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Critical reflection on confidentiality
Explain legal and ethical issues arising from confidentiality
Explain legal and ethical issues arising from confidentiality
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The authentic counselor conveys a person who is willing to share their own experience and open up during the counseling session. I think that for counseling to be truly authentic both the counselor and client need to disclose information about themselves. This builds trust since the client will recognize that the counselor is being truthful and trusts them with their details. There is a line a counselor shouldn’t cross, though. I think gauging the situation is useful, because a client may feel that a counselor’s self-disclosure is overpowering their own issues. If they feel this way they may be less likely to continue sharing their intimate details since it appears the value and focus isn’t there. It is the job of the authentic counselor to …show more content…
Identity is really important in staying authentic. Knowing who you are and what you’re capable of keeps things consistent. Identity is first thing I tend to notice about people, especially my therapist. Who they are, what they are like, and what their personality is like sets the mood of our session. If their personality or characteristics were to change it would feel inauthentic. I also place importance on humor. Stark, stern, unemotional conversation can be daunting and uncomfortable. A touch of humor can make or break a therapy session. An authentic counselor can use humor as an active listening tool, showing that they can put life into perspective. It can also be useful if the counselor makes a little mistake, like a false assumption or jumping to a conclusion, and can laugh it off with the client. Knowing when not to use humor is also important, and an authentic counselor knows when it is not appropriate to …show more content…
If a counselor cannot effectively communicate, actively listen, or infer details from their client’s speech than they are not being genuine. One cannot truly direct or assist a person they are not communicating with successfully. It limits the conversation and leaves the client feeling like their issues are beyond repair. Interpersonal skills allows for honest and wholesome communication; it also sets the stage for recommendations and deeper understanding. I think this became evident during our class where we discussed recurring dreams. Not all of us, myself included, truly gave the other person our full and undivided attention. Our interpersonal exchange was lacking and it led to a superficial conversation. Lastly, I value meaningful work and think it leads to a truly authentic counselor. The common saying, “Love what you do and do what you love” speaks volumes. If you don’t find counseling meaningful and cannot find value in helping others than this profession is not for you. Not only will you be miserable, but your clients won’t benefit from this time ill spent. The conversations will be overly structured, responses will be scripted, and any communication will be shallow. To be sincere in your practice, you have to derive meaning from your
My professional identity is fundamentally grounded on my commitment to social welfare through which I achieve my sense of purpose. Furthermore, I support the humanistic values that uphold the core philosophy of the counseling profession and uniquely distinguish counseling from other helping professions. Specifically, I endorse the wellness model wherein optimal health is achieved via holistic integration of mind, body and spirit (CITATION). Likewise, I believe that successful integration begins and ends with the counselor-client relationship; a secure, genuine and empathic relationship is at the heart of well-being and personal growth. Finally, my academic studies as well as the experiential learning process thus far have imparted a sincere sense of pride in the field of counseling; I value the dedication that is required to become a counselor and I am confident in our abilities and our mission as a profession. For that reason, I strive to exemplify those values which promote professional competence and enhance the collective identity of the counseling profession.
One theme of the book that stands out is the counselor as a person and a professional. It is impossible to completely separate one’s personal and professional lives. Each person brings to the table certain characteristics of themselves and this could include such things as values, personality traits and experiences. A great point that Corey, Corey, and Callahan (2010) make is to seek personal therapy. Talking with colleagues or a therapist will keep counselors on their toes and allow them to work out any issues that may arise. This could also prevent counselors from getting into a bad situation. Another good point made in this book was counter transference. Therapists are going to have an opinion and some reactions are going to show through. It is not easy to hide one’s emotions, but a good therapist will keep the objective in sight and keep moving forward. After all, the help counselors are providing is for the client.
The counseling session should be centered on the client and their understanding of their world and/or problems not heavily weighted on the counselor interpretation of the client’s situation. The role of the counselor is to examine a problem needs changing and discover options in overcoming their problem. Bringing about change can help change the client’s narrative on their problem in the future and/or on life in the process.
“Nugent and Jones (2009) defined professional identity as how training and personal characteristics are applied in the professional setting. It was theorized that there was a need for development of a strong professional identity among counselor trainees, because professional identity confusion resulted in several negative consequences when these counselors entered the community workforce (Pistole & Roberts, 2002)”. Counselors play an important role in today’s society. Counseling has evolved through the years into the specialized workforce it is today.
Keeping a positive and open relationship so that the client feels comfortable sharing their issues with the counselor. If the client is feeling judged they will withhold information and stunt the counseling process.
