Ethical Considerations: Dilemmas and Confidentiality in Counselling

This essay explores the ethical dilemmas faced by counselors, focusing on key ethical and legal issues, including client confidentiality. It examines various ethical theories such as principle ethics, virtue ethics, consequentialism, and duty ethics and their application in resolving dilemmas. The essay provides examples of breaches of confidentiality and analyzes the challenges from both the counselor's and client's perspectives. It discusses how counselors can effectively manage critical situations while adhering to ethical guidelines and legal requirements. The analysis includes a critical evaluation of the values inherent in ethical resolution, emphasizing the importance of ethical decision-making in maintaining client trust and professional integrity. This document is available on Desklib, where students can find more solved assignments and past papers.

Running Head: Ethics in Counselling Process 0
Ethics in Counselling Process
Essay
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7/3/2019

Ethics in Counselling Process 1
Introduction
Ethics are necessary to manage various situations at different places, such as the workplace,
home, society, and many others. Business ethics has required to manage all the business processes and
create a good reputation in the market (Crane & Matten, 2016). In addition, there are many other things
related to ethics in personal and professional life (De George, 2011). Moreover, a person can manage
their potential dilemmas based on ethics and moral theories. Apart from it, there are many other
reasons to follow ethics and moral values in the workplace. In addition, a counselor should follow ethics,
as they have much information about their students and patients.
This essay will describe the potential dilemmas faced by counselors and ethical and legal key
issues. It will also describe the breach of confidentiality using different examples and it will consider the
potential challenges from the perspectives of counselor and clients. It will discuss a different scenario in
which the counselor can effectively manage critical situations between clients and them. This report will
perform a critical analysis of the values that are inherent in ethical resolution.
Ethical theories
There are four basic ethical theories, which are used in most of the profession. In addition, these
theories are beneficial to manage the critical situation in front of a counselor. These ethical theories
provide the best solutions to dilemmas. Therefore, it is necessary to know about the ethical theories to
solve dilemmas at various places especially at the workplace (Warren, 2011). There are many other
theories and framework for ethics and morals, but these four ethical theories are most used in many
cases, which areas:
Principle ethics: it is necessary to follow some principles to manage critical situations, which are created
from various experiences. It is necessary to compile most of the experiences and create new principles
to manage critical situations and dilemmas at the workplace. It is necessary for various principles of
action. Behaviour is the most important part of this theory; people should behave in a good way to
others and leads to high standards.
Virtue ethics: virtue is a person image at their workplaces and other places. It is necessary to create such
types of decisions, which is in favor of all persons or organizations. A company spends many years to
create a good image in the market and clients. Therefore, it is compulsory to create an image in a

Ethics in Counselling Process 2
positive way. Always do good works to create a positive image. Action must reflect on the people using
wise judgment. People always take actions based on sensitivity, self-awareness, compassion, and moral
excellence.
Consequentialism: it is a common process to do most of the work properly and manage all the things
based on ethical and legal ways. People do their jobs properly and no one harm from their actions.
Therefore, the positive effects necessary make from actions.
Duty ethics: the right approach is the best way to provide proper acting for the sake of duty. It is a
necessity to act in a universal way to all the people.
Key ethical and legal issues
There are some ethical and legal key issues in confessing, which makes a huge impact on
confidentiality. There should a faith between counselor and clients to secure information and their
personal and professional conversation. It makes a strong understanding between clients and counselor
because it is necessary to make a proper conversation to know about each other.
In addition, the client should have knowledge about the ethical and legal procedures in the
counseling process. A counselor can provide different information about the procedure and it is
necessary to know about the relationship between a client and counselor. Based on (Adekson, 2019),
the counselor should have a boundary to make a relation with their clients. It is a way to make a good
relationship between clients and counselors. Ethics are necessary for this process because a patient
shares their personal information, which is sensitive. Therefore, it is necessary to follow a code of ethics
and ethical throes in their procedures (Antle, 2017).
According to (Matteo & Floridi, 2009), information technology is also required ethics to provide
different services in the business. Based on (Gladding & Batra, 2007), counseling is a great profession in
which legal and ethical rule and regulations must be followed by both clients and counselors. Sharing of
patient’s information with colleagues and others is an ethical and legal issue for a counselor. Therefore,
it is a responsibility of the counselor to make all the information confidential and secure. There are
many ethical issues arises in this profession. Therefore, the counselor must consider ethical theories in
their profession (Iibmindialms, 2019). Furthermore, counselor can provide security to the data and
information of their clients. It will provide confidence to their clients, which is necessary in this process.

