The issue of ethics in counseling is a very tough topic that includes a lot of grey areas. The professional can end up stuck in various different situations where they have to balance being helpful with being ethical. It is very understandable that these professionals have to go back to school regularly for continuing education units or CEU’s. Most if not all the courses offered for CEU’s are heavily based on ethics or providing a new treatment in an ethical manner. The issue of ethics within addictions counseling can get further complicated if the counselor themselves is also in recovery.
As we have learned in many of our courses in addictions counseling, many in recovery sometimes experience a relapse. This susceptibility to relapse doesn’t …show more content…
The client may feel the therapist lacks empathy due to an impairment, or the counselor might begin to be late or not show up to counseling sessions. These impairments can also lead clients to relapse or leave treatment altogether. As you can see impairment to the counselor has severe consequences to the client and it is no wonder that the NAADAC has a list of ethical standards that are in place to protect such clients and are used to evaluate and guide professionals in helping fields.
In the NAADAC code of ethics there are 10 different divisions or code’s that the helping professional must follow (NAADAC, 2016). If the professional is impaired due to substance abuse they are breaking all these codes. I will summarize how all these codes can be broken by a counselor being impaired due to substance abuse and the actions that must or should be taken for the …show more content…
An impaired counselor might forget to explain times when they will have to share or release information concerning the client. This can result in the client becoming upset or suing the counselor. Another issue that might arise due to an impaired counselor it the issue of them sharing information they don’t have the right to share. Impaired people don’t have the best judgement and even if the counselor is well trained in confidentiality practices, it doesn’t mean that they are not susceptible to improper
As we have learned in many of our courses in addictions counseling, many in recovery sometimes experience a relapse. This susceptibility to relapse doesn’t …show more content…
The client may feel the therapist lacks empathy due to an impairment, or the counselor might begin to be late or not show up to counseling sessions. These impairments can also lead clients to relapse or leave treatment altogether. As you can see impairment to the counselor has severe consequences to the client and it is no wonder that the NAADAC has a list of ethical standards that are in place to protect such clients and are used to evaluate and guide professionals in helping fields.
In the NAADAC code of ethics there are 10 different divisions or code’s that the helping professional must follow (NAADAC, 2016). If the professional is impaired due to substance abuse they are breaking all these codes. I will summarize how all these codes can be broken by a counselor being impaired due to substance abuse and the actions that must or should be taken for the …show more content…
An impaired counselor might forget to explain times when they will have to share or release information concerning the client. This can result in the client becoming upset or suing the counselor. Another issue that might arise due to an impaired counselor it the issue of them sharing information they don’t have the right to share. Impaired people don’t have the best judgement and even if the counselor is well trained in confidentiality practices, it doesn’t mean that they are not susceptible to improper