UNIT 5: ETHICS & RESEARCH

IN COUNSELLING

Ms. Aabharna
TRAINING OF COUNSELLORS

• Since the late 1970s, a number of models for training individuals in

consultation skills have been proposed and developed.
• Most models are competency based and emphasize various modes of training
consultants, such as didactic, laboratory, field placement, and supervision.
• Stum’s (1982) classic work known as Directed Individual Response
Educational Consulting Technique (DIRECT) is an excellent example of a
model that has attempted to synthesize previous knowledge and help
individuals learn what they are supposed to do in a consulting interview and
how they are supposed to do it.

Ms. Aabharna
Directed Individual Response Educational Consulting
Technique (DIRECT)
• Stum views consulting as a systematic process with sequential steps.
• The model is structured so that beginning learners can conceptualize the consultation
process developmentally.
• It includes the following steps:
(a) establish the consulting relationship
(b) identify and clarify the problem situation
(c) determine the desired outcome
(d) develop ideas and strategies
(e) develop a plan,
(f) specify the plan
(g) confirm the consulting relationship.
Ms. Aabharna
• The DIRECT model also specifies four sequential leads for each of
the seven developmental steps.
• Based on systematic human relations training, these leads provide
guidelines for the consultant and consultee to enter, initiate,
educate, and evaluate each step in the consulting process.
• Cue words are provided for the consultant trainee at each step and
level of the process
• An evaluation chart, the Technique and Relationship Evaluation
Chart (TREC), is available to assess the degree of competency that
the consultant trainee achieves.
Ms. Aabharna
Training contd…
• Brown also proposes developmental stages for training human services
consultants.
• He stresses didactic, laboratory, and field placement competencies that must
be mastered.
• In addition, he elaborates on problems (e.g., resistance) and strategies to
overcome these problems (e.g., ways to select proper interventions).
• His model requires instructors to help trainees master consultation skills by
analyzing case histories, modeling cognitive strategies by talking through
cases, and employing a Socratic method of inquiry.

Ms. Aabharna
• Brown emphasizes that the well- trained consultant should master conceptual
and relationship skills at five discernable stages of consultation:
(a) relationship or entry
(b) assessment or problem identification
(c) goal setting
(d) choosing and implementing change strategies
(e) evaluation and termination.

Ms. Aabharna
• Gallessich (1985) advocates that future consultation models and training be based on
one of three models, which are not mutually exclusive.
• They are as follows:

Scientific/technological consultation- In this model, which focuses on knowledge

deficits, the consultant’s primary role is that of an expert on information and technique.

Human-development consultation- The consultant’s primary role, according to this

model, is to be an educator and facilitator in affective and cognitive processes that
influence professional and personal relationships in an organization.

Social/political consultation- In this model, the consultant takes a partisan role to help
change organizations so that they conform with particular values, such as democracy.
Methods of training consultants in this model are still being developed.

Ms. Aabharna
Case study
• A client comes to you for counselling and says she has no major
issues, has satisfactory relationships, does decently well at studies,
how would move forward?
• A client who you think may be having gender identity issues, but
comes to you for general anxiety is not able to overcome it after
several sessions. Would you bring up the gender identity issues with
her?
SUPERVISION
• Supervision, like consultation, is a needed skill counselors must learn and employ.
• Supervision may be defined as an interactive and evaluative process in which
someone with more proficiency oversees the work of someone with less
knowledge and skill to enhance the professional functioning of the junior
member.
• It is a way of improving professional counseling skills, values, attitudes, and
behaviors with the goal being to foster the supervisee’s professional
development and to ensure client welfare.
• Among the procedures used in supervision are observing counselor–client
interactions behind one-way mirrors, monitoring audiotapes of counseling
sessions, and critiquing videotapes of counseling sessions.

