Running Head: Ethical Boundaries and Practices 1
Running Head: Ethical Boundaries and Practices 1
Running Head: Ethical Boundaries and Practices 1
Name
Institution
Instructor
PCN 505
Date
ETHICAL BOUNDARIES AND PRACTICES 2
Introduction
Professional counselors establish relationships between their client that include upholding
the ethical standards outlined by such agencies as the American Counseling Association and the
between themselves and their clients. These boundaries and practices are moral principles that
responsibilities that focus on human conduct, decision making and professional behaviors.
When establishing these relationships, the counselors must determine the risk of appropriate and
inappropriate boundary crossing and dual relationships. Counselors often encounter boundary
Boundaries refer to nearly every aspect of counseling, particularly direct client contact,
including self-disclosure, location of the services and physical interaction (Zur, 2016).
Boundaries may also incorporate appropriate examples of gifts, incidental contact or encounters,
from the normal or appropriate way of doing things, such as meeting the client for lunch-outside
the normal clinical setting. Once the setting has been established, one of the most important
aspect of boundaries, is maintaining professional boundaries with each individual client. This
practice will maintain the best interest of the client. To maintain the best interest, the counselor
behavior, which may cause harm. Inappropriate boundary crossings can manifest themselves
ETHICAL BOUNDARIES AND PRACTICES 3
and cause significant harm to the client, such as sexual or non-sexual crossings and violations
(Krishnaram, Aravind, & Thasneem, 2012). When a counselor finds themselves attracted to a
client, it is critical to recognize these feelings and take the appropriate action immediately. The
safest and first criteria would include a consultation with a supervisor, reassigning the client and
addressing the feelings. These actions will prevent the relationship from developing and causing
harm to the client. If the client expresses a sexual relationship, the counselor must address the
concerns and redirect the client and/or speak with their immediate supervisor.
psychological session (Zur, 2016). They are appropriate and ethical when they exclude sexual or
exploitative in any manner. Dual relationships are difficult because of the potential ambiguity,
which can lead to the wrong perception and harm to client. It is ethical to create a relationship
that prevents any form of exploitation (Krishnaram et al., 2012). The first example, the
counselor should determine the level of relationship and reduce the likelihood of exploitation.
A client or therapist may develop a dual social relationship and become friends. The counselor
must determine the risks and benefits to the client. For example, attending social events;
weddings, graduations and client family events. The counselor should take appropriate
precautions and establish an informed consent, such as supervision and documentation that
prevents harm. The second and most dangerous example is always considered harmful; a sexual
relationship with a client may lead to serious consequences for the client, counselor and
organization. Counselors, prohibited from having a sexual relationships with their clients,
including the clients’ partners and/or family members ("ACA Code of Ethics," 2014).
According to the ACA Code of Ethics, the client/counselor must was wait five years after the
final counseling session, before engaging in sexual relationships ("ACA Code of Ethics," 2014).
ETHICAL BOUNDARIES AND PRACTICES 4
Immediate steps should include speaking with a supervisor, reassigning the clients and request
the counselor to seek counseling and additional ethical training. Another example of dual
relationship is nonprofessional dual relationship, which also has the potential to misinterpret the
boundaries between the counselor and client. The nonprofessional relationship may create a
conflict of interest, potential risk for exploitation or abuse of power. This dual relationship
creates a serious risk and confusion. Before establishing the nonprofessional relationship, the
counselor must asked, who will this benefit? Will it bring harm to the client? The counselor
should explain the boundaries and adhere to the rules and receive a client consent form. Most
important, this relationship should be discussed with the counselor’s supervisor and documented.
Based ACA codes of Ethics, certain nonsexual relationships with clients may be beneficial, and
thus, these relationships are not prohibited ("ACA Code of Ethics," 2014). The final example is
the unintended encounters, such as small or rural areas were dual relationships are often
impossible. Commonly describe as unavoidable dual relationships; the counselor should take
documentations.
Boundary violations are not healthy in any relationship, particularly for the client, the therapist
and organization. These business relationships may develop into exploitative relationships, thus,
becomes a boundary violations (Krishnaram et al., 2012). Ethical issues may change depending
on the length of time after which a party initiates a dual relationship between a client and a
counselor (Krishnaram et al., 2012). The parties should ensure that they maintain clear
professional boundaries between a counselor and a client. Some critical ethical dimensions might
change even after the termination of therapy. For instance, friendship may compromise the
therapeutic relationship between the two parties. However, after termination, within a specific
ETHICAL BOUNDARIES AND PRACTICES 5
period of time, the relationship may not be destructive. Providing the counselor followings the
guidelines outline by the ethical procedures and process outline by the state and organization.
