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CRCC CODE OF ETHICS

CRCC CODE OF ETHICS 9

Reflection

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Date

CRCC Code of Ethics

Introduction

The CRCC (Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification) details the required professionalism that rehabilitation counselors ought to utilize to guarantee effective provision of direct services. In this sense, the CRCC code of ethics attributes clients as persons with or affected disability aspects, medical conditions, or functional limitations. The CRCC code of ethics is specifically designed to provide the necessary guidance meant to guarantee better ethical practices by the rehabilitation counselors. Particularly, the existing objectives of the code entail: promotion of public welfare through specifying the expected ethical behaviors of the rehabilitation counselors. The code as such establishes the necessary principles guiding ethics that assist the various rehabilitation counselors in developing the best professional action needed to achieve the most appropriate rehabilitation purposes. The CRCC Code also acts as the necessary basis for processing alleged violations by the certified rehabilitation counselors.

Particularly, the process of rehabilitation and counseling is systematic and with proper implementation of the CRCC code, counselors are able to assist people with mental, physical, or even cognitive disabilities. Most counseling processes are subject to involve goal setting, communication, and beneficial patient change through self-advocacy, vocational, behavioral, psychological, and social interventions. As a counselor, it is important to adhere to the CRCC code of ethics and the counseling procedures because it enables the patient to achieve better personal and career goals (MMM). Rehabilitation counselors need to demonstrate beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, and skills to ensure they provide competent counseling and rehabilitation services. Being a rehabilitation counselor, it is important to commit yourself towards facilitating the provision of services addressing economic, personal, and social independence amongst individuals/clients with disability issues. As such, it is important for rehabilitation counselors to embrace cultural approaches and also recognize diversity in ways that support dignity, worth, and the uniqueness of the various clients with disability.

A.3 Client Rights

As a rehabilitation counselor dealing with various clients with physical, psychological, and neurodevelopment disorders mandates the need to always provide professional disclosure. In this sense, there is need to ensure the implicit review of my clients through both oral and writing means. With a disclosure statement, the responsibilities and rights of both the counselor and the client will be well articulated. By this, I will present the disclosure through a manner that best suits the respective client needs. Particularly, the disclosure will be the onset of our professional relationship with the person and would be consisting of the following aspects: My qualifications, experience, and credentials as a rehabilitation counselor, the length and frequency of the services offered throughout the required counseling process, goals, techniques, purposes, or limitations of the counseling process. It will also be critical to inform the client of the benefits and potential risks that could be brought forth with their participation in the counseling process.

My professional disclosure statement would also seek to assure the clients of confidentiality aspects and any existing limitations. In this sense, as a rehabilitation counselor, it is critical to retain the information provided by the client private. From a professional perspective, the disclosure will further detail payment arrangements, legal issues that might affect the services, and the contingencies that could inform continuation of the services beyond the specified period. As a rehabilitation counselor, I recognize the need to disclose the aforementioned aspects to ensure the creation of better professional relationship with the clients

Notably, the other element under client rights relates to providing the client with informed consent. Through this notion, the clients will exercise their freedom of choice that is whether to facilitate their involvement in the counseling process or choose another counseling option. Being a rehabilitation counselor, I am obligated to respect the client rights to participate in the rehabilitation process or else, make the informed decision to refuse the services offered. According to the research by MMM, the rehabilitation counselor needs to facilitate appropriate documentation of the disclosure statements and informed consent to ensure their conformity with the CRCC code of ethics.

My rehabilitation and counseling services need to also encompass an individualized communication approach to guarantee efficacy regarding the transfer of information in a cultural and developmental manner. When needed, a translator would be necessary to ensure proper communication. It is also necessary to support network involvement to ensure the clients receive support from their family and friends throughout the rehabilitation process. The consent of the clients is appropriate because as a counselor you need their permission to enlist the support of their close relatives, friends, and other individuals of their choosing like religious leaders. When their lacking ability by the clients to give consent, such as with minors or persons unable to give voluntary consent, as a rehabilitation counselor, I would seek the acceptance by the client to be involved in decision making when appropriate.

A.4 Avoiding Harm & Imposing Values

The process of counseling and rehabilitation is subject to utilize strategies and procedures that guarantee compliance to the principle of beneficence. By this, the actions of any rehabilitation counselor ought to aspire towards ‘to do good to others’ and thus, ensure the promotion of the respective clients’ well-being. As such, being a rehabilitation counselor, the needs of my clients are always my priority because they are helpful in developing the necessary counseling mechanisms and treatments. Avoiding harm requires that I undertake succinct evaluation of the client conditions and always develop better information awareness concerning the most appropriate treatment procedure. According to the research by MMM, counselors and therapists are always required to undertake actions that will not harm their clients or research participants. Particularly, to avoid harming the clients, there is need to avoid breaking confidentiality, not to violate the stipulate client-counselor boundaries like developing an affair, and always provide the most appropriate advice, which would not subject the client or any other individual to harm.

From the research study by MMM, preventing the ethical dilemmas that often arise during the counseling and rehabilitation process calls for the counselor to have an implicit understanding of the constituents of their professional relationship, ensure privacy and confidentiality, respect autonomy, and always document their sessions. I also put up strategic processes and remedies to mitigate unavoidable or else, unanticipated harm.

