him. There are several elements that must be addressed in order to handle this situation correctly. The therapist is the counselor to both of the parties within the couple therefore may or may not have knowledge that the husband is indeed having another affair. The main criteria for deciding how to act in this scenario is probability. The therapist must decide how probable the client's remarks actually are. If the client had stated with certainty that she already knew the husband was having an affair and she had a timed out plan to harm him and implemented the plan, the therapist would have no choice or decision to make. The therapist would be under legal and ethical obligation to report the problem. In this case the woman says if she finds out her husband has had another affair she will have no problem harming him and has even thought through how to do it. Ideation is not an uncommon element in the field of psychology. Ideation can take many forms. One of the more common forms of ideation occurs in suicide ideation. The concept of ideation is that the idea for action is there, and the client dwells on that concept without actually carrying it through. In the case of this client it is probable that the ideation of killing her husband if he is having another affair is as far as this situation will go. In addition, it most likely has to do with the fact that he had an affair in the past, more than the thought he is having one now. With the understanding of ideation and the fact that the client at this point gives no indication that she has proof of her husband having a new affair the therapist is not under obligation to report the conversation. The therapist should talk with the client about such statements to try and determine the possibility of it actually happening, and if the time comes that the client has a firm plan for harming her husband the therapist can make a report at that time. If every therapist turned in every ideation element of clients there would be many clients locked up in mental health facilities and it would begin to erode the trust that is so essential to clients and therapists in the mental health field.

2. The scenario in this case is not as easily defined. In the first case it is clear cut because of the laws that mandate the reporting of someone who is about to do harm to themselves or to someone else. The only real question in that case was whether or not harm was imminent or not. In this case however it becomes a much more grey area. The client can afford as many sessions as are prescribed by the therapist and while the client is clearly on his way to recovery when it comes to learning to cope with work stress, there are many other areas of life that the client might benefit from having a therapist to discuss them with. The therapist is reluctant to continue therapy because the client is so well adapted at this point but then again the therapist enjoys the sessions and could use the money to pay many daunting bills. There are two factors to remember in this situation. The first is that the bills of the therapist should not come into play at any point. The therapist cannot base the decision to release the client on such matters as it would be extremely unethical to do so. The second issue to be considered is the client's need. The most important thing to decide is whether or not the client can make the decision to stop therapy. The best thing at this point for the therapist to do is to be honest with the client and let the client be the one to decide whether or not to continue therapy. Telling the client that he seems to be well on the road to effectively handling the stress at work that brought him to therapy to begin with and letting him have the option to continue or not is the most logical solution here. It is important however to remember that clients often develop a dependency on their therapist and that the client may be reluctant to terminate therapy because of this factor. Letting the client know that the professional opinion of the therapist is that the client is recovered from the problem that initially brought him to the sessions and asking if the client would like to terminate services is the most ethical solution to this issue. The therapist will need to be careful not to convey his or her desire for the sessions to continue. In addition the therapist must be careful not to convey to much of the pleasure he or she gets from the current and ongoing sessions. To do so might unduly influence the client in making the decision as to whether or not to continue therapy. While there is an ethical obligation to mention the possibility of terminating therapy the therapist is also ethically safe if he or she allows the client to decide as long as the client is not influenced by the therapist and the therapist is clear that the initial problem that brought the client to the therapist is handled and no longer an issue.