Counselors frequently collaborate with stakeholders to ensure they follow and adhere to
appropriate standards, including ethical standards when providing services to clients. In most of
the cases, the counselor selects stakeholders with shared goals and ethical standards. They
collaborate to ensure their goals are achieved and take steps to ensure they protect their clients
from any harm. Teamwork resolves ethical dilemmas that may arise. Teamwork combines
experience, shared knowledge, objective decision making, which will allow individual to consult
one another and use optimal solutions. For instance, working with experts from various fields,
such as the co-occurring disorders to identify specific cases and effective outcomes (Welfel,
2015). Additionally, a committed team focuses on the needs of their clients and provide
guidance when working with daily concerns, such as establishing clear expectations of the
professional counseling and ethical standards that must be maintain. Counselors can work with a
multidisciplinary team in various roles. They bring their individual knowledge, expertise and
skills in various aspects of the client treatment plan and management process, such as participate
team and collaborating with partner providers would provide a multidisciplinary team that would
bring a set best practices and necessary skills that will assist me with effective assessments,
shared resources and holistic nontraditional approaches that are effective for the nontraditional
individual seeking addiction recovery. These unique approaches may help myself and other
providers to establish a counseling approach tailored to meet the clients concerns, including their
emotional needs. As a new a student entering the counseling field, collaboration can bring an
ETHICAL BOUNDARIES AND PRACTICES 6
understanding of client needs, and thus, strive to meet or exceed the quality of client care, while
maintaining ethical standards, such as privacy, confidentiality and practices without harm
(Shallcross, 2011). These standards begin with supervisors who support these ethical standards.
Supervisors and counselors must maintain ethical standards and remain cognizant of their
ethical behavior and that of the individuals they supervise ("Ethical and Legal Issues in
Counseling", 2016). Supervisors should establish a foundation that includes advice within an
environment that cultivates effective skills, which is aligned with strong ethical values and
principals. The supervisor should also identify any unethical and negligent practices that may
cause harm to the client. Ethical issues arise when uncertainty regarding values, perceptions and
behaviors between supervisors, team members, clients and other stakeholders ("Ethical and
Legal Issues in Counseling", 2016). These uncertain ethical issues can strengthen the existing
relationship and play a significant role in strengthen the therapeutic relationship. The supervisor
has the obligation to undertake any activity or offer advice regarding any situation. If the
supervisors and counselors collaborate their roles to prevent, educate and warn their
subordinates, the work environment will create a strong ethical and safe environment.
Most important, supervisors must maintain and protect confidentiality- this is a critical
engage in client discussions regarding the therapeutic conditions, treatment plans and ethical
situations ("Ethical and Legal Issues in Counseling," 2016). Confidentiality is often the dilemma
of ethical concern, which may require the experience of the supervisor or legal support. The
supervisors must observe confidentiality in the situations that they are required to do so, such as
ethical situations. Confidentiality also applies to third party entity contracted services, such as
ETHICAL BOUNDARIES AND PRACTICES 7
court ordered services. The supervisor should clarify the service and determine which
documentation is required. The clarification should explain the services and the information
obtained, and the limits of the confidentiality ("ACA Code of Ethics", 2014). It is important the
supervisor identifies a set of criteria that counselors can use to make ethical decisions in various
situations.
The counselors can supervise only in the areas they possess expertise, which will allow them to
identify and address incompetent subordinates and address as required ("Supervision Manual",
2012). Additionally, counselors can also evaluate the competence of their supervisees regularly
so that they can make ethical decisions in various circumstances. For instance, seeking to
increase competence by ensuring a high level of ethical conduct in their areas of expertise. The
supervisors also need to assist counselors to understand the scope of their limitations, abilities
and evaluate their preparedness in any circumstance while addressing professional concerns.
Counselors should also avoid dual relationships that may bring the conflict of interest in their
work. This course has provided a better understanding of dual relationships and the importance
Developmental Ethics
The course provided an understanding and created a strong and committed awareness of
ethics, which is not spoken within my current work environment. It is often discussed amongst
the government workers, who are aware and tend to follow the ethical standards based on fear.
However ethics is critical safeguards that counselors and supervisors should consider when
interacting when treating and providing services for their clients. As a program director of a
new program, which is only three months in operation, it is important I provide the foundation
and ensure the team members understand the standards and the importance of protecting our
ETHICAL BOUNDARIES AND PRACTICES 8
clients. The members (clients) are vulnerable individuals suffering from substance abuse and
mental illness. Regarding myself, the ethical standards and values are understandable and easy
to adapt into my personal and professional behavior, because it is aligned with my worldviews
and personal values. Our city and state provides ethics courses that I will make available to our
team members. Many are free webinars. This course has provided the importance of trainings
and clinician should establish policies and procedures to follow, including a strong supervisor
who ensures their colleagues are up to date on ethical codes and changes. Upon conclusion, it is
important to understand, counselors have various obligations that demand appropriate decision-
making. We should evaluate and determine whether our behavior is ethical and appropriate to
References
https://www.counseling.org/resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf
Ethical and Legal Issues in Counseling. (2016). sulross. Retrieved 13 May 2016, from
http://www.sulross.edu/sites/default/files/sites/default/files/users/docs/education/counseli
ng-ethics_6.pdf
Krishnaram, V., Aravind, V., & Thasneem, Z. (2012). Boundary Crossings and Violations in
Clinical Settings. Indian J Psychol Med, 34(1), 21. Retrieved 13 May 2016 from
http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0253-7176.96151
http://cap.ab.ca/pdfs/supervisionmanual.pdf
http://www.zurinstitute.com/boundariesbrochure.pdf