Ethics
Ethics
The core values of counselling help to strengthen the relationship and setting for the
counseling work, and they are represented by the Counselor’s commitment; to (BACP,
2014)
These values or belief system are usually embedded in the subconscious and
internalised but its exhibition becomes apparent in action when the principles
of a counsellor is put to the test. This does not suggest that all counselling
practitioners have these values embedded in them, but it is intended to be aspirational
and for counsellors to be always mindful that these traits are critical for the right display
of professional competence and in the interpretation of the standards that guide the
practice of counselling. Generally, when practitioners apply these core values to guide
their work, their intervention will foster a more qualitative counsellor-client relationship.
According to Kitchener (as cited in Forester-Miller, & Davies, 1996) five moral
principles constitute the cornerstone of the ethical guidelines. Ethical guidelines
cannot address all situations that a counsellor might confront but the moral principles
should provide a compass to guide the counsellor. Counsellors must have awareness
of the ethical position of these principles which represents an important way of
expressing a general ethical commitment. While value remain a set of belief system
that help to form the core of who we are, principles represent an expression of a well-
defined code of guide that manifest in our actions. The BACP document captures an
additional principle to the 5 enunciated by Kitchener;