Read the Passage! Do you agree or disagree, or can you relate to his or her opinion in the post? ADD any thoughts or additional information that you may have found concerning their topic?
It is a certainty that we will be presented with decisions that need to be made with no clear answer regarding right or wrong as helping professionals when treating clients. Ethical guidelines and laws provide professional helpers with some blue-print, mandates, and rules of how to approach situations with clients to reduce harm. Nevertheless, helping professionals often disagree about acceptable behaviors and actions because of the vague and ambiguous nature of some ethical and legal codes (Kottler & Shepard, 2015). The complexity of circumstances along with some contradictory standards often complicates the decision-making process for the professional. Standards of behavior are present in virtually every profession but are especially critical in helping professions that often make an oath to do no harm to others. My experience with professional therapy was so effective partly due to the clear, reasonable, and irrefutable boundaries and expectations of both myself, my therapist, and our interactions that were agreed upon throughout treatment.
One area of counseling abundant with contrasting views regarding ethical standards of conduct is online psychotherapy. A recent narrative review involving qualitative data regarding the benefits and setbacks of online psychotherapy suggests that online psychotherapy is not suitable for every patient (Stoll, Muller, & Trachsel, 2020). Still, if professionals are appropriately trained and conscientious of ethical standards, this form of counseling can be helpful to many individuals without easy access to mental health services (Stoll, Muller, & Trachsel, 2020). I started my own therapy in 2019 and in the middle of the global pandemic, I was forced to conclude my treatment via telehealth communications like everyone else in the world. My therapist made a conscious effort to inform me of the possible implications this new form of therapy could have on my rights as a client which included confidentiality, privacy, receiving the best treatment possible, and altering power dynamics in the relationship. I plan to be proactive in my efforts to make ethical decisions that coincide with laws by preparing to address a number of ethical dilemmas, seeking advice from trusted supervisors or peers, and remaining knowledgeable about developments in ethical practices in multiple modalities. Providing services and treatment to clients only in areas we are supervised, trained, and certified for is extremely important to keep in mind whenever working with clients.
