In the United States, the American Counselling Association (ACA), provides the standards and guidelines which every counselor need to comply with in order to provide quality and ethical services. Dual relationships are discouraged by the ACA Codes of ethics and counselors are only permitted to offer services to a client with whom they have no other forms of relationships. Counsellors are required to know their boundaries and have proper criteria for determining whether crossing a boundary is appropriate or ethical. Counselors must also learn on how effectively work with other colleagues such as the multidisciplinary team in order to provide the best service to clients. Supervisors check on the work of counselors to ensure that quality is apprehended and that clients are handled in the right way. This essay will describe the ethical boundaries and practices involved in counseling and also describe the nature of relationships of various stakeholders in counseling.
Boundary Issues and Dual relationship
The American Counselling Association code of ethics guide counselors in their professional work in order for them to enhance the quality of life in the society. A boundary is an essential factor in counseling, and every counselor must set up specific boundaries when dealing with clients. Boundaries help protect both the client and the counsellor. Crossing the boundary at certain instances may add value to the counseling program, although, violation of the boundary is considered illegal. A dual relationship in counseling refers to a situation where more than one form of relationship exists between the counselor and the client. The client may be a friend to the counselor, a lover or a student. In order to determine whether crossing the boundary or dual relationship is appropriate or ethical, one may take a look at the ACA code of ethics to see what is considered ethical and what is deemed unethical. For instance, the ACA Code A.5.a says that sexual or romantic counselor-client relationship with a current client; their partners or family members are prohibited.
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Boundary crossing may prove to be quite helpful to the client and the counselor as well. In deciding on whether to cross a boundary, the following criteria may be used. The counselor should check the history of the client including personal details and hobbies. The counselor may then way assess the benefits or problems which may arise due to the boundary crossing and the possible form of dual relationship that will arise. This criterion may be applied in various situation and for different clients. In the situation with a fear-of-flying client, crossing the boundary by walking outside the office or flying may be considered appropriate and beneficial to the program. Giving small gifts to children in counselling sessions may also be considered appropriate ( Norcross & Lambert, 2011) . Participating in certain events may also help improve the quality of the counselling program. In a situation where the client is physically attracted to the counselor, crossing the boundary may not be appropriate as this may develop into a negative dual relationship which would undermine the program.
Professional Collaboration in Counselling
Sometimes, it is necessary and more beneficial for counselors to work hand in hand with other professionals in the area of expertise ( Corey, 2015) . While working with some clients, multiple areas of assistance may be required for the improvement of the client, his or her safety, and well-being. When these scenarios arise, other stakeholders are often required to provide the necessary input in order to ensure the quality of client care. It is therefore crucial for counselors to know how to collaborate and work with these other mental health professionals efficiently. One of the professional groups that counselors often work hand in hand with is the Multidisciplinary team. This team works with clients with more than one mental health problem or clients who require more than one form of disciplinary action.
Every counselor is aware of what they can offer their client, and their help is quite limited to the scope of their skills. For instance, a counselor who deals with clients with depression may not have the expertise to deal with a client with an addiction problem. In such a situation, an addictions expert may also be availed for the particular client. As the counselor takes the client through recover from depression, the addictions expert works to help the clients escape alcohol addiction. There is, therefore, a great need for the counselor and the addictions counselor to be able to communicate regularly to ensure that the client's mental health conditions are improving. The primary objective of the collaboration is to develop mutual agreements on ways to work together and provide a more efficient service and outcome. While working in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team, boundaries that maintain the safety of the client and the counselor should also be put in place ( Gutheil & Brodsky, 2011) . The interests of the client regarding the collaboration of the counselors and the program should also be taken into consideration. For instance, if a client wishes to have a separate session with the counselor and another one with the multidisciplinary team, the necessary arrangements should be put in place.
Relationship with the Supervisors and Colleagues
Supervisors have the mandate to ensure that the supervisees deliver effective, appropriate and ethical services to clients. For this reason, supervisors may be held accountable for the operations and services offered to clients by the counselors. Supervisors are supposed to assist counselors with their work, providing them with support whenever they can. Supervisors help change or shape the behavior of counselors to enable them to deliver ethical and appropriate services to their clients. Supervisors also work to evaluate the performance of the counselors to ensure that the counselors provide effective, relevant and ethical services to the clients. For the counselor to efficiently perform his or her work, he or she would require a goodly amount of time without the interference of other stakeholders such as the supervisor. The client too may require privacy and may not open up if other people keep coming onto the counselling room.
A proper guideline needs to be put in relations to supervisor-counselor relationships, in order to ensure an effective service ( Gutheil & Brodsky, 2011) . A satisfactory and healthy supervisory relationship requires the counselor and the supervisor to clarify each other’s functions. The supervisor may use various techniques to supervise the work of the counselor without having to physically attend the session as asserted by Stoltenberg and McNeill (2011) . The relationship between the supervisor and the counselor should be strictly professional in order to ensure quality and ethics are upheld. Other forms of relations, though not considered entirely unethical, may result in poor delivery of services. Just like, in a counselor-client relationship, there are boundaries between supervisors and counselors and the relationship is kept professional.
Various unethical concerns may arise from other colleagues in the workplace, and one must be able to address such issues in the best way possible in order to help the colleague, the client and the institution. A colleague may have engaged in a sexual relationship with a minor client or simple mishandled a client inappropriately, or crossed a boundary without considering the ethical issues concerned. Various models may be programmed when addressing the unethical behavior. In the case of an unethical concern where the action is not illegal, one may simply approach the colleague to make him or her aware of the unethical issue ( Wheeler & Bertram, 2015) .
Development of One’s Thinking about Ethics
A good counselor needs not only to know about the personal details of his or her clients, but also the culture and the community from which the client comes. Ethics covers the right practices, justice, honor and respect, and most importantly doing what is right for the society ( Bond, 2015) . One of the most important developments that I have mastered in relation to ethical practice is the relationship levels involved in counselling. I have come to realize the boundary crossing in a client-counselor relationship may not always result in a breach of ethical conducts. For instance, walking with the client outside the office in order to make them more comfortable provides a great deal of improvement to the client. Visiting children in the playgrounds and becoming friendlier to them also boost their adherence to the lessons in the therapy classes. I have also come to know how well to decide on when to cross the boundary and ethical concerns to take into consideration when crossing the boundary.
Conclusion
Ethical boundaries are important in counselling and counselors should be aware of the boundary between them and their clients. A violation of the boundary is considered unethical and inappropriate. The American Counselling Association codes of ethics define the guidelines and ethical conducts of counselors. Crossing the boundary may also benefit both the client and counselling in various ways. Other professionals such as the multidisciplinary team may assist counselors to deliver more efficient services to the clients. Supervisors are responsible for the conduct and the quality of service provided by the counselors to the client. Supervisors ensure that clients are treated sufficiently and satisfactorily. One of the most important developments that I have come to learn is the fact that, crossing the boundary may as well be useful in counseling is the correct criteria is used.
References
Bond, T. (2015). Standards and ethics for counselling in action . Sage.
Corey, G. (2015). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy . Nelson Education.
Gutheil, T. G., & Brodsky, A. (2011). Preventing boundary violations in clinical practice . Guilford Press.
Norcross, J. C., & Lambert, M. J. (2011). Psychotherapy relationships that work II. Psychotherapy , 48 (1), 4.
Stoltenberg, C. D., & McNeill, B. W. (2011). IDM supervision: An integrative developmental model for supervising counselors and therapists . Routledge.
Wheeler, A. M., & Bertram, B. (2015). The counselor and the law: A guide to legal and ethical practice . John Wiley & Sons.
