British Association for Counseling and Psychotherapy - Case Study Example

Personal Ethics The Webster dictionary defines ethics as ‘the rules of conduct governing a particular class of humans governing a class of human actions’. This means that the human mind has a perception of what is right and what is wrong. There exists a personal code of ethics that guides individuals. Personal ethics can differ greatly from one individual to the other depending on their beliefs and values. However, some components of moral responsibility cannot be left out in any of this case. Some of the most common features of the personal code of ethics include being h0onest, having integrity, being responsible for actions done, always telling the truth, giving credit where it is due, being courteous, having respect and above al. living harmoniously with fellow human beings. This is what is supposed to govern each individual, yet there exists a crop of people with no regard to this accepted way of doing things. These individuals insist on doing things the wrong way and do not pay heed to their sense of moral responsibility or their conscience. (Kirk and Burnett, 1968) BACP (British association for counseling and Psychotherapy) was established in 1970 to enable access effective and ethical psychological therapy. BACP achieves this goal by setting and monitoring standards in the counseling field. BACP strives to provide both education and training for counselors and psychotherapists who work either in the professional or voluntary setting. Its main view is to raise the standards of counseling and psychotherapy that will benefit the community more so those who are at the receiving end of counseling and psychotherapy. BACP also advances education to the public on the role that can be played by counseling and psychotherapy to meet the demands of the members of the society if development and participation have been impaired by any disability is it physical, mental, or social. BACP is able to achieve its set objectives by offering advice guidance and advice both nationally and internationally to those involved in the process of counseling and psychotherapy. In this paper, the scenario includes a man who has already contracted a sexually transmitted disease possibly from promiscuous behavior. Regardless of his knowledge about this condition, he continues to sleep with his partner without informing her of his medical condition. The man is in need of professional counseling since his guilt is weighing heavily on him. BACP ethical guidelines (1996) and BACP ethical framework (2002) drafted by Tim Bord gives clear guidelines on legal and ethical requirements of counselors. His work helps to foster ethical mindfulness and gives a balanced consideration of various complex ethical dilemmas as the one discussed above. He helps counselors to develop independently, autonomous, and the best course of action to take when faced with such dilemmas. He emphasizes on confidentiality and mutual trust but also urges the counselor to insist on decisions and discount fears putting into consideration the consequences of their actions. These counseling sessions allow individuals to accept what has already happened and chart the way forward. The objective of counseling is to give personal support in dealing with problems so that the client will regain the ability to work effectively in his day-to-day life. Counseling and psychotherapy cover the biggest range of talking therapies available. Counseling provides members with reassurance and gives them courage to face a problem. They acquire confidence and are, therefore able to pursue a suitable course of action. They require trained practitioners who work with clients over long or short term and assist them bring about effective change and improve their well-being. The advantages of counseling to the client cannot be overemphasized. The client gets reassured, and they can start believing in themselves again after the trauma they have gone through. Trough talking to someone, they are able to gain confidence as the counselor reaffirms their belief in themselves and assures them that normalcy will return in the fullness of time. However, reassurances alone cannot completely cure a client’s emotional upsets but rather, it offers temporary relief. Another advantage is that the client gets advice on the next course of action. In this case, the client should be advised to seek medical attention for his condition. He should also be advised on how to break the news to his partner gently and how to handle the resulting blame. The client will also get information on how to assuage his guilt thus reducing his stress considerably. Trough counseling, the client will be able to relieve stress build up and get guidance at the same time. This is because talking to someone, whether professional or not has the effect of lessening the stress levels in an individual. Guilt is an inside remorse or regret that is a result of feeling one is responsible for something. In this case, the client is feeling guilty for contract his partner with a sexual disease knowingly. The source of guilt is embedded on the personal ethics, and he feels what he did was wrong. The client’s guilt has also brought about feelings of shame since it is based on behavior that he (the client) is considered immoral. The guilt that this client feels is real since it stems from the fact that he broke a moral law by knowingly passing on a disease to his partner. It is, therefore, normal for him to seek professional advice since the best way to deal with real guilt is to do something about it in order to free himself. This urge to do something about his guilt is the one that made him approach the counselor to set the record straight. To counsel this client, the following factors should be taken into consideration. One, the counselor should ensure the safety the safety of both the client and his partner. This is in the sense that the counselor should advise the client to seek medical attention from a recognized hospital for his condition. He should also be persuaded to bring his partner along during the next session. During this visit, the news will be broken to her, and the counselor will offer counseling and lead her through the phase of acceptance of the reality. She will be