Effects of Situations faced by Counselors

Table of Contents

Counselors face situations which need excellent ethical making ability. Determining the suitable course of action when faced with a challenging ethical dilemma is hard for many counselors. The counselors find it hard to determine the suitable course of action and hence make poor decisions. This in turn, affects clients as the counselors do not promote growth and development. The ACA and AAMFT code of ethics help in solving challenging ethical dilemmas. The code of ethics provides a framework for making sound decisions. The ACA and AAMFT code of ethics have identified principles that counselors should conform to when making decisions. That is confidentiality, autonomy, nonmalifencse, beneficence among others. The principles together with an ethical decision making model will be used to resolve Angelika and Paul problem.

Describe the challenging aspects of the scenario

The complexity of the scenario makes it difficult to solve the problem Angelika and Paul have. Angelika and Paul have a wide range of interconnected problems. Though Angelika and Paul were referred for counseling because of disagreement over parenting skills and conflict in marriage, they have other problems. Angelika childhood experience has had an undesirable effect on her family and marriage. Angelika had an unhappy child hood as she experienced domestic violence. This had an effect on her and affected her behavior. Additionally, Angelika’s mother has had serious mood swings that also affected Angelika and the family. The mother’s mood swings range from happiness to rage.

The mood swings affected the entire family including their relationship and behavior. Additionally, Angelika cannot forget her father’s death and constantly blames her mother for the death. Angelika’s father died from a heart attack, and he also has drinking problems. Currently, Angelika has a poor relationship with her mother as they do not communicate. Angelika’s acculturation problem has affected their marriage as he is unable to interact with other cultures (Rocco & Ronald, 2000). Angelika’s marital problems and poor parenting skills are as a result of the problems she experienced when she was young. Angelika has gone through a traumatic experience and struggles with scaring memories like her hearing her father’s voice.

The domestic violence and the traumatic experience have affected Angelika’s behavior. Angelika complains of nostalgia and drinks daily. Also, the drinking problem has affected their marriage as she got into a physical fight with her husband. She also uses violent means to discipline her child. For insurance, she hit her son on the head with a crystal vase as he tried to reason with her. Angelika does not care for his son as expected and in turn leaves him with the father and grandparents for one month and go to Russia. Therefore, Angelika is the main cause of disagreements and conflict in the family. Angelika should get proper medical attention to help her overcome the traumatic experience (Rocco & Ronald, 2000).

ACA and AAMFT code of ethics

The members of American counseling association work in diverse settings. They are devoted to prompting human development. The American counseling association contains various principles relevant to the case scenario. First, the counseling relationship principle is relevant to the case. The counselor should respect the dignity of the client and promote their welfare as it is his duty. The counselor should promote positive growth and development among the clients in a manner that meets their interest and welfare. The counselor and client should work together to devise individual counseling plans that lead to success and are in line with the circumstance and abilities of the client. Counselors are supposed to include the client’s family in the counseling process as they are essential to the life of the client.

The counselor should respect diversity. Counselors should understand the different background of their client. Understanding the relationship between clients when dealing with multiple clients is vital as it ensures the needs of each client are met. Counselors should adjust their roles or withdraw when dealing with different clients. Second, the principle of confidentiality is applicable to the case. Counselors should respect their client’s privacy and avoid disclosing information with the client’s permission. Counselors should inform the client when the privacy can be breached or limited. Paul asked the counselor to talk to him privately (American counseling association, 2005). Further, the American Association for marriage and family therapy (AAMFT) plays an essential role in resolving family conflicts and marriage conflicts. The AAMFT consists of various principles that counselors should adhere to when providing counseling services to marred couple. Counselors should enhance the wellbeing of clients and their families. They should respect the clients and not take advantage of their trust.

In addition, counselors should respect and protect the confidentiality of the clients. They should inform the clients about the limitation of confidentiality early. Counselors should not exploit and harass the clients. They should avoid conflict of interest as this affects the outcome of the counseling process. Counselors should maintain the integrity and be competent when providing counseling services (American association for marriage and family therapy, 2012). The client’s autonomy should be respected when making decisions. The counselor should encourage clients to make decisions and inform them of the consequences of the decisions. The counselor should advise the clients that they should make decisions regarding separation and divorce.

Decision making model

Forester Miller and Thomas Davis have developed a model of decision making. The model incorporates Van Hoose and Paradise (1979) and Kitchner (1984) work. Moreover, they have incorporated Stadler (1986), Foster-Miller and Rubenstein (1992) work. Others include Sileo and Kopala (1993) and Haas and Malouf (1989). The ethical decision making model consists of 7 stages. The stages will be applied to the case so as to determine the best course of action (Davis & Foster-Miller, 1996). The first step is the identification of the problem. Paul and Angelika have marriage conflict and parenting skills problem. The problem exists as Paul and Angelika have had marital problems ad engaged in a physical fight. Paul no longer understands Angelika behavior as she is unpredictable, and this has stressed him and the child. Paul and Angelika fight often over lack of intimacy. Also, the two differ in terms of parenting skills.