Ms. Aabharna
• The supervision process, particularly in counselor training programs, is central to
beginning counselors’ development.
• The looking glass is a metaphor for the supervision experience.
• Early supervision experiences are associated with a thicker looking glass,
symbolizing “participants’ anxiety about becoming involved, maintaining
emotional distance and preferring objective rather than subjective feedback”.
• The looking glass becomes thinner as students became more experienced, learn
more, and are more excited about the process.
• Shifting anxiety to excitement is a key to an improved learning experience, and is
accomplished by embracing the experience.
• In addition to counselors-in- training, more experienced professional counselors
want and need clinical supervision, too.

Ms. Aabharna
• In Bernard and Goodyear’s (2014) discrimination model of
supervision, which is one of the most widely used models, the
supervisor plays the role of teacher, counselor, and consultant,
depending on the need of the counselor or counselor-in-
training in supervision. This model also highlights three areas
of skill building:
1. process issues (how technical aspects of the therapeutic
process are handled, such as reflecting the client’s emotion
accurately);
2. conceptualization issues (how well supervisees formulate
cases from theory and how well they convey what it is they
know); and
3. personalization issues (how counselors use their own
experiences, thoughts, and feelings in therapeutic ways).
Ms. Aabharna
TRIADIC SUPERVISION
• Two supervisees working with one supervisor in a process that
involves all three members simultaneously.
• It is a method of supervision in which fledgling counselors can gain
insight from both their supervisor and a peer.
• Recent research has indicated the benefit of triadic sessions of
supervision to complement individual and group counseling
supervision.

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Ms. Aabharna
• Counselors who take advantage of supervisory opportunities after they are in
practice, especially opportunities for peer supervision (supervision among
equals), can both gain and give information about themselves and their
clinical abilities.
• This increased awareness is the bedrock on which other positive professional
experiences and competencies can be built.

Ms. Aabharna
• They have examined the effectiveness of three creative approaches: sand tray,
psychodrama, and bibliotherapy.
• They found “all three supervision approaches facilitate supervisee self-
awareness, openness to feedback, flexibility, and positive change”.
• In addition, these approaches were found to be “freeing” and to decrease the
supervisees’ defensiveness.

Ms. Aabharna
PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Foster (1996) and Guy (1987) have deleniated the following characteristics:

Curiosity and inquisitiveness—a natural interest in people

Ability to listen—the ability to find listening stimulating

Comfort with conversation—enjoyment of verbal exchanges

Empathy and understanding—the ability to put oneself in another’s place,

even if that person is totally different from you.

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Emotional insightfulness—comfort dealing with a wide range of feelings,
from anger to joy
Introspection—the ability to see or feel from within
Capacity for self-denial—the ability to set aside personal needs to listen and
take care of others’ needs first
Tolerance of intimacy—the ability to sustain emotional closeness
Comfort with power—the acceptance of power with a certain degree of
detachment
Ability to laugh—the capability of seeing the bittersweet quality of life events
and the humor in them.

Ms. Aabharna
Ms. Aabharna
• The ability to work from a perspective of resolved emotional experience that
has sensitized a person to self and others in a helpful way is what Rollo May
characterizes as being a wounded healer.
• It is a paradoxical phenomenon.
• Individuals who have been hurt and have been able to transcend their pain
and gain insight into themselves and the world can be helpful to others who
struggle to overcome emotional problems.
• They have been where their clients are now. Thus, “counselors who have
experienced painful life events and have adjusted positively can usually
connect and be authentic with clients in distress”.

Ms. Aabharna
Qualities of effective counselors over time other than those already mentioned include
the following:

Intellectual competence—the desire and ability to learn as well as think fast and
creatively.
Energy—the ability to be active in sessions and sustain that activity even when one
sees a number of clients in a row
Flexibility—the ability to adapt what one does to meet clients’ needs
Support—the capacity to encourage clients in making their own decisions while
helping to engender hope
Goodwill—the desire to work on behalf of clients in a constructive way that ethically
promotes independence
Self-awareness—a knowledge of self, including attitudes, values, and feelings and the
ability to recognize how and what factors affect oneself (Hansen, 2009).
Ms. Aabharna
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

