1Listen to the audio lecture while viewing these slidesPsychology 475Professional Ethics in Addictions Counseling1Issues and EthicsChapter 32Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingClarifying your values and their role in your work• When counselors expose their values, they need to clearly label them as their own.• Counselors may not agree with their client’s values but they must respect the rights of the clients to hold different values.3Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingClarifying values continued• Counselors should not teach their clients specific moral rules and values.• The therapeutic environment must be one of objectivity.• Inform clients of areas where your values will not allow you to be neutral. 4Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingNot Counseling• Counseling is NOT preaching, persuasion, or instruction.5Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingBrace (1977) developed ten ethical guidelines to following when helping clients develop their treatment goals• 1. Examine goals before they are adopted to be sure they are in the best interest of the client • 2. Ensure that goals are mutually consistent• 3. Justify the end goals and the means to attain these goals6Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingTen ethical guidelines continued• 4. Assess contributory factors that pertain to the goals• 5. Inform client of values, if the values are likely to influence the client's choice of goals• 6. Avoid or correct errors in clinical judgment27Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingTen ethical guidelines continued• 7. Assess the risks that the client's goals might pose to the client or others• 8. Consider how the client’s goals may affect others• 9. Avoid deceiving clients• 10. Honor any promises made to the client8Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingThe Ethics of Imposing your Values on Clients9Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingClient valuesA survey of mental health professionals found that these are the basic values they felt clients should have to help them become mentally healthy:• Self-determination• Developing effective strategies for coping with stress• Developing the ability to give and receive affection10Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingClient values continued• Increasing one’s ability to be sensitive to the feelings of others• Becoming able to practice self-control• Having a sense of purpose for living• Being open, honest, and genuine• Finding satisfaction in one’s work11Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingClient values continued• Having a sense of identity and self-worth• Being skilled in interpersonal relationships• Having deepened self-awareness and motivation for growth• Practicing good habits of physical health12Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingValue Conflicts: To Refer or Not to Refer• A challenge for counselors is to recognize when their values clash with a client’s values to the extent that they are not able to function effectively.313Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingNote• Merely disagreeing with a client is not ethical grounds for a referral.14Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingShared Life Experiences and Values• Counselors don’t need to have experienced the same struggles as their clients to be effective.15Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingPractice• Identify the factors in your life that would either help or hinder you in establishing a good working relationship with your client.16Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingThe Role of Spiritual and Religious Values in Counseling• Spiritual and Religious matters are therapeutically relevant.• A spiritual component is critical to the recovery process.17Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingSpiritual values continued• Empirical evidence shows that spiritual values and behaviors can promote physical and psychological well-being.• There are many paths for fulfilling spiritual needs.18Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingSpiritual values continued• Spirituality is seen as less formal than religion.• It is an innate human quality.• It is what connects us to other people, nature, and the source of life.419Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingReligious Teachings vs. Counseling• Both religion and counseling help people ponder the following questions:•“Who am I?”• “What is the meaning of life?”20Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingThey both address the following issues• Healing through an exploration of self• Self acceptance• Admitting one’s shortcomings• Dealing with guilt21Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingMore issues addressed by both• Accepting personal responsibility• Coping with resentments• Letting go of self destructive patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting22Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingPersonal Beliefs and Values of Counselors• Counselors have an ethical responsibility to be aware of how their beliefs affect their work • and to make sure they do not unduly influence their clients.23Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingIncluding Spiritual and Religious Values in Counseling• Caution: be aware of your own countertransference when it comes to religion.• Don’t impose your beliefs of religion on clients.24Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingEnd of Life Decisions• Rational suicide: a person has decided, after going through a decision-making process and without coercion from others, to end his or her life because of extreme suffering involved with a terminal illness.525Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingEnd of Life Decisions• Aid-In-Dying: providing a person with the means to die; the person self-administers the death causing agent.• Hastened Death: speeding up the dying process, which can entail withholding or withdrawing life support.26Psyc 475 – Professional Ethics in Addictions CounselingCriteria to evaluate whether a person’s desire for suicide or hastened death is rational• They have an unremitting and hopeless condition• They are acting under their own free will• They have