Angelika has poor parenting skills as she leaves her son with the father and grandparent. She leaves the son for almost 1 month and goes to Russia. In addition, Angelika uses violent parent skills as she hit their son on the head with a crystal vase. Angelika and Paul fight often over how to discipline their child. They also fight over how to handle money (Rocco & Ronald, 2000).The problem in the case is a clinical problem and moral problem. Angelika does not carry out her responsibilities as a wife, mother and parent. This is evidenced by lack of intimacy between her and the husband and poor parenting skills. As a parent, Angelika is supposed to take care of the family and use proper parenting techniques to ensure the son grows up well.

However, her parenting skills have affected the child as he is distressed and withdrawn from his friends and family. Angelika also has a clinical problem. She has had a traumatic experience and domestic violence which have affected her. This has affected her behavior and how she treats her family. She drinks daily and has nostalgia. She does not have a good relationship with the mother and the upbringing affected her. Therefore, Angelika is the main cause of the problems the couple and their son are experiencing. In order to determine whether the problem is clinical, one has to consult with a medical professional. The medical professional will examine Angelika behavior and past trauma experience. Thus, determine how the experience has affected her relationship with other people and ability to carry out her roles at home (Rocco & Ronald, 2000). The second and third step involves applying the ACA and AAMFT code of ethics. The principle of autonomy, confidentiality and counseling relationship, are important.

The counselor should protect the welfare and dignity of the clients. He should promote growth and development. Clients have the right to make an independent decision, but the counselor should inform them of the effect of their decisions. Information provided by the couple should be kept confidential unless authorized to share it. The counselor should not cause harm to the clients when providing care and should avoid taking advantage of their trust (Cottone, 2005). The fourth step is generating possible course of action. The issue can be resolved in different ways.

It can be resolved by referring Angelika to a medical professional for a medical checkup. Angelika requires medical attention to assist her in overcoming the traumatic experience. Angelika experience during childhood affected her negatively by harming her relationship with the mother. Angelika experienced domestic violence at a young age, and this caused her to be violent and hence uses violent methods to discipline the child. She was also exposed to alcoholism as her father was an alcoholic. The poor relationship between her mother and father affected her as she did not have an exciting child hood and upbringing. Referring Angelika to a medical practitioner will help her change her behavior as she will get proper treatment.

This will prevent the family from separating as each person will fulfill his or her duties. Referring Angelika to a medical professional might not solve the problem completely as Paul and their son should also participate in marriage and family counseling. Paul, Angelika and the son should come up with a solution that benefits all people (Stephen, Robert & Marvarene, 2005). The problem can be resolved through separation. Paul wants to separate from angelica as she has stressed their son and him. Separating will ensure Angelika does not stress her family. This will improve his husband and sons life by preventing stews and injuries. The son is withdrawn both at home and school due to the problems in the family.

On the other hand, separating will affect the child and mother negatively as they might find it hard to adapt to the new situation. The child will lack emotional and physical support from the mother and Angelika will lack support from the husband. This will force Angelika to drink more so as to cope with stress (Stephen, Robert & Marvarene, 2005).The sixth and seventh step is selecting the best action and implementing it. The best action is referring Angelika to a medical professional to get treatment for trauma and help in alcohol abuse. Angelika childhood experience is the cause of her behavior and problems in the family and providing medical treatment to her will solve the problem. It will solve her drinking problem as she will not depend on alcohol to cope with stress. She will become responsible at home and perform her duties. Angelika will also be able to form long lasting relationships (Stephen, Robert & Marvarene, 2005).

Anticipate any ethical issues to be confronted with in future work with this family or couple.

There are various ethical issues that one should confront when working with the couple and family in the future. First, the counselor should determine whether to disclose information or not. The counselor will be forced to disclose the client’s problem to various people like medical professionals to enable them get appropriate help. Second, the counselor is supposed to protect the clients from harm, and he might make decisions that cause harm to one of the clients if the decision has greater benefit for other clients (Stephen, Robert & Marvarene, 2005).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the counselor should follow the ACA code of ethics and AAMFT code of ethics when resolving the problem. The counselor should not infringe the principle of confidentiality, autonomy, nomaleficence and beneficence when making decisions as this will affect the clients negatively. The problem can be resolved by encouraging Angelika to seek medical attention due to her traumatic experience. Angelika has experienced traumatic experience because of her father’s death, poor relation with the mother and domestic violence. This will enable Angelika become more responsible and prevent conflicts.

Reference

American association for marriage and family therapy. (2012).Code Of Ethics. American association for marriage and family therapy

American counseling association. (2005). ACA code of ethics. American counseling association

Cottone, R.R. (2005). Detrimental therapist-client relationships–beyond thinking of “dual” or “multiple” roles: reflections on the 2001 AAMFT Code of Ethics. The American Journal of Family Therapy. 33 (1): 1-17.

Davis, T., & Foster-Miller, H. (1996). A Practitioner’s Guide to Ethical Decision Making. American counselors association

Rocco, C.R., & Ronald, E.C. (2000). Ethical Decision-Making Models: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Counseling & Development.78 (3): p275

Stephen, S., Robert, L. S., & Marvarene, L. (2005). Marriage and Family Counseling: Ethics in Context. Family Journal. 13(4): 459-466

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