Ms. Aabharna
ETHICAL ISSUES
• “Ethics is generally defined as a philosophical discipline that is
concerned with human conduct and moral decision making”.
• Ethics are normative in nature and focus on principles and standards
that govern relationships between individuals.
• Ethics are rules, typically prescribed by social systems and, in
counselling, as professional standards. Ethics do keep changing over
time. (Examples of dating ethics/ phone usage in class/ fidelity )
• “Professional ethics are beliefs about behavior and conduct that guide
professional practices,” such as those between counselors and clients.
• Unethical behavior in counseling can take many forms.
• They include “physical intimacy, the titillation of gossip, or the
opportunity (if the gamble pays off) to advance one’s career”
Ms. Aabharna
The following are some of the most prevalent forms of unethical behaviors in counseling:

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
Certain conflicts of interest, such as dual or multiple relationships—in which the role of the
counselor is combined with another relationship (either personal or professional) and not
monitored for appropriateness of boundaries.
Questionable financial arrangements, such as charging excessive fees
Improper advertising
Plagiarism
Ms. Aabharna
Reasons for the existence of ethical codes according to Van Hoose and Kottler
(1985) are as follows:

Ethical codes protect the profession from government. They allow the profession to
regulate itself and function autonomously instead of being controlled by legislation.

Ethical codes help control internal disagreements and bickering, thus promoting
stability within the profession.

Ethical codes protect practitioners from the public, especially in regard to

malpractice suits. If counseling professionals behave according to ethical guidelines,
the behavior is judged to be in compliance with accepted standards.

In addition, ethical codes help increase public trust in the integrity of a profession
and provide clients with some protection from charlatans and incompetent
counselors.

Like counselors, clients can use codes of ethics and standards as a guide in
evaluating questionable treatment. Ms. Aabharna
SIX ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
• Beneficence (doing good and preventing harm)
• Nonmaleficence (not inflicting harm)
• Autonomy (respecting freedom of choice and self-determination)
• Fidelity (faithfulness or honoring commitments and promises)
• Justice(fairness)
• Veracity (truthfulness)

Ms. Aabharna
1. Beneficence
• This principle means to act in the best interest of your client.
• To provide service based on training/ experience.
• To continue updating ones knowledge for professional development
and to enhance the quality of services provided to the client.
2. Non-maleficence
• This principle is to avoid sexual, financial and emotional or any form
of exploitation.
• The counsellor should not to take any financial favour, help or aid
from the client for their own needs and not to exploit the weaker,
dependent and vulnerable position of the client.
3. Autonomy
• Counsellor should foster self-determination and individual
responsibility on the part of clients.
• Clients’ commitment to participate in counselling should be on a
voluntary basis
• It prohibits the counsellor from manipulation of the client against
their will may be for socially beneficial ends. (a colleague referring a
client for me to convince to behave appropriately)
4. Justice
• The counsellor needs to provide just and equal opportunity,
disregarding their personal and social characteristics which might
give rise to discrimination/ oppression.
• In obvious ways – caste/ religion/ race/ gender/ sexual preference
• In subtle ways …. A person who you feel wont have a problem, that
she is privileged….
LIMITATIONS OF ETHICAL CODES

Enforcing There may be

Some issues cannot
conflicts within the
be resolved by a ethical codes is standards delineated
code of ethics. difficult. by the code.

Ethical codes are historical Sometimes conflicts

Some legal and documents. Thus, what
arise between
ethical issues are not may be acceptable practice
at one time may be ethical and legal
covered in codes.
considered unethical later. codes.

There is often difficulty in

Ethical codes do Ethical codes do bringing the interests of all
not address cross- not address every parties involved in an
Ms. Aabharna
ethical dispute together
cultural issues. possible situation.
A woman who does not want to leave her
abuser – beneficence ethic
• Several reasons such as financial, love, fear of losing children, fear of
leaving the children with the abuser, fear of increased violence,
cultural expectations (eastern), legal (immigration policies) may make
a woman choose to stay in the relationship.

• What would you as a counsellor advise or help with?

