Ethical Issues in Counselling

In no more than 3,000 words you are required to complete an essay on ethical issues in the practice of counseling, by addressing the following question:
What are the two ethical issues which are likely to be the most concerning for you personally in your counseling work?

Include a discussion of:
1. why each is important in your counseling work, or likely to be so;
2. what contribution recent journal articles make to discussion of these issues;
3. having read and considered the relevant literature on these issues, discuss how you are likely to deal with each of the two issues.

Your essay should be written in the first person and should include a personal, reflective discussion, but should be scholarly and include a carefully selected references. Provide evidence of your thinking about the issues chosen.

Introduction
Professional counsellors are increasingly mindful not to step on the mines of unethical practices. Sometimes, we might be too cautious to have overlooked issues that are neither unethical, nor avoidable, or even beneficial, in terms of the interests of our clients and our own professional satisfactions. Ethics are more than codes and taboos. While counsellors should protect themselves from unnecessary lawsuits, we should also find resolutions for our constant struggles towards the best service to clients, in light of the various moral and ethical principles, and the context in which we work, to promote, other than to protect client benefits.

As a voluntary, amateur counsellor, serving in a church community, characterized by its closeness to a Christian Secondary School and its proximity to a lower social class housing estate, I have always struggled with boundary setting, whether a boundary needs to be crossed, a multiple relationship needs to be entered into, or a personal value needs to be shared, for the best benefits of my clients, who range from young adults, young couples, to parents of some problematic students. This

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