The Ethics of Dual Relationships

Running Head: ETHICS IN COUNSELLING
Ethics in Counselling
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ETHICS IN COUNSELLING1
The set of moral principles and the rules of conduct that support an individual’s moral
conduct rules can be referred to as the set of ethics guiding principles. In the context of the
professional base, the counsellors should act according to the interests of the clients that suits
them the best. The best interests refer to the promotion of the different goals of the clients; an
effort to maximize the good and effort stop minimize the harm caused by the nature of their
profession. The expectation however broadens because of the cohesive power and the
different relationship that exists between a client and his counsellor. The ethics also includes
the concept of the different ethical codes and the varied principles that focus at the balancing
of the power structure and works to ensure that the counselor should operate to contribute in
the good for the clients and not for their own self. In the initial stage, the counselor’s duty
was just to provide the care to their clients. In the course of making the different ethical
choices, the counselors must also consider just for themselves, but also for the associated
agencies or the organization involved for their choice of the profession or for the community
in the broader terms. However, the counselling cannot take place in absolute vacuum; rather
the counsellors should give effort to acknowledge the different facets related to their practice
in the both internal and external environments (Finlay,2019). The counselors should be
considered from the point of view of an overall holistic perspective that includes the body of
the different environment structures, the diverse systems that exist , the different form of
policies , the different laws and the set of regulations, the moral codes and the different forms
of the societal norms that exist. A complete awareness mechanism of the set of ethics of a
situational structure can only take place when all the factors are taken into proper
consideration.
The concept of ethic also relates to the concept of the moral consideration measures.
However, the challenge lies in the fact whether the facts under consideration are moral or are
ethical in nature. In this situation, each counsellor comes to their individual professional roles

ETHICS IN COUNSELLING2
within the domain of their own set of moral values and standards (Ghazali,2017).The
different set of individual principles, the process, and the purpose of their application of those
principles to interpret the nature of dilemmas that are universally different in structure.
Therefore, the set of code of ethics structure sets out the general standards framework that are
meant for the counsellors to adhere in order to apply them along with the different set of legal
standards in order to provide for the ethical practice mechanism working through the
different forms of ethical dilemmas, which becomes an urgent necessity. The code of ethical
conduct however offers all the counsellors a rough framework of the facts that should be kept
between the two domains of being acceptable or being not acceptable in their types of
behavior. In those places where the form of counselling is not regulated under any form of
licensing, at those situations the ethical codes may adopt similar type of principles in the
midst of covering the different forms of behavior, which are often area specific to the core
areas of counselling. Numerous commercial associations have developed their own form of
code of conduct and the ethics mechanism. The codes may adopt other such similar principles
if they talk about the covering of behaviors, which are mainly area specific in nature. The
professional counselling patterns provide specific code of conduct and ethics mechanism to
the different members in order to check their inability to stick to the codes that may result in
the removal of their traditional form of membership patterns. A professional may also belong
to many organizations and thus may have access to the other additional codes of ethics. In a
situation of acute ethical dilemma, a counsellor needs to consider all the available and the
easily applicable codes of conduct or the different ethics codes. It is the responsibility of
every counsellor to familiarize with themselves through the context of the proper relevant
codes and the other regulations that governs their specific area of practice.
All the members who are engaged in their professional association are likely to
subscribe to their profession’s main code of ethics in order to protect the public in general.