Sometimes individuals consider becoming counselors after overcoming some major life challenge such as addiction or a history of bad relationships. Perhaps an individual has encountered a particularly effective counselor or therapist and has a desire to follow in those footsteps. Others may have had a bad experience with counseling and concluded that it can be done better. People do not think of this work so much as a job, or even as a career. More typically, a constellation of life experiences that demand explanation and a sense that others seek one out for assistance and emotional sustenance become driving forces leading one toward the counseling profession” (An invitation to). .
A counselor should always keep their thoughts to themselves and remain open-minded about the situation. The only time a counselor should share their thoughts is if it helps the client with their situation that they are dealing with. “Counselors must practice only within the boundaries of their competence (Standard C.2.a.), and, if they “determine an inability to be of professional assistance to clients” (Standard A.11.b.), they should facilitate a referral to another provider. (Kocet, M. M., & Herlihy, B. J. (2014). Addressing Value-Based Conflicts Within the Counseling Relationship: A Decision-Making Model. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 92(2), 180-186 7p. doi: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00146.x).” Keeping your thoughts to yourself is
Being a therapist is not only sitting in a chair listening to your clients’ problems all day. It is also not “reading-minds” as many people think and it is not giving advice or solving each clients’ issue. Therapists have many qualities that define the effectiveness of their treatment and their competence in the field. The important qualities that a therapist should have are empathic and great listening skills. In addition to, the therapist must be knowledge in their skills and in the different mental disorders in order to prevent a misdiagnosis. Furthermore, the therapist should have other qualities such as interpersonal skills and the ability to build rapport with the clients so they can feel secure and continue to come to therapy.
The counselor accomplishes the above by expressing empathy, developing discrepancies, going along with resistance and supporting self-efficacy. Moreover, the counselor guides the client toward a solution that will lead to permanent posi...
...ing silence, paraphrasing and reflection of feelings, as well as non-verbal skills such as body-language and active listening are all used in order to allow the client to introspect and work with their problems in a safe environment, the role of the counselor within the relationship being to support the client and help them to reach their true potential by expressing emotions and thoughts that they can’t express outside of the helping relationship, whether it be for fear of rejection or some other reason.
there will be good days and bad days and the counselor must be careful not to allow the emotions of helping others become the main objective in
In successful communication building rapport is one of the core second person skills. Rapport building is the establishment of a harmonic, comfortable work relationship between the counsellor and the client (Ramseyer & Tschacher, 2011). Rapport is the essential skill for a counsellor to build trust with the client. Hunt and Price (2002) suggest rapport should be additionally based on sincerity and respect and is never ending as it is a building stone to a productive long-term bond. Sharpley, Jeffrey and McMah (2006) state effective rapport building can be display through the counsellor’s interest and engagement with the client, but also the client’s involvement in the session and his or her enjoyment of sharing the experience and...
The counseling session began with the introductions where I introduced myself as the counselor and later introduced my client. This stage is important in any counseling session since it is the time of exploration and focusing according to Gerard Egan as quoted by Wright (1998) in his essay on couselling skills. It is in this session that I was able to establish rapport and trust with my client in order to come up with a working and fruitful relationship with him. During this stage I made use of skills like questioning, where I would pose a question directly to my client, sometimes I would choose to just listen to what the client wanted to speak out while in some instances I would be forced to paraphrase the question if I felt the client did not understand the question I had asked previously. There were also other times when I would reflect through silence. During such a period, I got time to study the client and the information he had given. This being a difficult area, since some clients may not be able to volunteer information to you as the counselor, I decided to assure the client of confidentiality of any information he was willing to share with me with a few exceptions which I also told him about. Being open to him about the only times the information may not be confidential was part of my building rapport and establishing trust with him. I therefore, decided to ask the client what information he wanted to share with me and lucky enough he was ready to speak to me about different issues that he was going through.
Having a high level of sincerity can help the cultural barrier between the two. Being a counselor there has to be a no judgment attitude regardless of the client’s personal values. An element that enlightening me during reading was how the core skills and attributes are part of four primary stages of helping, these four elements include establishing an effective therapeutic relationship, assessment and goal setting, strategy selection and implementation and evaluation and termination( Book ref). There are several ways to maintain ethical boundaries. These include documentation, practicing in the area of expertise and sticking to the evidence.
The counselor’s objective is to identify the problem of the client and plan out the method of helping the client overcome the problem. The most rewarding part of being a counselor is the ability to make a difference in people’s lives. In private practice, there is a constant push to become more skilled at helping so that clients will refer others to you for help. It is also important to follow up with the client about their well-being even after treatment has ended to ensure that they are still living a healthy and stress-free life. The client must make time for all scheduled sessions with the counselor for best results of treatment. If we don’t express our feelings during counseling sessions, the hurt and frustration behind the situation will build up, and once the client releases, it may trigger other situations and bring on severe mental health