Assessment Instructions:
| This assessment requires students to demonstrate their knowledge of the legal and ethical considerations that apply in a counselling context. This is an open book assessment and students may conduct research or refer to class notes. Some class time will be allocated to commence this assessment, but students will need to complete the remainder in their own time Students are required to:Complete all questions listed in this assessment task.All questions in this assessment task must be answered correctly in order to meet assessment requirements.Provide responses to the questions that are: Typed and written using formal workplace writing style including paragraphing, accurate spelling, grammar and punctuation. Individual original work, and where the student is drawing upon the ideas of a resource or quoting directly, the student must acknowledge the source of the information at the end of the question. Direct quotes from resources, even when properly referenced, should be kept to a minimum and paraphrasing used where ever possible. Submit responses to the questions in Counselling Skills Blackboard shell by the due date stated in the Learning and Assessment Plan.Results and feedback will be given in the Counselling Skills Blackboard shell. View the rubric and comments in My Grades on Blackboard. |
Assessment Instrument:
1. Fill in the table below, explaining a) how each legal/ethical consideration applies to the counselling relationship, and b) how an individual counsellor may apply the consideration in practice.
| Topic | Explain how this topic applies to a counsellor/client counselling relationship. Consider the legal and/or ethical issues and requirements that are important to counsellors and counselling organisations. | Describe one example of how a counsellor may apply this topic/consideration in practice. |
| codes of conduct/practice | Code of conduct provides the counsellor a set of standards that they must adhere to in order to maintain the dignity of the client and identify an appropriate plan of care. (Australian Counselling Association, 2014) | The counsellor can adhere to the code of conduct by ensuring that they are following all the professional standards for the counsellors by Australian Counselling Association. (Australian Counselling Association, 2014) |
| discrimination | Discrimination is very much discouraged in the process of counselling. It means that the counsellors provides lower quality of treatment or treats a patient less favourably than other due their ethnicity, culture and beliefs which directly goes against the code of conduct of counselling. (Australian Counselling Association, 2014) | The counsellor can ensure lack of discrimination by treating all the patients to the best of their abilities and to the same effort, irrespective of their culture, belief and ethnicity. |
| duty of care | Duty of care essentially means that the counsellor has a responsibility towards the wellbeing of the client. Essentially, it means that the counsellor must avoid any form of harm to the patient and assume responsibility for the interventions they provide. (Www1.health.gov.au., 2020) | The counsellor can maintain the duty of care by accurately stating the risks and benefits for certain information so that the client can make an informed decision. |
| human rights | It is crucial to consider the aspect of human rights in the field of counselling. This ensures that the provider remains respectful and conscious of the client’s issues and comforts, thereby maintaining the dignity of the client. (Australian Counselling Association, 2014) | The counsellor can ensure human rights for the client by communicating effectively with the client and aborting any line of questioning or treatment when the client is uncomfortable with it. |
| human rights | It is crucial to consider the aspect of human rights in the field of counselling. This ensures that the provider remains respectful and conscious of the client’s issues and comforts, thereby maintaining the dignity of the client. (Australian Counselling Association, 2014) | The counsellor can ensure human rights for the client by communicating effectively with the client and aborting any line of questioning or treatment when the client is uncomfortable with it. |
| mandatory reporting | Mandatory reporting is applicable when the provider becomes aware of some sort of wrongdoing with or by the client or a fellow professionals. It essentially means that the counsellor has a legal and moral obligation to report that person to the authorities in order to protect the victim. (Kenny & Abreu, 2016) | If a counsellor comes know about child abuse, for example if their client is abusing a child, they are obligated to report it. |
| practitioner/client boundaries | Professional boundaries are previously agreed limits between the client and the provider in order to maintain psychological safety of the consumer. The practitioner has a moral obligation to adhere by the agreed professional boundaries. (Australian Counselling Association, 2014) | The practitioner may ensure that he is adhering to the professional limits by asking the client which conversations or topics they are not comfortable with. If a client does not want to answer a question, the counsellor must not force them in any way. |
| privacy, confidentiality and disclosure | Patient confidentiality essentially means that the counsellor must protect all data related to the patient, their disease and history. This is essentially to protect the patient’s privacy, and ensuring that no sensitive information is leaked to an unauthorised person. The practitioner must also ask the patient for consent before they seek advice from any other medical professional. (Australian Counselling Association, 2014) | The counsellor may apply the rules of privacy and confidentiality of a client by keeping their documentations in a safe place and making sure not to reveal them to anyone, either through social media or casual conversation. |
| records management | Record keeping and documentation of all the client’s work is crucial in the practice of a counsellor. This ensures that the counsellor has all of the patient’s data in hand when they need it and produce it if a client lodges any sort of complaint on them. (Geldard, Geldard & Foo, 2017) | The counsellor documents any data they have on the client and keep them safely by adhering to the privacy rules. This essentially means that the counsellor is recording the client’s symptoms, their medications, visits and any records that may be of important, either in paper or digitally. |
| rights and responsibilities of workers, employers and clients | The workers, employers and clients all have the responsibility to treat each other in a respectful and humane way. All parties have the responsibility of engaging in an open and clear communication to ensure the best possible outcomes via active collaboration. (Australian Counselling Association, 2014) | The counsellor can protect a client’s rights by being responsible and informing a client when he will not be available for a consult and providing them with alternate timings. This will ensure that they are being responsible and also respecting the client’s time. |
Reference
Australian Counselling Association. (2014). Code of Ethics and Practice:… of the Association for Counsellors in Australia.
Geldard, D., Geldard, K., & Foo, R. Y. (2017). Basic personal counselling: A training manual for counsellors. Cengage AU.
Kenny, M. C., & Abreu, R. L. (2016). Mandatory reporting of child maltreatment for counselors: An innovative training program. Journal of Child and Adolescent Counseling, 2(2), 112-124.
Pirzadeh, P., & Lingard, H. (2017). Understanding the dynamics of construction decision making and the impact on work health and safety. Journal of Management in Engineering, 33(5), 05017003.
Www1.health.gov.au. (2020). Department of Health | 6.1 Duty of care issues. Retrieved 24 August 2020, from https://www1.health.gov.au/internet/publications/publishing.nsf/Content/drugtreat-pubs-front11-wk-toc~drugtreat-pubs-front11-wk-secb~drugtreat-pubs-front11-wk-secb-6~drugtreat-pubs-front11-wk-secb-6-1#:~:text=The%20principle%20of%20duty%20of,prevent%20them%20coming%20to%20harm.