Issues in multicultural counselling
Ethical case of confidentiality
Is this ‘Claiming expertise one does not possess’?
Discussion - transference
• Is it okay for the client to look up to his therapist as his mother
figure?
ETHICAL ISSUES WITH ONLINE COUNSELLING
• The use of computers and technology in counseling is another area of potential
ethical difficulty.
• With hundreds of websites now being run by individual counselors, the possibility
exists for a breach of client information when computers are used to transmit
information among professional counselors.
• Other ethically sensitive areas include client or counselor misuse and even the
validity of data offered over computer links.
• In addition, the problem of cyber counseling or web counseling—that is, counseling
over the Internet in which the counselor may be hundreds of miles away—is fraught
with ethical dilemmas.
• Thus, the National Board of Certified Counselors, as well as the American Counseling
Association, has issued ethical guidelines regarding such conduct.
Ms. Aabharna
LEGAL STANDARDS
• Confidentiality is “the ethical duty to fulfill a contract or promise to clients that the
information revealed during therapy will be protected from unauthorized disclosure”.
• Confidentiality becomes a legal as well as an ethical concern if it is broken, whether
intentionally or not.
• “Privacy is an evolving legal concept that recognizes individuals’ rights to choose the
time, circumstances, and extent to which they wish to share or withhold personal
information”.
• Privileged communication, a narrower concept, regulates privacy protection and
confidentiality by protecting clients from having their confidential communications
disclosed in court without their permission.
• It is defined as “a client’s legal right, guaranteed by statute, that confidences originating
in a therapeutic relationship will be safeguarded”.
Ms. Aabharna
EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES

(a) in cases of a dispute between counselor and client;

(b) when a client raises the issue of mental condition in legal proceedings;
(c) when a client’s condition poses a danger to self or others;
(d) in cases of child abuse or neglect (in addition to mandated reporting laws);
(e) when the counselor has knowledge that the client is contemplating commission
of a crime;
(f) during court ordered psychological evaluations;
(g) for purposes of involuntary hospitalization;
(h) when the counselor has knowledge that a client has been a victim of a crime; and
(i) in cases of harm to vulnerable adults.

Ms. Aabharna
Raso v Di Egidio 2014
Wife brought a motion to have the notes and records of the couple’s
marriage counsellor produced for use in the custody of their child.
In the sessions, the husband’s explosive conduct was recorded, along
with his controlling behavior and lack of involvement with the child.
This could be used against him in the case for joint custody.
Wife wanted sole custody.
However the records were not released.

Class Discussion: What is your view of marriage? What are you

personal reasons for divorce?
Jaffee v. Redmond
• Redmond, in the course of duty shot and killed Ricky Allen, claiming to
have done so to prevent him from stabbing another person. Allen’s
family sued her for using excessive force.
• Redmond started counselling after the shooting. Allen’s family
attempted to get the records, which was refused by the counsellor.
• The court established that if there is refusal it can indicate the
defendant’s culpability. Redmond had to pay thousands of dollars in
damages.
• However, the court finally ruled that protecting client confidentiality is
important, otherwise everyone may be reluctant to go to therapy.
• Only when bodily harm is threatened to another, A Tarasoff warning
needs to be given.
HOW TO PROTECT ONESELF FROM MALPRACTICE

(a) to follow professional codes of ethics

(b) to follow normal practice standards
(c) to act in a professional, attentive, and courteous manner
at the beginning of a counseling relationship so
communication is enhanced and clients perceive that
the counselor really cares about them

Ms. Aabharna
COUNSELOR IN COURT OF LAW
1. Expert witness- “An expert witness is an objective and unbiased person with specialized
knowledge, skills, or information, who can assist a judge or jury in reaching an appropriate legal
decision”.
• The expert witness’s job is almost like a teacher in court—to inform the court, to help the court
resolve some kind of issue (Wheeler & Bertram, 2015).
• A counselor who serves as an expert witness is compensated financially for his or her time.
2. Fact Witness – Counsellors may report only facts such as diagnostic information, client
punctuality, client payments, session frequency and such observable facts that they have witnessed
which does not require further speculation or opinion.
3. Court order (a subpoena to appear in court at a certain time in regard to a specific case).
• Such a summons is issued with the intent of having the counselor testify on behalf of or against a
present or former client.

