The capacity to identify and respond suitably to issues, which arise when handling addictive cases is a multifaceted phenomenon, cannot be assumed by any clinical officer, even at the professional level. Decisions made when handling addictive counselling often require less time to consider and examinations often require in-depth examinations for successful identification and treatment of the addictive disorder. There are a set of procedures that clinicians handling addictive counselling need to follow to handle the most challenging situations. The procedures center around ethical behaviors (Karina, 2009). For these ethical principles to uphold, however, supervisors should be at the top of the hierarchy to ensure those under them follow the stipulated norms. The importance of clinical supervisors in addiction counseling is that they understand the developmental trajectory of counselors-in-training, therefore, facilitating effective grasp of counseling concepts by the supervisees. Moreover, supervisors provide orientations to expectations, missions, philosophy and practices applicable in addiction counseling.
Therefore, most of the attributes that addiction clinicians will have in the workplace are highly influenced by the kind of supervision they received while in training (Juhnke & Culbreth, 1994). Given the role played by supervisors in addictive counselling, it is clear that supervision influences the clinicians’ ethical behavior fundamentally. This paper will attempt to explain the influence of supervision on the clinicians’ ethical behavior in addiction counseling by analyzing concepts related to the topic.
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Justification of the Topic
There are several ethical issues, which need to be considered when handling addictive disorders. They include informed consent, confidentiality, competence and established theory, handling minor and families, maintaining the relevant boundaries, self-disclosure of counsellors and recovery boundaries. For successful adherence to these ethical issues in addiction counselling, there is need for supervision of clinicians. Supervision is foundation of growth of the addiction counseling profession. The relationship between the ethical behavior of clinicians in addiction counseling and supervision should be studied and understood in order to develop effective frameworks to address possible issues. The supervisors have the responsibility of ensuring that the supervisees adhere to the ethical and legal standards as well as enhancing the addiction counseling skills. However, the role of the supervisor is complex because he supervises both the counselor and the client (Martino et al., 2007).
Description of the Topic
Informed consent, which is the most important element in addiction counselling refers to an ethical practice which is designed to guarantee the addiction client autonomy in the entire direction and course of counselling. Informed consent is not a one-time action as most counselors often consider, but it should be a continuous process. This is because handling of addiction cases does not just happen once, but they monitoring needs to be made to ensure the cases are progressing well. The primary role of the supervisor is to educate and promote the supervisee on ethical handling of an addictive disorder. To obtain fair an objective result, the supervisor should act responsibly and effectively when supervising the trainee counselors. The supervisors support and education should help the counselors to successfully apply the counseling theory and techniques with the clients struggling with addictions (Juhnke & Culbreth, 1994).
The competencies of the supervisors may be inadequate leading to poor coaching of addiction counselors. The result is a counselor who lacks competence in dealing with clients. The supervisors should clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the trainee counselors. Failure to define the roles and responsibilities may lead to ineffective supervision hence impacting on the client negatively (Lisa, 2010). Issues of confidentiality may arise where the confidential information of the client is not safeguarded. Research has shown that 25% of the trainee counselors fail to maintain confidentiality. Such a trend of negligence is attributed to poor supervision of the supervisees in the practice.
Significance of the Study
The relationship between the ethical behavior of clinicians in addiction counseling and supervision has not been explored on a wider and objective scale. The existing literature explains supervision and ethical behavior in a different perspective, different from addiction counseling. Therefore, there is need to establish a correlation between the ethical behavior of clinicians in addiction counseling and supervision. Therefore, this study will shed more light on the relationship between the variables; hence, improving knowledge in the field of addiction counseling.
Opportunities for Future Research
The paper will explore the influence of supervision on the ethical behavior of clinicians in addiction counselling. However, future researchers may consider the effects of supervisor-supervisee relationships on the effectiveness of addiction counseling.
Annotated Bibliography
Karina, G., 2009. Ethics, Supervision and the Power Differential: Impact on Supervisors and Supervisees. The California Psychologist (9) 25-26
Karina explores the ethical dilemmas afflicting the supervisees during supervision. The paper explains how hard it is for the trainee counselor to decide what to do with regards to what the supervisor does or says. Moreover, she raises the issue of incompetency among the supervisors leading to poor supervision hence compromising the quality of services offered by addiction counselors. Karina emphasizes the adherence to ethical standards and codes in the counseling practice. In my opinion, the paper points out the key issues affecting the effectiveness of supervision. However, the paper does not explain the link between addiction counselors’ ethical behavior and supervision.
Lisa, W. (2010). Supervisee perception of clinical supervision. Thesis. Argosy University
The paper explores the supervisee perception of the supervisor in a broader perspective. It also suggests adherence to ethical standards by the supervisor in the process of supervision. However, the journal does not address the impact of supervision on the ethical behavior of the trainee counselors in addiction counseling.
Juhnke, G. A. & Culbreth, J. R. (1994). Clinical Supervision in Addictions Counseling: Special Challenges and Solutions. ERIC Digest . ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling and Student Services, Greensboro, NC.
The source is relevant to this research. The authors posit that the field of addictions counseling is growing and therefore, new research is developed every day. The study utilizes Powell’s model, which uses various theories to explain the concepts of supervisions. Moreover, the model uses various concepts when examining the subject. They include counsel or in-house treatment, influence, and therapeutic strategy.
Martino, S., Gallon, S. & Ball, S. A. (2007). A Step Forward in Teaching Addiction Counselors How to Supervise Motivational Interviewing Using a Clinical Trials Training Approach. Journal of Teaching in the Addictions, 6(2), 39-67
This article asserts that a clinical trials training approach is an important element in preparing addiction counselors to take up their task. It is therefore, an important tool that supervisors can use to implement evidence-based treatments on addiction cases. The model further emphasizes the process of teaching and supervising, describing aspects such as feedback, observation and coaching as important for every supervisor. This is an important resource for the research.
References
Juhnke, G. A. & Culbreth, J. R. (1994). Clinical Supervision in Addictions Counseling: Special Challenges and Solutions. ERIC Digest . ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling and Student Services, Greensboro, NC.
Karina, G., (2009). Ethics, Supervision and the Power Differential: Impact on Supervisors and Supervisees. The California Psychologist (9) 25-26
Lisa, W. (2010). Supervisee perception of clinical supervision. Thesis. Argosy University
Martino, S., Gallon, S. & Ball, S. A. (2007). A Step Forward in Teaching Addiction Counselors How to Supervise Motivational Interviewing Using a Clinical Trials Training Approach. Journal of Teaching in the Addictions, 6(2), 39-67
