Ethical Issues For Counselors: Counselors can be caught in an ethical trap when she/he does not report some purported wrongdoing which later becomes a greater issue. In the case of some patients, the counselor is faced with an ethical dilemma.
Should she share the information with the parents of the young patient’s drug habit because then the patient might not return to counseling and could cause damage to herself or should she refuse to share the information and the patient later lands in deeper trouble because she and all students spend more time away from school than they spend in the school. To earn the best grades in your Business plans and creative work assignments you should choose an academic writing service that will meet your best writing needs.
This is a very difficult decision for the counselor because if she makes a poor initial decision, she might then have to make a second ethical decision that would be inherent to resolve because the initial decision was not right and the counselor will also have to justify her decision to not share Annabel’s information with the parents. In case the initial decision is wrong.
Ethical Issues For Counselors
Then the counselor could face administrative action from the school and probably legal action from the parent. When a person is caught in an ethical trap it becomes quite difficult to get out of it and the proverbial quote can be aptly applied “caught between a rock and a hard place”. To avoid becoming embroiled in an ethical trap, the counselor should take a course of action and make a decision that would protect her and also enable her to justify her decision without breaching the trust and confidence reposed in her patient.
Sadly, models that are followed for making ethical decisions do not effectively depict the complications that might follow many ethical dilemmas. Engineered situations are very different than real-life situations. In the classroom, or engineered scenario, indifferent/ unemotional participants come up with flawless but unrealistic solutions that are according to the prescribed code of ethics. However, arriving at the correct decision in real life requires a strong character because the reality of the situation frequently obscures the fine line between right and wrong.
Most probably the preliminary response of the counselor would be to help the patient kick her drug habit and honor her request to not disclose her case information with her parents or anyone else. However, the counselor must handle the situation with objectivity and avoid any promises and relationships that could increase the risk of harm to Annabel or compromise her own professional credibility. The best thing to do would be to evaluate the situation in a manner that makes it possible to give a response that is good for the patient and at the same time protects her from any undue liabilities.