Unit 1 Personal and Professional aspects of counselling Flashcards
Psychiatrists
MD, Major psychological disorders; biopsychological focus; may prescribe medications; clients called patients
Psychologists
PhD, EdD, PsyD Clinical, counseling, and school specialties; counseling psychology
Shares a long history with counselor education but is distinct
Social Workers
MSW, Negotiates social systems and advocates for change; provides social services. understand habitats and niches.
Credentialing counsellors
- Inspection
- Registration
- Certification
- Licensure
Inspection
Process whereby a state agency periodically examines the activities of a profession’s practitioners. Ascertains whether professionals are practicing the profession in a fashion consistent with the public safety, health, and welfare.
Registration
Process whereby practitioners voluntarily submit information to the state concerning the nature of their practice. A way to gain legal recognition for a profession from a state
Certification
Process by which an agency or association grants recognition to an individual for having met certain predetermined professional qualifications. Broader than a state license, not subject to state politics, provides referrals, recognizes counseling specialties
Licensure
Statutory process by which an agency of government, usually a state, grants permission to a person meeting predetermined qualifications to engage in a given occupation and/or use a particular title to perform specified functions. Protects the public from nonqualified mental health practitioners; recognizes a profession and its practices
Attribution and system
Attribution is what the counselor attributes the cause of a client’s problem to. System is unified and organized set of ideas, principles, and behaviors. Systems associated with counseling are concerned with how the counselor approaches clients and are interrelated to attributes and theories. Based on developmental issues and based on the diagnosis of disorders,
Attribution model (Kernes & McWhirter, 2001)
Medical: (Expert) Clients not blamed or held responsible for their problems; downside is
clients may become dependent on counselor
Moral: (Coach, motivator) Held responsible for causing and solving their problems.
Compensatory: (Teacher) seen as only responsible for solving but not causing their problems; partners with counsellors for solutions.
Enlightenment: (Authority figure) Clients held responsible for causing their problems but not solving them.
Systems of counselling
Developmental/wellness vs medical/pathological
Developmental/Wellness approach
To understand if the problem is developmental.
Allen Ivey: Piaget’s cognitive levels + clinical interviews. DCT
Wellness: Resilience, SFT, SIT
Stress of prevention and education.
Medical/pathological approach
Based on DSM and ICD
atheoretical and frames mental disorders as dispositional; social problems arent shown; v severe cases.
common dialogue, check patterns, credibility
Cognitive complexity
the ability to absorb, integrate, and make use of multiple perspectives. proportional to experience and degrees.
How can counsellors stay up to date?
continuing education, advocacy and social justice
Advocacy and social justice
can be defined simply as promoting an idea or a cause through public relations.
creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality, that values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being.
Nice counsellor syndrome
do not exercise their needed roles as multicultural/social justice leaders, advocates, and change agents. The reason is that they are too focused on promoting harmony to move beyond the status quo. Such a stance reinforces inequities. Thus, part of being an advocate is for counselors to overcome fears of being rejected and personal discomforts.
Ethics vs morality vs law
philosophical discipline that is concerned with human conduct and moral decision making
beliefs about behavior and conduct that guide professional practices
judgment or evaluation of action.
precise codification of governing standards that are established to ensure legal and moral justice
Unethical behaviour examples
- Violation of confidentiality
- Exceeding one’s level of professional competence
- Negligent practice
- Claiming expertise one does not possess
- Imposing one’s values on a client
- Creating dependency in a client
- Sexual activity with a client
- Dual or multiple relationship
- Questionable financial arrangements, such as charging excessive fees
- Improper advertising
- Plagiarism
Van Hoose and Kottler- Professional ethical codes
- protect from govt., public, and control internal diagreements
Nine Main Sections of ACA
A. Counseling Relationship
B. Confidentially and Privacy in Counseling
C. Professional Responsibility
D. Relationships with Colleagues, Employers, and Employees
E. Evaluation, Assessment, and Interpretation
F. Supervision, Training, and Teaching
G. Research and Publication
H. Distance Counseling, Technology, and Social Media
I. Resolving Ethical Issues
Limitations of Code of Ethics
- Some issues cannot be resolved by a code of ethics.
- Enforcing ethical codes is difficult.
- There may be conflicts within the standards delineated by the code.
- Some legal and ethical issues are not covered in codes.
- Ethical codes are historical documents. Thus, what may be acceptable practice at one time
may be considered unethical later. - Sometimes conflicts arise between ethical and legal codes.
- Ethical codes do not address cross-cultural issues.
- Ethical codes do not address every possible situation.
- There is often difficulty in bringing the interests of all parties involved in an ethical dispute together systematically.
- Ethical codes are not proactive documents for helping counselors decide what to do in new situations.
Conflicts within and among the ethical codes
- ability to differentiate b/n ethical and normal situation
- conflicting guidelines
- Belonging to more than one organisation
Common ethical dilemmas
(a) confidentiality, (b) role conflict, (c) counselor competence, (d) conflicts with employer or institution, and (e) degree of dangerousness.
Ethical principles
- beneficence (doing good and preventing harm),
- nonmaleficence (not inflicting harm),
- autonomy (respecting freedom of choice and self-determination)
- justice (fairness),
- fidelity (faithfulness or honoring commitments and promises), and
- veracity (truthfulness)
