ethical boundaries and practices
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Grand Canyon University *
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505
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Arts Humanities
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Feb 20, 2024
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Counselor Ethical Boundaries and Practices
Kresten Herrera
College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Grand Canyon University
CNL-505: Professional Counseling, Ethical, and Legal Considerations Dr. Misty Davis November 8, 2023, 1
Counselor Ethical Boundaries and Practices The relationship between a counselor and a client is built on a foundation of trust. These relationships must adhere to the code of ethics that are outlined in the American Counseling Association handbook and in the American School Counseling Ethical Standards handbook. Just like in other relationships the relationship between the counselor and client needs to have ethical boundaries. Constructing these healthy and ethical boundaries means that the counselor must focus on always making ethical decisions and always having a professional demeanor when conducting counseling sessions. Counselors build their clients' growth and development by encouraging their clients' interests and welfare as well as advancing the creation and formation of
healthy relationships (ACA, 2014). Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships
As a counselor it is important that boundaries are respected, this includes the sharing of private confidential client information and self-disclosure. Boundaries enforce the rules and guidelines of what is allowed and what is not allowed in the counselor and client relationship. These boundaries may be different based on the type of relationship that the counselor and client have. If a counselor takes on a client that they previously had a relationship with, then they need to create boundaries and take precautions such as telling the client about informed consent, supervision, proper documentation, and consultations so that the counselor is sure that their judgement is not undermined and they are not being taken advantage of or taking advantage of the client (ACA, 2014). An example of this is when you have a client who you met over a year ago and interacted with before establishing a counseling relationship. When establishing a relationship, a counselor will need to set ethical boundaries and understand that the previous relationship cannot be spoken about during the counseling sessions. Counselors also have the 2
option of extending these boundaries by means of documentation, having a supervisor sit in on the sessions, consulting and giving their client informed consent forms (ACA, 2014). Another example would be attending a concert for the client, this is a boundary extension, and it is good for the counselor to have this supportive type of relationship with the client. The ACA Code of Ethics handbook expressly forbids any sort of sexual relationship either in the past, or present with the client. Having a sexual relationship is considered boundary crossing, if a counselor were
to enter a sexual relationship with a client, they could impair their judgements as well as this is just unethical. Working with a Multidisciplinary Team
Working with other counselors can be favorable for everyone. Working with other professionals in the mental health field means that everyone has a chance to share differing perspectives even when not everyone can agree, in the counseling field everyone looks at circumstances with a distinct perspective and by sharing these opposing views counselors are able to work with various clients from diverse backgrounds in all areas. A multidisciplinary team
is considered a group of various medical professionals who all come together and work together to make medical decisions for treatments as well as services for clients. School counselors must work together with school administrators so they can better help the students. School counselors not only work with these administrators, but they also work with resources outside of the school. For a school counselor working with a multidisciplinary team would be favorable for the counselor. School settings have many diverse children that come from various backgrounds and environments and not all children are the same and these children may need different treatment based on these factors. Individuals who need extra treatment are children who may not be seen every day, and a school counselor who works with a multidisciplinary mental health team could 3
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provide the best treatment for the child. School counselors need to be able to provide information
that is accurate, they need to be able to provide truthful data so that they may be able to assess, give treatment and help the students (ASCA, 2022). Relationships with Supervisors and Colleagues According to the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Ethical guidelines a supervisor is necessary in order to guide staff so they can best assist as well as speak on behalf of
the students. Supervisor responsibilities cover endorsing professional growth, assist in the best practices for the student, uphold ethical standards during practicing, evaluating a supervised counseling session as well as developing improvement plans, give advice on cases, and potentially give advice on actions that need to be taken (ASCA, 2022). Supervisors are counselors who have more experience and are able to provide more in depth guidance and advice. This means that the relationship between both supervisor and student needs to have boundaries. For this type of relationship to work and remain ethical, there needs to be boundaries
such as in a counselor and client relationship. These boundaries are necessary due to there being an authority figure in place. When working with other individuals it is instinctive to watch and learn from these individuals' actions, there may be a time when a colleague acts in an unethical manner. An example would be if a school counselor begins talking about an individual student's private situation with a group of different students. This is highly unethical of the school counselor. Just like with a counselor and client relationship, the information between the school counselor and student
is to remain confidential. If the school counselor does not keep the information confidential, they can have tension in the relationship with the student, who will think they cannot trust them. Talking about students' confidential information is against the ethical guidelines in the ASCA handbook, the standard that they would be going against is 4
Beneficence. A school counselor aims to work with students and society by endorsing positive mental health and happiness (ASCA, 2022). Development of Your Thinking about Ethics. For the duration of this course, I have learned about ethical guidelines and standards that
have been laid out for all counselors. The way this class was set up was wonderful, I was able to
understand the ethical standards for counselors and was able to apply these standards in various
ways. Something that was extremely helpful with these standards was the various scenarios and
the ability to make these ethical decisions. I was given the opportunity to research my home
state's licensing requirements for school and professional counseling. I found all this information
extremely useful and plan to apply it to my future. In the counseling field there can be a lot of
situations that arise that are unexpected and it is important that as a counselor I am familiar with
the ACA Code of Ethics as well as the ASCA Ethical guidelines. One of the things that I
appreciated the most was the case reviews at the end of the week for the discussion questions.
We were able to ask questions about the cases and were given viewpoints on what we should do
if we were ever to be in these situations. I found these reviews not only extremely helpful but
also educational. This course has helped me view things differently at home and with friends.
During this course I became more self-aware and aware of other individuals around me, how
people acted and how other students acted in the class as well. There have been many times
where I have thought to myself if something was ethical or not, I found that I was able to make a
connection between school as well as regular life. 5
References American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA code of Ethics - American Counseling Association. https://www.counseling.org/resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf Home - American school counselor association (ASCA). (2022). School Counselor.org. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/ 6
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