Informed Consent and Client Rights - Research Paper Example

Informed Consent and Client Rights Informed Consent and Client Rights Informed consent is one of the critical elements of the counseling relationship. The counseling code of ethics guarantees clients freedom to choose whether to engage or continue with an existing counseling relationship. Clients, therefore, need adequate information about the counselor and the counseling process before engagement in the treatment process. Counselors have an obligation to review the rights and responsibilities in both writing and verbally with their clients.

Counselors must document all the discussions throughout the counseling process since informed consent is a continuous during the counseling process. Counselors must explicitly explain the nature of the service provided to the clients. The types of information that they must avail to the clients include the purposes, limitations, goals, procedures, benefits, techniques, and potential risks of the healing process (Grossman & Koocher, 2010). Clients must understand the purposes of the healing process for them to determine whether they really need the services of the counselor or not.

The counseling process must have certain limitation beyond which both parties cannot extend; understanding the limitations helps the client and the counselor to establish boundaries of their roles to ensure an effective counseling process. According to Wortz (2011), the client must understand the procedures and techniques since not all strategies are suitable to all clients. The counselor has the responsibility of enlightening the clients about the potential risks of the healing process to enable them develop mechanisms for withstanding the risks or make necessary adjustments.

The counseling code of ethics guarantee the clients rights of inquiring about the counselor’s professional qualification and experience. The counselor is required to inform the client about their qualifications and experience in the counseling profession by availing the necessary credentials and valid recommendations from the previous treatment process. The clients are afforded an opportunity to determine whether the counselor has the experience to handle their therapeutical requirements. Several cases have been identified of people pretending to be professional counselors; however, after further investigation, they are found to be quarks without proper knowledge of counseling (Grossman & Koocher, 2010).

The requirement to avail valid documents, including the licensure status of the counselor, to the clients enables the client to investigate the counselor in order to avoid being counseled by unprofessional people. Another area of informed consent is the requirement for the counselor to inform the client about the continuation of the counseling process upon incapacitation or death of the counselor. The counseling process cannot be called to an end if the current counselor is incapacitated or dies (Grossman & Koocher, 2010).

As part of the informed consent, counselors must give clients access to all parties involved in the counseling process. These parties include the agencies, counselors and other clients included in the counseling agreement. The parties will be crucial in giving further advice and directions to the client in the event of the current counselor dying or being incapacitated. Clients must be notified of the policies governing fee payments and insurance policies. Counselors have the responsibility of ensuring that clients comprehend the implications of the diagnosis, fees and billing arrangements.

The fees and billing arrangements should not be altered without the client’s knowledge (Wortz, 2011). The prior understanding of fees arrangement enables the clients to plan their finances and make payments promptly. The plan also protects clients from further exploitation by dishonest counselors who may take advantage of the clients’ situation and ask additional fees from them. Counselors need to consider the financial status of clients and locality in establishing fee for professional counseling.

Sometimes the established fee may be inappropriate for a given client; the counselor has the responsibility of assisting clients to find comparable services at an acceptable cost. Clients have the rights of being informed about the policies governing confidentiality and the limits of confidentiality (Grossman & Koocher, 2010). These include the procedures of involving supervisors and treatment team professionals. Counselors should recognize that trust contributes to a stable counseling relationship; they aspire to inspire the trust of clients by maintaining confidentiality of the clients’ information.

Counselors communicate the parameters of confidentiality to clients in a culturally competent manner. Assurance of confidentiality encourages clients to release their most sensitive information that is critical in the treatment process. Clients are aware that they have the rights to obtain clear information about their records and have full participation in making plans regarding disclosure of their confidential data to third parties (Grossman & Koocher, 2010). The code of counseling ethics require the counselor to inform the client, prior to the commencement of treatment process, the policies governing cancellation of appointments, arbitration of disputes, referrals and termination.

Understanding of the policies governing cancellation protects the clients from careless cancellation of appointments by counselors who want to attend to their own issues. Clients should be enlightened about the procedures of solving disputes through arbitration to avoid being stranded when disagreements arise (Grossman & Koocher, 2010). Counselors have the knowledge about clinically and culturally appropriate resources; they should promise clients further assistance in case they fail to offer professional assistance.

Counselors can terminate a treatment process when it becomes apparent that the client no longer needs the treatment, or is being harmed by the current counseling process. It is ethically desirable for counselors to provide pre-termination counseling and recommend other clinicians to the client when necessary. Clients have the rights to access and sign a copy of informed consent when registering for counseling services. The informed consent enables the client to understand all aspects of the treatment process.

The counselor has the responsibility of availing information regarding to expected treatment services, certification and license of the counselor, policies governing fees and insurance, all parties included in the counseling process, policies governing confidentiality and the required limitations, procedures for arbitration of disputes, referrals, and termination of the treatment process (Wortz, 2011). Informed consent is the cornerstone of the counseling process because it enables clients to be conversant with their rights and protect them from unwanted exploitation.

References Grossman, L. & Koocher, P. (2010). Privacy, confidentiality, and privilege of health records and psychotherapy notes in custody cases. American Journal of Family Law, 24(1), 41-50. Grossman, L. & Koocher, P. (2010). Privacy, confidentiality, and privilege of health records and psychotherapy notes in custody cases. American Journal of Family Law, 24(1), 41-50. Wortz, G. (2011). Reducing liability risk through informed consent. The Journal of Medical Practice Management , 26(4), 1-15.