Ethical, Legal, and Professional Issues in Counseling - Assignment Example

As her counselor, Sheila has asked me to comply with the subpoena, saying that she has nothing to hide. There are some issues which are related to Sheilas decision to release her records, including my duty as her counsellor to warn and to protect The duty to warn and protect refers to the responsibility of a counselor or therapist to breach confidentiality if a client or other identifiable person is in clear or imminent danger (Remley & Herlihy, 2010). In this situation, I will first try to determine the degree of seriousness of the dangers involved before warning the client about it, in order to protect her from being hurt.

 Since courts and legislatures have been reluctant to extend the privilege to relationships between the counselor and the clients, the other party will be able to hold back information that may eventually be used against Sheila.In responding to the subpoena, the communication is privileged, and so the judge cannot order the revelation of the information in court. As such, I will retain this right and not disclose the records, because the communication is recognized by law as privileged.