Human Service Professional Ethics Case Study

The human service professional must learn how to proceed and been cautious of their client based relationships. There may be situations where the helping professional may encounter their client beyond the scopes of the counseling session; especially in small communities. It is with great practice that the helping professional practice a strong sense of ethical awareness. Ethical awareness creates an ongoing questioning process involving a sense of personal responsibility. In some instances, such awareness of ethical awareness promotes the best practice with client relationships. Furthermore, establishing clear boundaries for the client is a very professional way to set the relationship. Such boundaries; will discourage any unwanted dual relationship that will cause an ethical dilemma. Per Kagle and Giebelhausen, “A professional enters into a dual relationship whenever he or she assumes a second role with a client, becoming social worker, friend, employer, teacher, business associate, family member, or sex partner “ (Kagle and Giebelhausen, 1994). “ Boundary issues occur when professionals enter more than one relationship with
HIPAA required the Secretary of HHS to develop regulations protecting the privacy and security of health information (Wilshusen, 2016). This is another privacy measure to protect clients in many scopes of the healthcare setting. With this point being stated, it would be in the best interest of the client, to create a boundary and avoid an outside connection with the client. What if the helping professional decides to look up information concerning the client on Facebook? If the helping professional agrees to connect, then it could be a case that leads to a dual relationship. In terms of the client, this becomes a privacy and confidentiality issue, because all clients have the right to privacy, and so does the helping