These studies may provide information to aid in developing plans and procedures when implementing technology in practice and explaining the risks and benefits to the client.
This includes the process of informed consent, based on thorough understanding of the counseling plan and the client’s role as an active participant.
COUNSELOR HEALTH AND WELLNESS
One area that is often overlooked in the discussion of ethical practice is the health and well-being of the counselor. This is a critical factor in maintaining competency, which involves energy, stamina, critical thinking, communication, judgement, and decision-making ability needed to maintain ethical practice. In Texas, there is a shortage of mental health care professionals to meet the ever-increasing demand for services partially due to the pandemic of COVID-19. Counselors may encounter caseloads that contribute to physical and emotional stress, leading them to feel frustrated, exhausted, and overwhelmed. Professional practice may involve complex, disturbing, or life-altering issues clients bring to the counseling relationship that may have a profound effect on the counselor. Counselors must be able to identify when the demands of practice interfere with their health leading
to feelings of anxiety, depression, insomnia, or physical ailments related to stress. Continuing to work when experiencing mental or physical challenges can impede ability to deliver effective services to clients. Impaired judgement, inadequate decisions, miscommunications, and failure to follow procedures and regulations may result in practice that falls short of ethical Counselors must take care of their wellness, which may affect their relationships with clients and their competency to practice. As stated in the ACA Code of Ethics section on the responsibilities of the professional counselor, “Counselors engage in self-care activities to maintain and promote their own emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual well-being to best meet their professional responsibilities. The most common ethical conflicts include issues surrounding confidentiality, informed consent, boundary issues, and misrepresentation or fraudulent statements, often due to conflicts of interest. Some ethical conflicts can be traced to the lack of knowledge concerning the legal statutes or ethical codes and others may be due to a lapse in judgement influenced by inappropriate relationships with clients or their associates. standards and regulations. As stated by the ACA (2014): Specific regulations apply to minors, disabled, and elderly clients that may not be able to consent to participate independently in their care. Finally, the counselor has the obligation to maintain their competence for professional practice by adhering to law and ethics codes, updating skills and knowledge, reviewing current research, and maintaining their physical and emotional wellness. Though ethical conflicts arise in all counseling practice, the licensed professional should be confident to successfully navigate these issues. Counselors practice within their area of competence based on their knowledge of standards, codes of ethics, legal regulations, decision-making skills, and the availability of resources to assist them in delivering the highest quality of ethical practice.
CONCLUSION
Ethical practice begins with the professional responsibility to follow the framework set by the national and state association codes of ethics. All counseling specialty areas share basic principles, values, and standards that guide ethical practice, and all professional counselors aspire to follow these codes. The highest quality of ethical practice is ruled by Texas state statutes and administered by the Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors and the National Board for Certified Counselors that regulate licensure of counselors in Texas. Federal regulations of HIPAA, HITECH, and FERPA regulate counseling practice in areas of confidentiality, informed consent, and electronic transmission of protected health information among agencies. State regulations defer to these federal rules and directives administered by the judicial system. The legal statutes and ethics codes cannot address every ethical conflict that may occur in practice. The counselor will need to apply a sound decision making-process that relies on professional knowledge, experience, understanding of the law, ethical standards, and resources to assist in their decisions. Counselors work to promote the welfare of clients and assist them to become confident and self-reliant to make decisions and build skills for autonomy. This involves engaging clients in planning their counseling process based on needs, preferences, values, and desired outcomes. This involves working together through a shared decision making-process that delineates the course of their care.
WORKS CITED https://qr2.mobi/TX_Laws_Couns
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Book Code: PCTX1325
EliteLearning.com/Counselor
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