As a rehabilitation counselor, it is of great significance to be aware and considerate of personal values. In this sense, counselors need to avoid imposing their own attitudes, values, behaviors and beliefs throughout the counseling process. According to MMM, rehabilitation counselors should guarantee they exercise respect over diversity considering many of their clients do not share similar cultural, religious, and social backgrounds. In essence, to facilitate the provision of better counseling services and treatments, as a counselor I would seek the necessary training on areas that risk my imposition of personal values and beliefs upon the clients. Specifically, when my values and behaviors are subject to inconsistency when compared to the client’s goals, they will be discriminatory in nature thus a hindrance to the counseling process.

With counseling, it is important for the counselors to have a better understanding of their personal attributes, values, and behaviors (MMM). My counseling values will enable for better understanding of the counseling requirements of different clients and by this, guarantee my ability to focus upon the client’s goals as well as creating the most effective counseling path. In this sense, my ability to uphold the necessary values throughout counseling requires myself to ensure better trustworthiness through honoring the expectations accorded by the clients. Upholding the proper values in counseling requires practice of autonomy and beneficence principles that guarantee respect and the essential commitment towards promoting the well-being of the clients.

A.5 Prohibited Non-counseling Roles & Relationships

The CRCC code of ethics prohibits counseling practitioners from engaging in any sexual or romantic relationships with their clients. In this sense, to limit upon complications and any other unforeseeable issues during treatment, counselors have to avoid any romantic or sexual advances from their clients, their family members, or romantic partners. Referring to the CRCC code of ethics, this prohibition should be applicable to both electronic and in-person interactions. As a counselor, the code of ethics also mandate that I prohibit myself from engaging in counseling initiatives with persons to whom I have had previous sexual/romantic relations. Notably, rehabilitation counselors should as well avoid any romantic or sexual relationships with any of their former clients. Under the CRCC code of ethics, the prohibition of sexual affairs with former clients is a necessity for at least 5 years after the termination of the counseling process. With the stipulated requirement as a counselor, there is need to facilitate the documentation of the interaction and relationship in a written form to demonstrate forethought. Through the written consent, the counselor and the client are necessarily in admittance that the relationship/interaction would not be potentially harmful to the client’s recovery process. In this case, counselors should determine whether the relationship presents issues pertaining potential exploitation and harm, hence informing on the most appropriate decision to avoid any further interactions (MMM).

The CRCC code of ethics also depicts the counselor’s relationship with their clients’ friends or family members. As such, as a counselor you are prohibited from any engagements or else, counseling processes with family members or friends of the clients especially when the interactions are non-objective. I am also under the prohibition of undertaking any virtual interactions through social media with my current clients because such platforms usually facilitate social and personal interactions. By this, I always desist from accepting any social media friendships as well as the disclosure of personal elements about my life to limit on scrutiny. Making my life private has been very significant towards retaining the necessary professionalism.

Referring to the research by MMM, rehabilitation counselors should always be considerate of the benefits and risks that emerge because of extending professional boundaries with current/former clients to be inclusive of interactions that are not typical as indicated by CRCC code of ethics. To facilitate the extension of boundaries, it is important to take the appropriate professional precautions that could entail seeking informed consent, consulting other professionals, and undertaking the necessary supervisory measures to limit upon the impairment of judgments. Having great awareness of the risks and benefits of role changes during the contracted counseling relationship has been of great significance throughout my professional career as a counselor because it ensures that I refrain from interaction changes that might harm the client rehabilitation progress. Some of the examples of role changes that I often put into practice entails changing from an individual counseling approach to group, shifting my roles as a counselor to a mediation role, and using research based approaches rather than rehabilitation counseling.

B1. Respecting Client Rights

CRCC code of ethics requires rehabilitation counselors to always be considerate of their clients’ multicultural aspects. As a counselor, I always seek to maintain better sensitivity and awareness standards concerning the cultural meanings of elements like privacy and confidentiality from the client’s perspective. In this sense, the code of ethics mandate that counselors ensure they are respectful of the differing views possessed by different clients towards the disclosure of data/information. As such, I frequently seek to undertake ongoing discussions with my clients regarding how, when, and to whom their information could be shared with. Alternatively, the counseling profession also stipulate to the ethical perspective of ensuring privacy and the need for counselors to respect it (MMM). By this, I always request clients to trust and disclose private information that they would not provide to others freely. In this sense, the notes and private information recorded are used for their own benefit and to ensure the effective realization of the counseling process goals.

Importantly, I consider the respect to confidentiality to be among the most critical aspect of my counseling operations. As a certified counseling practitioner, it is important that I adhere to my client’s confidentiality principle by always protecting the information divulged to me in private. In essence, it is important to only disclose the information/data under the appropriate consent or else, with the provision of ethical and legal justification. Being compliant to the CRCC code of ethics and principles, I have also learnt to always seek the client permission before undertaking any recording of a session. This aspect is necessarily a guarantee of the respect that a counselor should accord to their clients’ privacy and confidentiality. As indicated through the research by MMM, counselors should also seek for the permission to observe prior to reviewing the session transcripts or listening to the session recording with other counselors or supervisors to obtain their professional opinions.

During the initiation of the counseling process, any rehabilitation counselor should ensure that they provide the clients with an explicit explanation of the process limitations. Particularly, I often indicate to the clients in writing about the counseling requirements, how the information and their openness would facilitate the betterment of their treatments, as well as information disclosure paradigms. By explaining to the clients about the limitations, there is guaranteed understanding between the client and the counselor hence the establishment of the necessary trust levels. When explaining issues of privacy and confidentiality, the clients are usually subject to gain utmost confidence such that most will divulge information with informed consent and that the counselor will always protect their private data/information.

B3. Information Shared with Others