Upon close observation of psychologist Sean Maguire and his therapeutic practice with client Will Hunting, I am proposing some legal, ethical and clinical misconducts of the psychologist and ways to improve and enhance his approach to achieve a more efficient and effective practice.
First of all, the client Will is referred by professor Gerald Lambeau, who is the psychologist Sean Maguire’s roommate in college. Professor Gerald Lambeau asked Sean to take the client as a favor when they went out for dinner. Gerald persuaded Sean and provided him with some limited background knowledge of the client, claiming that the client was extraordinarily intelligent. This personal acquaintance between the therapist and the referral can create potential …show more content…
The informed consent is like a contract that protects both the client and the therapist, it concerns the issues of confidentiality that is of special importance during our therapeutic work. Although psychologist Sean had knowledge that Will was a genius and had a wide range of knowledge, he should not assume that Will had knowledge about therapy and/or confidentiality issues. His failure of providing informed consent to the client and discuss it to make sure that the client understands his own rights violated the ACA code of ethics, as it stated in the code that “counselors have an obligation to review in writing and verbally with clients the rights and responsibilities of both counselors and clients” (American Counseling Association, 2014). In this case, Will is a client who had been mandated for counseling services, Sean as his therapist, should “explain what type of information and with whom that information is shared prior to the beginning of counseling” (American Counseling Association, 2014). Here, I recommend that in the future practice, therapists in this organization always provide clients with informed consent and thoroughly discuss it to make sure that clients fully understands their responsibilities and …show more content…
In my evaluation, this is related to his unresolved issues with his deceased wife. For example, he talked about how he and his wife met during the baseball game, and how he understood what it meant to be in love. Self-disclosing can be very controversial because in some way and for some clients, it can be very helpful and therapeutic, however in other cases, it can be seen as a setback and can potentially harm the clients or endanger the therapeutic relationship. In Will’s case, as an observer, I think Sean’s self disclosure had help will in a sense that Sean had become a role model for Will concerning interpersonal and intimate relationships. During the course of therapy, Sean’s self disclosure had been more beneficial than harmful, however, it is my concern that Sean giving self disclosure to will was in fact him trying to heal his own pain. Here I call into question Sean’s clear motive of self-disclosing. It is our ethical obligation to only self-disclose when we are certain that it will be beneficial to the client. Hence, I recommend that in the future practice, practitioners in this organization should be more mindful and cautious about self-disclosing and make sure that the reason they self-disclose is for the best interest of the
First of all, the client Will is referred by professor Gerald Lambeau, who is the psychologist Sean Maguire’s roommate in college. Professor Gerald Lambeau asked Sean to take the client as a favor when they went out for dinner. Gerald persuaded Sean and provided him with some limited background knowledge of the client, claiming that the client was extraordinarily intelligent. This personal acquaintance between the therapist and the referral can create potential …show more content…
The informed consent is like a contract that protects both the client and the therapist, it concerns the issues of confidentiality that is of special importance during our therapeutic work. Although psychologist Sean had knowledge that Will was a genius and had a wide range of knowledge, he should not assume that Will had knowledge about therapy and/or confidentiality issues. His failure of providing informed consent to the client and discuss it to make sure that the client understands his own rights violated the ACA code of ethics, as it stated in the code that “counselors have an obligation to review in writing and verbally with clients the rights and responsibilities of both counselors and clients” (American Counseling Association, 2014). In this case, Will is a client who had been mandated for counseling services, Sean as his therapist, should “explain what type of information and with whom that information is shared prior to the beginning of counseling” (American Counseling Association, 2014). Here, I recommend that in the future practice, therapists in this organization always provide clients with informed consent and thoroughly discuss it to make sure that clients fully understands their responsibilities and …show more content…
In my evaluation, this is related to his unresolved issues with his deceased wife. For example, he talked about how he and his wife met during the baseball game, and how he understood what it meant to be in love. Self-disclosing can be very controversial because in some way and for some clients, it can be very helpful and therapeutic, however in other cases, it can be seen as a setback and can potentially harm the clients or endanger the therapeutic relationship. In Will’s case, as an observer, I think Sean’s self disclosure had help will in a sense that Sean had become a role model for Will concerning interpersonal and intimate relationships. During the course of therapy, Sean’s self disclosure had been more beneficial than harmful, however, it is my concern that Sean giving self disclosure to will was in fact him trying to heal his own pain. Here I call into question Sean’s clear motive of self-disclosing. It is our ethical obligation to only self-disclose when we are certain that it will be beneficial to the client. Hence, I recommend that in the future practice, practitioners in this organization should be more mindful and cautious about self-disclosing and make sure that the reason they self-disclose is for the best interest of the