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CONSULTATION
• Covered in chapter 2

Ms. Aabharna
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
• Personal and professional growth and development are areas of concern for
practicing professional counselors and educators.
• These areas of concern include activities related to self-awareness,
understanding and overcoming biases, being open-minded, and being an
effective counselor (Nugent & Jones, 2005).
• These are areas of concern, also, for graduate students as they prepare to
enter the world of professional counseling.

Ms. Aabharna
COMPETENCE

• The term Multicultural Counselling Competence has been defined as a

counsellor’s
(i) beliefs and attitudes regarding racial and ethnic minorities, the need to
check biases and stereotypes and the development of a positive orientation
towards multiculturalism
(ii) knowledge of one’s own worldview, knowledge of cultural groups with
whom one works and knowledge of socio-political influences on members of
these groups
(iii) skills, strategies and interventions needed to work with minority groups
within a cross-cultural counselling context
Ms. Aabharna
• Areas indicating problems of professional competence (Lamb, 1987):
a) the trainee is unable to acknowledge, understand, or address an issue
b) the issue is not merely a reflection of skill deficits that may be remediated
c) the quality of service delivery is consistently negatively affected
d) the issue is not restricted to one area of professional functioning
e) a disproportionate amount of attention is focused on dealing with the
issue.
f) the behavior does not change as a result of remediation or time
g) the behavior has legal, administrative, or ethical implications.

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Peer relations

Ms. Aabharna
Licensing
• Professional counselors obtain either a master’s or a
doctorate in counseling from a counselor education
program and complete internships in specialty areas such
as school counseling; rehabilitation counseling; mental
health counseling; career counseling; gerontological
counseling; addiction counseling; or marriage, couple, and
family counseling.

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Portfolios

• A portfolio is a form of communication that

documents “an individual’s training, work, and
pertinent life experiences” (James & Greenwalt, 2001,
p. 161). Counselors need to keep portfolios to be
proactive in regard to documentation they may need
to quickly retrieve for licensure, managed care
organizations, employer evaluations, and even new
jobs.

Ms. Aabharna
• Counselor portfolios may be either working portfolios or presentation
portfolios.
• A working portfolio is a continuous collection of unabridged artifacts
counselors can use as evidence of professional competence.
• These portfolios typically contain the following kinds of information:
vita/resume, documentation on counseling courses as well as practicum and
internships taken for a degree, postdegree supervision, work experience,
professional credentials, continuing education, presentations, publications,
and professional service.
• A presentation portfolio is more limited in nature and usually consists of
materials needed for a particular project, such as becoming an expert witness
in a court of law.

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Legislation
• Legislations for the protection of the special population- MHA 1987 to MHC
2017.
• PWD 1995 to RPwD 2016.

Ms. Aabharna
Counselling in diverse groups
• Counseling different populations based on age, gender, sexual orientation, and
spirituality.
• Each of the areas highlighted impacts clients and counselors for better or
worse.
• When those involved are open to exploring age, gender, sexual orientation,
and spirituality factors, productive insights and new behaviors may be
generated.

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• In counseling the aged, it is important to help them realize that
growing older is a natural part of life. It can be exciting and
fulfilling as well as difficult at times.
• Likewise, gender—being male or female—has advantages and
disadvantages.
• Concentrating on uniquenesses as well as universals related to
gender in either a group or individual setting can help to
resolve hurt or misfortune that have occurred because of one’s
biology, socialization, and environment.

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• Sexual orientation, like the two preceding subject areas, is
still relatively new as a focus for counselors.
• Yet the LGBTQIA+ face an array of common concerns, as
well as unique circumstances for which counseling can be
helpful.
• Prejudice and discrimination occur in regard to members
of this population, just as they do with other groups, but
probably more frequently and blatantly.

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• Spirituality differs, at least on the surface.
• In most cases, those who want to work on spiritual matters are not
distinguishable from others.
• Yet, individuals who have spiritual concerns need to resolve past conflicts and
focus on the present so they can live life to the fullest.

Ms. Aabharna