Counselling essay
What are the ethical responsibilities for counsellors? Discuss ways these responsibilities may be violated.
The responsibilities counsellors have with helping relationships are to maintain the general trusts of their clients and patients. This is not only through care, but through adhering to a set of codes of practice to preserve the client’s rights. This is referred to as the ethical codes (King & Wheeler, 2001). They act as a guide that lays the foundation to maintain the general principles within the affiliation of client and counsellor (King & Wheeler, 2001). Any mistrust or doubt created by these professionals could result in the betrayal of the clients trust. It is therefore critical that these codes are applied so that quality practice is upheld. Therefore, the purpose of this essay will outline the ethical responsibilities or the ethical codes within the counselling relationship and identify how ethical conflicts or issues can arise and violate these codes.
Firstly, what are ethical issues? Ethical issues are the science of morals. It simply is a system of morals or rules of behaviour . This refers to an expected set of moral obligations a person has. However, it is also based on choice, rather than an obligation. This idea has been suggested by Jeremy Bentham, who created a theory called utilitarianism (King & Wheeler, 2001). This theory claims that the moral value of actions consists in their 'utility' or 'usefulness' in bringing about valuable results. It also mentions that human actions are not fundamentally good or bad. The actions are either one or the other, especially when they act as a means to an end (Tschudin, 1993). This can be evident in issues such as being truthful and honest. They cannot be considered valuable, unless they lead to states of affairs that one might consider to be valuable. This certainly is applicable to the codes of ethics and therefore can be unsuccessful when viewed independently, without the reinforcement of moral
The responsibilities counsellors have with helping relationships are to maintain the general trusts of their clients and patients. This is not only through care, but through adhering to a set of codes of practice to preserve the client’s rights. This is referred to as the ethical codes (King & Wheeler, 2001). They act as a guide that lays the foundation to maintain the general principles within the affiliation of client and counsellor (King & Wheeler, 2001). Any mistrust or doubt created by these professionals could result in the betrayal of the clients trust. It is therefore critical that these codes are applied so that quality practice is upheld. Therefore, the purpose of this essay will outline the ethical responsibilities or the ethical codes within the counselling relationship and identify how ethical conflicts or issues can arise and violate these codes.
Firstly, what are ethical issues? Ethical issues are the science of morals. It simply is a system of morals or rules of behaviour . This refers to an expected set of moral obligations a person has. However, it is also based on choice, rather than an obligation. This idea has been suggested by Jeremy Bentham, who created a theory called utilitarianism (King & Wheeler, 2001). This theory claims that the moral value of actions consists in their 'utility' or 'usefulness' in bringing about valuable results. It also mentions that human actions are not fundamentally good or bad. The actions are either one or the other, especially when they act as a means to an end (Tschudin, 1993). This can be evident in issues such as being truthful and honest. They cannot be considered valuable, unless they lead to states of affairs that one might consider to be valuable. This certainly is applicable to the codes of ethics and therefore can be unsuccessful when viewed independently, without the reinforcement of moral