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According to (Lambie, Ieva, Mullen, & Hayes, 2011), a counselor should know about the ethical
and legal issues in the counseling process, such as school, hospital, and many others. From the last two
decades, information technologies have used for recording and other data storage of the counseling
process. Therefore, it is necessary to make a safe and secure channel for data privacy and security (LEE,
ZANKL, & CHANG, 2016). According to (Meffert, 2009), ethics, morals, and values are important things
for a human being. The counselor must consider all these things at a high priority.
Client confidentiality
What Confidentiality requirements Exist among Counselors and customers?
Counseling process creates an embarrassing situation much time because of sensitive
information about the patients but that information is necessary to understand their issues, such as
sexual life, and personal moments. Patients want to secure all this information and hold all the secrets
of patients at their end (Wheeler & Bertram, 2019).
The significance of Confidentiality
According to (Sheperis, Henning, & Kocet, 2015), the counselor should use ethical decision-
making in their procedures. It is necessary to manage all the decisions based on ethical theories, such as
virtue ethics. There are various issues in the format of a counseling procedure if the counselor not
follows all the rules in a proper manner. As an example, a counselor cannot share personal information
of their clients in public for any purpose (Gladding & Batra, 2007).
When Counselors ought to break Confidentiality
Regrettably, a counselor will now not be capable of maintaining info shared in counseling classes
personal in some situations. As an instance, an affected person can also talk feelings of melancholy or
anger management problems with a counselor and anticipate those expressions to be kept exclusive.
There are many laws and regulations have created by the governments and communities to secure the
rights of a person. It is necessary to follow all the rules and regulations and work under the laws
(Wheeler & Bertram, 2019).
However, the depressed affected person famous plans to commit suicide or the affected person
handling rage manipulate issues threatens to damage some other individual, the counselor has prison
duties to break confidentiality and alert the precise clinical or felony authorities to prevent sufferers
from becoming risks to themselves or others. The same is proper for patients who witness toddler or

Ethics in Counselling Process 4
elder abuse. According to (Patton, 2019), school counselor should manage their work properly and make
a good relationship with their students.
In addition, Counselors can also be required to put up records to government inside the event
that regulation enforcement companies request them. In addition, With reference to confidentiality,
counselors have complex responsibilities in the direction of their sufferers. On one hand, they have to
admire patients and hold their communications private whilst viable. Based on (Kennedy & Charles,
2017), it is tough to process to become a good counselor. Therefore, it is necessary to provide the
proper solution to their clients in a proper time.
Moreover, they have to make the judgment to break confidentiality. While presented while a
state of affairs wherein prison government is concerned, or if the affected person appears to be a
chance to self or others. In addition, Even though complicated, these reputedly incongruous
requirements are vital for the good of the affected person and those around her or him. According to
(Holland, 2015), a teacher can be a good counselor but it is necessary to provide a faith in-between
student counselor relationship.
Two examples of breach of confidentiality in the counseling process
As an example, a counselor in a school is having most of the data about the students, such as
personal data and academic data. In personal data, he or she had an address, phone number, email id,
and much other information, which is sensitive in a few cases. Therefore, it is necessary to make such
types of information confidential and secure from others. Apart from it, the counselor has academic
information of all the students, which requires security and privacy. In addition, the counselor should
not share the student’s personal and academic information with other students.
Next example is taken from patients and counselor relationship. In the field of medical science,
counselors attend various patients, which are affected by psychological disorder or anxiety. Patients are
more sensitive in this case. Therefore, it is necessary to secure their information, as anyone can make a
joke on them because of their medical conditions. Patients share their personal information with their
counselor, which are related to their issues. therefore, it is a responsibility of the counselor to secure
their private information from others.

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Conclusion
In conclusion, ethical theories are necessary to take action properly and those actions do not
harm anyone. It makes huge impacts on the virtue of a person or an organization. There are many
reasons behind the scenario. Therefore, people should take proper action based on ethical theories and
legal ways. This report has explained about the ethical theories and key issues in ethical and legal works.
In addition, it has also described the client confidentiality and role of ethics and legal procedures in the
Counselling process.
This report has included two examples to explain confidentiality breach by a counselor. It has
provided various results of the counseling process and considers the potential challenges in front of
clients and counselor. It has critically analyzed the values that are inherent in ethical resolution.
Finally, the counselor should consider ethical theories should use in the counseling process to
avoid a breach of confidentiality and faced potential challenges. It will provide better results in the
future.

Ethics in Counselling Process 6
References
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