Discussion Board Replies
The informed counselor’s consent that I am going to use belongs to True North Christian Counseling. The document entails information about the services offered in the facility. The counseling firm requires the clients to read the consent carefully to grasp every concept in the agreement to abide by the policies that will assure protection and privacy of health information. True North Christian Counseling is a professional practice that offers counseling practices to individuals wishing to integrate they're laid down principles (Grady, 2015). The firm is also centered on Christian principles where different counselors are trained in different fields to cater for the clients to their satisfaction.
True North Christian Counseling has a consent that states confidentiality of the information offered to concerned counselors. Clients are assured of privacy concerning their health matters and cases through which information can be leaked to third party individuals. For instance, the consent states that if health or mental problem is beyond the understanding of a professional, he or she can seek assistance from other personnel in the firm to make the whole exercise a success. (Grady, 2015). Privacy on a can be violated through consultation to better services offered and accomplish the client's preference. Another case is about insurance companies who would like to know what happened to the patient so that they can compensate the case without over or understatement. In the above two stated cases, the firm assures information leakage to other parties away from the assured privacy.
The consent also focuses on an appointment which should be done 24hrs earlier. Payment of the services offered to clients where they are required to make payments either by check, cash or credit. If the client is not satisfied with the services, the consent states that he or she should leave at any stage and discontinue treatment. Aca is an American association that serves 55000 members in health, marriage and family counseling (Gladding, 2017). The mission is to provide quality services by promoting the development of professional counselors and safeguard human dignity. The in-profit organization has six principles that guide the way of working in health and mental counseling institutions.
The principles include providing details that intend to work ethically, ethics installation for both professionals and in training counselors. Protection of the clients is the third principle guiding the counselors while the fourth principle concerns are giving hope to the clients through satisfying their needs (Gladding, 2017). The fifth principle entails following the mission statement while the sixth states importance inquires and helping the clients. They clearly give directions to the client on how to perform duties and cases through which their rights may be violated. The firm also considers working in professionalism to foster a good reputation.
Comparison between True North and Virginia Board of counseling is that confidentiality of information differs. The Virginia Board of counseling denies access of any information concerning a person regardless of what circumstance or relationship with the patient. Parents are also denied access of their children’s since it is considered confidential. (Mary Alice , 2018) Virginia board of counseling offers contrary opinions compared to True North. The board also advises the individual to resist any kind of treatment without signing the form of consent. The above stated difference is one of big concerns that offer a variation between the two. Services offered by the Virginia board of counseling shows that every individual is independent without considering age or relationship. My reaction towards True North is that every aspect of life is catered since their consent shows that they are flexible when offering services o their clients.
Gladding, Newsome. (2017). Clinical mental health counseling in community and agency settings. Pearson.