Addiction counseling is a professional career that is fully backed by one’s attitude and willingness to render compassionate and sincere services to clients suffering any form of addiction. However, there is a thin line separating a professional’s role in discharging duties of counseling and a burden of over-reliance by the client which makes the counselor go an extra mile which to some extent may have an effect of a breach of ethical conduct.
There are various ethical areas with diverse importance in addiction counseling. One of such is the area of confidentiality in counselor-client relation. It is vested upon the counselor to protect at all costs the identity as well as maintain the privacy of a client (NAADAC, 2016). This means that the counselor shall not disclose the client’s details or information except in cases where the law compels the professional counselor to do so but in writing. Utmost diligence should be exercised when professionals are dealing among themselves in matters of referrals and seeking advice. Client’s information should be well documented and safely kept only accessible to authorized individuals and clients upon request but to a reasonable extent.
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In the field of counseling budding professionals may experience a few stumbling blocks. In a bid to provide a high level and quality care to clients, they are deemed to go beyond limits and act in the best interests of clients, which in many cases may be frustrating, cumbersome and tedious for unseasoned counselors in this field. It should be noted that addicts are from all walks of life, the new professionals may find it difficult to seamlessly flow among the tides of variation in values and cultures of the clients. Whether they should accept gifts of appreciation and for what reason they are to do so is a major hurdle in their service delivery where ethics are to be strictly observed. Many times the counselor-client relationship may slip out of professionalism into personal and casual relationship among inexperienced addiction counselors and their clients.
Reference
NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals. (2016). NAADAC/NCC AP Code of Ethics. Alexandria, VA: NAADAC.