guided and advised on the available courses of action, but more so, the counselor will be able to reconcile the two and avoid unpleasant eventualities that would otherwise occur. The counselor will listen to the emotional pain and emotional stories of the client. He should use an efficient and bureaucratic approach to handle the situation. He should communicate briefly and allow the client sufficient time to talk, therefore imparting expertise in dealing with the situation. He should be able to integrate personal and professional ethics in his job to achieve the desired result. (McLeod, 2007) The counselor’s competence should be not be left to chance. He should demonstrate high skills of performance and should be accredited by BACP. As such, he is in a position to impart sound advice and do so with authority. His personal and professional ethics should not be in conflict. He should be able to reassure the client and assist him to release his emotional stress. In this way, the client will be able to express himself without inhibitions. Another factor that would be considered is the personal ethics of the client. This is his personal outlook on morality. This will inform the counselor, whether the client went to see him on his own accord to assuage his guilt or he was doing it as a referral by someone else. With this in mind, the counselor is able to decide on the correct course of action with regard to the clients’ situation. The urgency of the situation also matters a lot when it comes to determining their best course of action in this case. The urgency might be exaggerated if the client is suicidal or if there is eminent permanent damage either to the client or to his partner. This may include any action that will be triggered by telling the partner the news, of if the disease contracted by the client is of a terminal nature. I this case, the counselor will have to move with speed in order to rescue the situation since the client might have turned to him as a last resort. The next issue that would have far reached consequences on the course of action taken is the relationship between the client and the counselor. This relationship might be such that it becomes difficult for the counselor to draw a line between his personal ethics and the professional ethics should a conflict appear between the two. For instance, if the client’s partner happens to be an extremely close friend of the counselor, then a problem might present itself in the form of the counselor forming personal judgments and formulating judgment against the client. This would in turn affect the relationship between the two to the extent of determining the course of the completely counseling procedure. A good counselor through should be an able to rescue to find a common ground between what he perceives to be right and the fact that the client is more in need of professional help than ridicule. In seeking out a professional counselor, the client must have a set result for therapy and counseling session. This too dictates the course of action that the counselor should take. This ought to be established during the first meeting so that the objectives of the procedure can be set up early enough. During subsequent visits, both the client and the counselor should review the set objectives to ensure that the client is receiving what he is after. In this case, the client wants relief from the shame and guilt. It is, therefore, up to the counselor to come with a plan that allows guilt alleviation and restore the client’s belief in self. Another very important factor will be the moral philosophy and the law of the land. The counselor will have to do what is both legal and moral when dealing with this case. At the same time, his professional ethics should not be compromised and should be able to stand up to legal scrutiny. (Jenkins, 2007) Another issue will include the confidentiality with which the client wants to treat this case. Professional ethics as enshrined in the BACP guidelines provide that client record should be well kept and protected from unauthorized access. At the request of the client, the counselor should make sure that these records are secured, especially the medical records resulting from the condition that the client is suffering. No details of this condition should be divulged to third parties thus this limits the operation field of the counselor. Conclusion There is no one set methodology for counseling since each case should be treated uniquely. When counseling this client, an integrative counseling approach would be best. This is because he will not have to attend so many sessions, but his needs are wide ranging. One approach that should be integrated is Solution-focused Brief Therapy. This kind of therapy promotes positive change instead of dwelling on past problems. The Client should be encouraged to focus positively on his relationship with his partner and try to repair the broken ties. Three to four sessions will be adequate to achieve this objective. The next procedure that should be integrated is brief therapy. This will ensure that apart from achieving the set objective fast enough, follow-up on the medical issue is done to ensure that both the client and his partner recover fully from the ordeal. REFRENCES Bond, Tim. Standards and ethics for counselling in action. 3rd ed. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2010. Bord, Tim . "BACP - British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy." BACP - British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2013. . Cave, Susan. Therapeutic approaches in psychology. London: Routledge, 1999. Füredi, Frank. Therapy culture: cultivating vulnerability in an uncertain age. London: Routledge, 2004. Gilbert, Paul. Counselling for depression. London: Sage Publications, 1992. Jenkins, Peter. Counselling, psychotherapy and the law. 2nd ed. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2007. Kirk, Kenneth E., and Burnett Hillman Streeter. Personal ethics,. New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1968. Sundaram, G.. Principles and practice of guidance and counselling. Jaipur, India: Aavishkar Publishers, Distributor, 2007. Talking therapies: an essential anthology : a collection of BACP information sheets to guide your practice.. Rugby: BACP, 2005. Read More